The seismic activity at the volcano has increased markedly overnight, with the occurrence of another strong volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm. The swarm began at 19:30 last night, and since then 53 earthquakes have been recorded. The number of earthquakes per hour has so far been less than the rate recorded during the major swarm on 1-2 November, but the rate is slowly increasing. Some of the earthquakes in the last two hours have been as large as the largest recorded during that swarm. There is no evidence of the deeper earthquakes which were part of the last swarm.
Tremor levels at the Gages seismometer have been higher than normal, although this is probably due to increased water and steam movement in the local area. None of the other seismic stations are detecting tremor.
Conditions at the volcano this morning have been very overcast and so no views of the summit have been possible.
The scientific team at MVO are very concerned about the current level of activity. However, the scientists cannot be sure that the earthquakes will lead to potentially dangerous volcanic activity in the next few days. We advise that the alert level remains at Orange and that it may be a few days before the alert level can move down again. We stress that the volcano is still in a very dangerous state and that all residents should follow the recommendations laid out in the alert procedures, and listen to Radio Montserrat.