Rockfall activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano has continued during the day, although at a somewhat lower level than yesterday. Other seismic signals remain at a low level. The volcano remains in a dangerous state, and the level of activity could escalate at any time. The number and size of rockfalls is likely to increase over the next few days to weeks, and there may be pyroclastic flows into the Tar River Valley. The Tar River and Long Ground areas remain especially dangerous and anyone entering these areas is risking death.
A total of 12 rockfall signals triggered the broadband network today. Most were considerably smaller than over the past few days, although there is no reason to think that dome growth has slowed. In addition to rockfall signals, two small volcano-tectonic earthquakes were recorded. There were also two regional earthquakes recorded during the reporting period. Broadband tremor on the Gages seismometer has been present at a low amplitude for much of the reporting period.
Four of the stations of the short-period seismic network were not functioning today due to an electronics problem overnight; repairs have been undertaken during today and the stations should be back on line later this evening.
Visibility was poor today and no views of the dome or crater area were possible. The low cloud cover also prevented any EDM measurements during the day. The problems with the seismic network meant that repairs to the COSPEC could not be attempted.
A GPS survey of the network on the western side of the volcano was undertaken today; the survey has only just been completed and the results have not yet been processed.