Tuesday the 18^th of July 1995: The volcano had been dormant for about four hundred years, suddenly shot a plume of steam thousands of feet in the air, roaring like a jet engine.

21^st of August 1995: Now known as Ash Monday. At around nine in the morning the first large steam and ash eruption covered Plymouth and surrounding areas with about fifteen minutes of darkness.

17^th of September 1996: At 23:42 the mountain lost about 600,000 tons of material – more than a quarter of the dome, sending ash about 40,000 feet into the air. The debris was spread over the southern and eastern parts of the island and destroyed buildings in Long Ground.

25^th of June 1997: Pyroclastic flows travelled through Mosquito Ghaut (pronounced gut) almost to W. H. Bramble Airport. Surges and flows destroyed Streatham’s, Riley’s, Harris’s, Windy Hill, Bramble’s Village, Bethel, Spanish Point, Trant’s and Farms. The surge reached Cork Hill. Nineteen were killed and ten missing.

22^nd of September to the 21^st of October 1997: Seventy six highly explosive volcanic eruptions occurred at between three and thirty hour intervals, with little or no precursory activity, these caused ash clouds reaching 40,000 feet and spread pumice all over the island.

26^th of December 1997. At about three in the afternoon pyroclastic flows and surges associated with a lateral blast destroyed the southernmost occupied part of the island, including St Patrick’s in less than thirty minutes.

12^th of July 2003: Between eleven and midnight, rocks and ash exploded to about 50,000 feet high. The dome lost about two thirds of its size. Activity continued until two am. After heavy rainfall the ash was still over four inches thick and caused the collapse of several garages in Salem, Old Towne and Olveston. Ash reached Nevis, St Kitts forty three miles away, Anguilla, St Martin and Puerto Rico closing several airports.

20^th of May 2006: Pyroclastic flows started around 06:45. At 07:40 an explosion caused ash to rise 55,000 feet into the air. Most of the 90 million cubic meter dome collapsed in less than three hours. This is the biggest dome loss of all time. Activity went on until about 09:00. Ballistic blocks up to fourteen inches across, weighing up to thirty two pounds were found in the northern flanks of the volcano.

8^th of January 2008: At 06:15 a pyroclastic flow travelled down Dyers River as far as Cork Hill, a run of five kilometers. Ash cloud 30,000 feet.

28^th of July 2008. There was a partial dome collapse on the western side of the volcano. At 23:27 pyroclastic flows reached Plymouth, ash cloud at 40,000 feet.

2^nd of December 2009. At 21:35 the explosion and pyroclastic flow generated ash columns and lightening. It is estimated that from source to Plymouth and out to sea in two minutes flat.

5^th of October 2009: Two vigorous events. There was a clear pulsating roaring with thunder and lightning.

8^th of January 2010: An explosion occurred at 14:49, lasted eleven minutes, generated ash plume to 25,000 feet. Pyroclastic flows reached three hundred meters upstream of Belham Bridge.

11^th February 2010: The dome collapsed in fifty five minutes till 13:04. Pilots report ash at 50,000 feet. Pyroclastic flows have extended the coastline several hundred yards at the old Bramble Airport. Pyroclastic flows northwest as far as Cork Hill. Ash fell on north-eastern Montserrat, Antigua, Guadeloupe and Dominica

 

The world's biggest dome collapse (of all time) - when the crater blew in 2006

4th to the 11th February 2011: Actual report from the MVO.

Activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano has been low this week. (low activity means material the size of a washing machine is produced every second - fast activity is the size of a camper van every second).

Eight Volcano Tectonic (VT) earthquakes, nine rockfalls and one long period event were recorded. The VTs occurred randomly through the week rather than in a swarm.

The average sulphur dioxide measurement this week was 279 tons per day, with a maximum of 482 and a minimum of 155 tons per day.

Helicopter observations revealed a moderate sized pyroclastic flow deposit in the Tar River valley on the eastern side of the volcano, which formed early on the 10th of February. The maximum runout was about 1.5 km, and it had an extensive surge component that inundated the lower flanks of Roaches Mountain. Cloud prevented any observations of the lava dome.

Despite the low level of activity, sporadic pyroclastic flows can and do occur without any warning. The Hazard Level is 3. There is no access to the terrestrial Zone C and only daytime transit access to shipping through the maritime extension of the zone.

Today's activity, we could smell sulphur from here

The role of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory is to provide impartial advice to the authorities on the volcanic activity and its associated hazards and risks. The origin of a permanent volcano observatory on Montserrat can be traced to periods of increased seismic activity that began in Montserrat in the early 1990’s, first recognized by the UWI Seismic Research Unit (currently the Seismic Research Centre), through its regional monitoring activities. This activity prompted the SRU to strengthen the seismic network on the island, make field measurements of dry tilt and to look for possible changes in fumarolic activity. The SRU was assisted by scientists from the Guadeloupe Volcano Observatory (of IPGP).

Immediately following the first phreatic explosions on the 18^th of July 1995, the SRU established an operational base on Montserrat so as to provide direct scientific advice on the state of the volcano to the local authorities and to continue upgrading the monitoring network. Acting on the advice of the SRU, the Government of Montserrat then invited scientists from the USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) and the Guadeloupe Volcano Observatory to join the SRU team on-island to assist with its monitoring activities. The SRU and USGS scientists, together with one UK scientist and two student volunteers recruited in early 1995 from the local secondary school, formed the core staff of the emerging observatory.

In July 1995, a temporary facility was established near the government headquarters in Plymouth and was first called the Soufriere Hills Volcano Observatory. The physical location of the Observatory moved from Plymouth to the Vue Pointe Hotel and then to a rented villa in Old Towne in October 1995, at which time the name changed to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

At these early stages of the crisis the Foreign and Commonwealth Office commissioned short visits to Montserrat by individual UK consultants with experience of volcanic activity in the Caribbean. These scientists functioned essentially as advisors to the Governor and to the UK government, but also assisted the MVO with routine monitoring work. In October 1995, the first of a series of short-term contracts from the Overseas Development Administration (ODA, currently DFID) supported the direct involvement of staff from the British Geological Survey (BGS), to work with the incumbent monitoring team. Later, fixed-terms contracts with the BGS supported staff from that organization, UK university scientists and students, and other specialists from time to time. The local complement of staff at the Observatory also increased in October 1995 with the secondment of several Montserratian civil servants from other government departments.

In the early years (1996-1999), the day-to-day running of the MVO was managed by a Chief Scientist, who was responsible for coordinating the scientific work and for reporting to the Government of Montserrat and to the Governor. During the first year of its operation, the Head of SRU fulfilled this role but later this was shared between the SRU and BGS (1996-1997).

In 1998 an Interim Director was appointed and with the incorporation of the MVO as a statutory body in August 1999, a full-time Director was appointed to manage the operations of the Observatory. Overall policy and objectives are determined by a Board of Directors, which is co-chaired by the Governor and the GoM Chief Minister.

From 1998 to March 2008, the MVO was managed by the BGS. Since April 2008, the Observatory has been managed through a partnership of the Eastern Caribbean's two major geo-hazard organizations; The UWI Seismic Research Centre (Trinidad and Tobago) and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (France).

ALL IN ALL UNBELIEVABLE