Volcanic tephra deposition dataset based on interpolated field measurements following the 2021 Tajogaite Eruption on La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Christopher Shatto,
Frank Weiser,
Anna Walentowitz,
Reinhold Stahlmann,
Samip Shrestha,
María Guerrero-Campos,
Félix Manuel Medina,
Manuel Nogales,
Anke Jentsch,
Carl Beierkuhnlein
Affiliations
Christopher Shatto
Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Corresponding author.
Frank Weiser
Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Anna Walentowitz
Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Reinhold Stahlmann
Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Samip Shrestha
German Aerospace Center (DLR), German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Wessling, Germany
María Guerrero-Campos
Área de Medio Ambiente, Gestión y Planeamiento Territorial y Ambiental (Gesplan S. A.), Avenida 3 de mayo, 71, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Félix Manuel Medina
Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Cabildo Insular de La Palma, Avenida Los Indianos, 20, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Manuel Nogales
Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA-CSIC), Avenida Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Isalnds, Spain
Anke Jentsch
Disturbance Ecology, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Science BayCEER, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Carl Beierkuhnlein
Department of Biogeography, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Science BayCEER, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Geographical Institute Bayreuth, GIB, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; Departamento de Botánica, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
In 2021, the Tajogaite Volcano erupted along the western slope of the Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. Volcanic tephra blanketed a substantial proportion of the island. By our estimations, approximately 23,000,000 m3 of pyroclastic ashes and more coarse-grained particles were deposited unto La Palma's land surface in addition to the lava flow. Five months following the initial eruption, we measured the depth of the new ash layer across the island. We combined this data with drone-based observations to compile a dataset comprising the point distribution of ash depth. A spatial interpolation was then performed using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) to estimate the ash depth across the island at a 2 m spatial resolution. The interpolation performed well, yielding a root mean squared error (RMSE) value of 0.34 and thus, the dataset offers immense reuse potential for spatial inquiries related to evolutionary traits, vegetation patterns, and vegetation response to disturbance on oceanic islands. In addition, the data can be used to test different spatial interpolation techniques in an effort to improve the accuracy achieved using IDW.