Many recipients of the MVO daily reports will know that that the MVO are on the move. This special notice is to give everyone a bit more idea what's happening.
Why move? The MVO is sited in Old Towne just above the Belham valley. For the past two months the dome has been growing at an unprecedented rate ( 7 to 8 m3/s) and has had some quite major vulcanian explosions. The volcano in the last few days has changed the topography dramatically on the northern and western flanks in such a way that future pyroclastic flow are likely to move down the Belham Valley. The dome has also grown into a very large mass. MVO is thus now in a very vulnerable position.
Where are we going? An almost complete 3 storey building has been identified in the north of the island at Mongo Hill above St Johns towards the Centre Hills. The building provides outstanding and superior accommodation. The new MVO will have the operations room, the computer room, excellent office space, an area for exhibitions, a small library and study room, a seminar room, a dirty lab, an electronics lab and video studio. The helicopter can land right outside and telecommunications can see both sides of the island. All the MVO staff are delighted with the building.
When are we going? It is expected that the main operations can be transferred to the new MVO over the next several days. There is quite a lot of building work to be done however and we are expecting about a month to have the whole building operational. Particular mention should go to Dave Williams who has been doing an outstanding job in organising the move and setting up the telecommunications links. Jean Pierre Viode has arrived from the Martinique Observatory to help with the move and MVO is very grateful for the support of the IPG, France.