Montserrat Volcano Observatory


Daily Report
Report for the period 6 pm 5 December
to 6 pm 6 December 1997


Seismicity has been at a slightly higher level today, but still with mainly rockfall signals being recorded.

Unfortunately, there is no earthquake count today since there have been problems with the broadband seismic analysis system. However, the predominant seismic signals recorded on the drums have been once again due to rockfalls from the dome. Visibility was fair today, but no good views of the top of the dome were obtained. Rockfall activity in the Galways area was fairly continuous throughout the reporting period. This is still where the active growth is concentrated, but some small rockfalls were also observed into Tuitts Ghaut. The wind direction today was towards the north-west, and some areas of Woodlands experienced light ashfall overnight.

Correlation spectrometer measurements were attempted from the police launch today, but were unsuccessful due to a malfunction of the instrument. These will be tried again early next week.

Although activity is still mainly focused on the southern side of the volcano, past experience has shown that the area of growth on the dome can change very quickly and pyroclastic flows could occur down any of the ghauts around the volcano with little or no warning.

Average dust levels over the last 24 hours in St. Johns, St. Peters and Woodlands were low.


Montserrat Volcano Observatory