Montserrat Volcano Observatory


Daily Report
Report for the period 6 pm 27 December
to 6 pm 28 December 1997


Activity at the volcano has been low again today with the number of earthquakes continuing to decline.

Because of cloud cover no further observations of the dome or of the deposits in the south of the island were possible today. This means that the state of the dome is yet to be seen after the event on Boxing Day morning. Some ash venting was observed from the volcano this afternoon.

Preliminary calculations have shown that a 1 m wave at the jetty in Old Towne, as was observed on Boxing Day, would be consistent with a large debris avalanche entering the sea down the White River. This is partly due to the affect of the islands geography, which would focus such a wave at this point. A GPS survey was carried out today to the north-west side of the volcano.

Between 16:00 yesterday and 16:00 today, a total of 37 hybrid earthquakes, 10 long period earthquakes, 15 rockfall signals and 8 volcano-tectonic earthquakes were recorded by the broadband system. The hybrid earthquakes continued to show evidence of 6 hourly swarms but each swarm was very small.

Air quality at all monitoring stations across the island is good today.

People should remain alert and listen to Radio Montserrat for further information.


Montserrat Volcano Observatory