Aerial surveillance for St Vincent volcano

AERIAL surveillance is being arranged to monitor activity at the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent, where a dome is still growing in the crater.

A statement issued by the UWI Seismic Research Centre (SRC) C said, "The dome that broke through the crater floor, on December 27, 2020, on the southwest perimeter of the existing dome, continues to grow within the crater of La Soufrière and has an ellipsoid shape with growth expanding in a westerly direction."

An orange alert is being maintained.

The SRC said, "The volcano continues to exude magma on the surface and steam can still be observed from the Belmont Observatory."

People living in areas close to the volcano should expect strong sulphur smells for several days to weeks, depending on changes in wind direction.

The SRC reiterated that St Vincent's National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) has not issued any evacuation order for people living close to the volcano and continues to appeal to the public not to visitthe volcano until scientists say it is safe to do so.said aerial reconnaissance by helicopter was planned for the volcano on Wednesday.

But this did not happen because of heavy cloud cover.

The SRC said the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) finalised helicopter support for the SRC team in St Vincent to instal equipment and collect samples from the summit of the volcano.

"Rotary helicopter aircraft services will be available from Thursday January 14 , 2020. to support access to sampling of the extrusive materials, air lifting equipment to the flanks of the volcano, surveillance/reconnaissance to analyse changes in the volcano and other relevant support to the work of the scientists."

The SRC added, "This service will be provided at a cost of £51,000 through the Memorandum of Understanding on the ‘UK Support for the CDEMA Response Teams programme.’"