The activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano has dropped a little over the last 24 hours. The seismic stations recorded about 50 earthquake signals including a regional event mid afternoon Saturday. There were a number of rockfall signals which are generally small and seem to have originated on the active eastern and south eastern areas of the dome.
Low cloud for the last 24 hours has hampered scientists from getting serious views of the dome, but late afternoon yesterday (Saturday) there was a brief period when some good views were obtained. The dome is still growing slowly and a new small spine on the top west side of the January dome was clearly visible.
The COSPEC results from Friday were announced yesterday, these show that the amount of sulphur dioxide gas in the atmosphere was 213 tonnes per day. This is a very low figure.
A GPS survey on the area to the east of the volcano was completed yesterday, the data will be processed today (Sunday) and results announced later.
The dome continues to be very unstable, is extremely large and is still growing. Further collapses are expected shortly, these will cause further pyroclastic flows and ash clouds. Residents are asked to remain vigilent.
Government Information Service