The volcano has remained mainly quiet over the past 24 hours despite the passage of Hurricane Georges. Two seismic stations are now recording data again, and seismicity remains low. The remainder of the network will be re-installed over the next few days.
Ash and sulphurous smells were reported from the northern and western parts of the island this morning, and visual observations from Jack Boy Hill revealed vigorous ash and steam venting from the dome. This venting activity decreased during the day.
Visual observations from the HMS Sheffield helicopter revealed that all of the main valleys were steaming due to water erosion into hot pyroclastic flows during the night and this morning. Steaming was most obvious in the White River valley, where the deposits from the Boxing Day eruption are still extremely hot a few feet below the surface. No fresh pyroclastic flows were seen.
As anticipated, there was a lot of mudflow activity during the passage of the hurricane, with the Belham valley below the bridge totally inundated with water and debris. New debris several feet thick was also deposited on the airport runway from mudflows. A deep gulley has been eroded along the course of Fort Ghaut.
Residents of Montserrat should continue to check Radio ZJB in case of sudden developments in the state of the volcano.