MVO staff in St Vincent
The University of the West Indies, Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) has been leading the response to the volcanic eruption at La Soufriere in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Staff at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) have been providing extensive scientific, technical and administrative support to their colleagues at the UWI-SRC since the beginning of the eruption.
The most recent dome building (effusive) eruption began on December 27th, 2020. Visual observations on December 29th, 2020 confirmed that high temperatures detected by satellites were caused by magma reaching the surface.
MVO support has included personnel who have travelled to St. Vincent to lend assistance on the ground. Their roles have included assisting with extending the monitoring capability, taking specialist measurements and acting as team leader.
To date, three MVO staff members have been deployed to St Vincent and other scientists and technical experts are expected to go in the coming months.
The first to arrive on January 13th 2021 were Dr. Thomas Christopher and Dr. Adam Stinton.
Dr. Christopher used his expertise in the area of geochemistry (volcanic gases) and petrology to assist with the characterisation of the eruption. After the departure of Prof. Richie Robertson, Dr Christopher assumed the role of team leader.
Throughout his time in St Vincent, Dr Stinton carried out thermal and visual observations of the lava dome, collected samples of the lava dome with Prof. Richie Robertson from SRC, and also carried out aerial photogrammetry surveys from which the first high-quality estimates of the dome volume and growth rate were determined.
Dr. Stinton returned to Montserrat on January 20th but continues to process images from drone surveys of the lava dome in order to track the size and growth rate of the lava dome. He is also using optical and radar satellite imagery to track the growth of the lava dome.
MVO volcano seismologist Mr. Rod Stewart and Ms. TiVonne Howe, who recently started a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Christopher, arrived on February 22nd.
Mr Stewart has also held the position of team leader, advising the authorities and taking part in outreach. Mr Stewart has extensive experience as a volcano seismologist. In St Vincent he has been instrumental in setting up the seismic data acquisition and processing systems at the Belmont Observatory, as well as processing and interpreting the incoming seismic signals. Mr Stewart has also been responsible for the training of volunteers in seismic data acquisition and processing.
Ms Howe is working under Dr. Christopher as a first year PHD student for Lancaster University (UK).
Mr Stewart, Ms Howe and Dr. Christopher are currently on St Vincent as their planned return dates have been interrupted by a significant escalation in activity.
Alongside the MVO team positioned in St Vincent, MVO director Dr. Graham Ryan, Dr. Victoria Miller, Dr. Karen Pascal, and the technical team, Mr Carlise Williams and Mr Marlon Fergus, have all played key roles providing expertise and support from Montserrat. The MVO administrative team, Ms Veda Dubery and Mrs Gunjan Jeswani have also provided extensive support.
On April 5th, 2021 there was an uptick in seismic activity with a new swarm of Volcano-Tectonic (VT) earthquakes.
On April 8th, 2021 long period earthquakes were observed as well as banded tremor along with a significant increase in visual gas output from the volcano. These signals were interpreted to be related to a significant increase in the probability of explosive eruption. This led to the Prime Minister
Dr. Hon. Ralph Gonsalves issuing an evacuation order.
On April 9th La Soufrière moved from effusive eruption to explosive, with the first explosion since 1979 taking place at 08:40 AM.
The volcano continues to erupt explosively and has now started to generate pyroclastic density currents. UWI-SRC scientists have confirmed that the recently erupted dome has been destroyed leaving a crater of approximately 750 x 825m.
Explosions and accompanying ashfall are likely to continue to occur over the next few days. The alert level is red.
