"The monster rises out of the water", screamed the Spanish
newspaper La Provincia. Scientists, meanwhile, are being a bit
more level-headed about the undersea volcano south of El Hierro
in the Canary Islands; they now believe it is in the third phase
of its eruption -- fountains of water have been shooting out of
the Atlantic up to 20 meters in the air over the last few days.
On Tuesday, some local residents even saw stones being
catapulted out of the sea. A seething maelstrom, dozens of
meters across, is bubbling away in the ocean. Measurements show
that the vortices are significantly warmer than the surrounding
water. So far, the volcano has only shown its explosive power
beneath the water. But now the outbursts to the south of El
Hierro are frothing up the surface, as if the ocean had hiccups.
The lava is piling up on an underwater mountain. That the
eruption is capable of firing jets of water into the air shows
that this mountain is growing -- the center of the eruption is
approaching the surface. Geologi