Activity at the volcano was unchanged overnight, with the swarm of VT earthquakes continuing. There was one rock avalanche from the Galway's Wall. The situation remains extremely serious. The Galway's Wall is unstable and could collapse at any time, leading to a lateral blast. Rockfalls and pyroclastic flows to the east are possible. These different dangers mean that people should not enter zones A and B for any reason at all. These areas include St Patricks, Galways, Long Ground and Tar River. There is a very real risk of death for everyone in these areas.
The swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes which began on 30 November continued overnight. 94 VT earthquakes were recorded in this reporting period. Processing of these earthquakes is not complete, but it is thought that they are all located at shallow depths beneath the crater. Four rockfall signals were recorded by the seismic system. One of these, at 03:39 am, was from the Galway's Wall. The other three were from the lava dome.
Observations of the dome made during the night indicate that the rate of growth is relatively low, with no large rockfalls seen. Visibility is very good this morning and MVO staff will continue their inspections of Galway's Wall and the dome along with visiting experts from the USA and France.