A little over three decades ago, two young opposition women, geophysicists by training, shared notes and agendas to get a place at the National Geographic Institute (IGN). They were Carmen López and María José Blanco, those responsible for the surveillance of the La Palma volcano. Neither of them approved; That call was declared deserted and they ended up entering the Geographic Office in 1990. “We appeared twice, because in the first one they suspended us all,” laughs Blanco, who now leads the IGN delegation in the Canary Islands. His face has been one of the most common on television for three months, since his role is to report, almost daily, about the part palm tree eruption scientist. When it is not Blanco who speaks, always wearing his red vest, López, his boss, the director of the Geophysical Observatory, based in Madrid, intervenes.
It is a tandem that has been working with precision since it was launched for the first time in 2011 during the underwater eruption of El Hierro. Blanco and López, López and Blanco, coordinate shoulder to shoulder the volcanic surveillance of the Canarian eruptions. “They are phenomena that extend a lot in time; We take turns due to the physical and emotional exhaustion of carrying out these processes ”, explains López, who was born in Madrid 57 years ago, because“ sometimes fatigue can get you ”. That is why it is rare that they coincide together at the IGN headquarters in La Palma, under the church of Tajuya, since the times are shared on the ground, taking over as fighters in the ring.
The two believe that they have the best partner for this dance; If you trust someone for the opposition’s notes, you can trust yourself to fight a volcano. “You need to lean on someone else all the time, you need someone to tell you that you are making a mistake, all of this is based on trust,” says López. Blanco (Madrid, 59 years old) confirms this: not only are they mutually supportive, they also “put their feet on the ground mutually”. And he adds: “We give ourselves peace of mind, because they are situations in which stress is great, and also maintained over time, and that we are two people with a temperate character gives us a solidity that neither of us individually could have” .
These two volcano tamers have had very similar trajectories, even in their early passion for science. In Blanco’s case, due to his chemical parents, who generated many vocations in the scientific branch in his family. In the case of López, daughter of the realist painters María Moreno and Antonio López, there was also an early interest in science, although with a different path, logical for her: from the art of her parents. “Science has a creative part that has a lot of power, also a fascination for reality. I am fascinated by reality, what happens is that I do not paint it, but I try to understand it. It is not so different ”.
“You need to lean on someone else all the time, someone who tells you that you are wrong”
Carmen López, director of the Geophysical Observatory
The two opted for geophysics. López liked the language of mathematics, very attractive for its ability to explain the world, until a professor at the degree explained that the Earth She is alive: “Although it is a very silly concept, the idea seemed incredible to me.” So it was decided by that branch that studies the phenomena that affect that life on our planet.
Phenomena such as the earthquakes that caused great concern in Tenerife in 2004 and that forced the creation of a volcanic surveillance team from scratch at IGN, an institution that depends on the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda. “Carmen and I were the ones who pulled the car at that moment. We went to Naples and Rome, to the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), to see what they were doing and try to take advantage of the experience of an institution with such a great tradition, with the idea of copying from those who knew much more than us ” White admits.
And only seven years later did the El Hierro crisis erupt, ending with a multi-month-long submarine eruption. They faced it without much experience, López explains, willing to learn from their colleagues at other institutions. “We are not at all intimidated. You have to be humble, you only learn if you recognize that you don’t know, and more so in this science ”, he warns. He acknowledges that in El Hierro he made mistakes that are not being made now: “We know very well what to do; then it was not so clear, we lived an absolute uncertainty ”. And he sums up: “We started out needing advice and ended up being true experts, which has allowed us to be prepared to tackle this new eruptive episode on La Palma.”
“There are many years and many very strong experiences that we have lived together, I feel like a friend to Carmen”
María José López, director of the IGN delegation in the Canary Islands
Now, the pressure is much more serious and the responsibility is much greater, as Blanco admits: “That it is an urban eruption has a very heavy side.” Although López is responsible for volcanic surveillance in Spain, she vindicates the role of her partner: “María José is as important as I am because being the director of the Canary Islands office she is the one who represents the Canarian seal, which is what she always we wanted to make it clear ”. The active volcanoes are in the archipelago and that is where the IGN has an office with 15 people dedicated to it, headed by María José Blanco, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he arrived after taking the place three decades ago. Meanwhile, Carmen López stayed in Madrid, where she now directs the Geophysical Observatory, after approving that opposition together. “And since then we have been co-workers and great friends,” explains López.
For her, part of her success is that they are two women: “Sometimes we are more practical and we put aside that war of protagonism in pursuit of efficiency and of doing it well.” “María José has a personality a little stronger than me, which sometimes comes in handy; We are both very clear that there is nothing that is more important than job performance, ”says López. According to Blanco, his boss is “much more imaginative.” “We have lived together for many years and many very strong experiences and although it is true that we do not have much relationship, because we live far away and because of the difference in rank, I feel like a friend to Carmen”, sums up the director of the office canaria of the IGN.
They have been together for three months coordinating the surveillance of the volcano, gathering the consensus of the scientists displaced on the Canary Island, intervening daily to explain the situation as spokespersons, alerting the population when the vagaries of the volcano cause new scares. Considerable weight on their backs, which they share together. Did you imagine yourself watching volcanoes when you shared topics at the end of the race? “At that time, I decided that I did not want to dedicate myself to teaching,” recalls Blanco, “because the responsibility of training students seemed too much to me. Well, take responsibility ”.
You can write to [email protected] and follow MATTER in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
#friends #sharing #notes #directing #surveillance #volcanoes