In November 2008, an eruption occurred in the Alu-Dalafilla volcanic centre that lies 30 km north of the lava lake, the eruption started on 3 November and eruptive activity peaked over a few hours and then waned exponentially until stopping on the night of 6 November 2008.

Based on a combined analysis of satellite images and seismicity, the surface deformation before, during and after the Alu-Dalafilla eruption has been studied using an extensive InSAR data set. This information has been used to provide the first evidence for a shallow (<2 km deep) elongated axial magma chamber at a subaerial slow-spreading segment and to determine its shallow crustal magmatic plumbing system and, for the first time, to observe the dynamic behaviour of an elongated axial magma chamber.