The short term decline in activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano continued during the period under review. Events during this period were mainly the small dome failure type (rockfalls). These were recorded at a lower rate than previous days of this concluding week.
A total of 28 rockfall events were recorded during this period, 25 fewer than yesterday. Most of these events were low in both amplitude and duration. It is very unlikely that these had any associated ash clouds. Five long period and no hybrid earthquakes were recorded. Periods of very low-amplitude broadband tremor were evident but these were not dominant.
Due to low cloud cover viewing of the upper sections of the volcano have been impossible. No COSPEC measurements were carried out today.
EDM measurements were not made today due to the poor weather conditions which obscured visibility to the reflectors that are anchoured on the upper slopes of the volcano. The results from yesterdays reoccupation of the dry tilt station at Amersham suggests no measurable deformation has occurred. The last time that this station was reoccupied was on January 4th of this year. GPS measurements were again taken at some of the eastern benchmarks. This technique uses satellite technology and is therefore not adversely affected by the weather conditions. Preliminary processing of the data collected continue to indicate only variations that are within the error range of the instruments used.
Despite the continued low level of activity the volcano remain highly dangerous to people and property on both it's eastern and upper western flanks. People who make visits to the evacuated zone expose themselves to various levels of risk, depending on the area entered. Such visits should be kept to an absolute minimum. The Tar River, Long Ground and Whites areas to the east and upper Fort Ghaut, Gages Village and Upper Amersham areas to the west are all extremely high risk zones. All access roads to these areas remain closed. People should not enter these areas under any circumstances. If they do, they put themselves and others at direct risk of serious injury or death.