Montserrat’s Soufrière Hills volcano, the ‘Pompei of the Caribbean’, was rumbled by a “swarm” of five volcanic-tectonic earthquakes last week, sparking fears of eruption.
The current hazard level on the mountainous Caribbean island is Level 1, which indicates more than one year without measured activity.
But volcanologists monitoring the volcano have noted increased volcanic stirring underneath Montserrat.
Using GPS data from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), a group of scientists have now determined up to 35 cubic feet of magma is building up beneath the island every seven seconds.
According to Professor Jurgen Neuberg, a volcanologist at the University of Leeds, none of the deadly magma buildup has breached the surface just yet.
Professor Neuberg said: “Except for the gas plume there is nothing visible on the surface, but the instruments show us clearly that the deformation is ongoing and the entire island is still inflating.”
Poisonous Sulphur Dioxide flux measurements last Monday February 26 have also revealed leaks amounting to hundreds of tonnes per day.
The MVO said in a report: “Measurements of the SO2 flux were made using the helicopter on February 26.
“A total of 11 traverses beneath the plume were carried out, with an average SO2 flux of 328 tonnes per day.”
The areas directly surrounding Soufrière Hills have been blocked off from public by the National Disaster Preparedness and Response Advisory Committee (NDPRAC).
The restricted areas include St George’s Hill, Soufriere Hills, South Soufriere Hills, Plymouth, Lee’s, Harris, Spanish Point as well as a maritime area up to one km from the mouth of Tar River Valley.
Anyone found in the restricted area could be liable to prosecution by the authorities.
Montserrat’s dormant volcano last erupted in 1997, when the fiery mountain reared its ugly head after a two-year-long period of activity.
At the height of the dramatic eruption, 19 people tragically lost their lives.
The island’s capital Plymouth was buried under a 12m thick cover of mud, destroying the local airport and docking infrastructure.
The southern part of the island was left uninhabitable and is now an exclusion zone where visitors rarely go.
More than half of the islands population packed up and left in the aftermath of the eruption, due to the crippled economy and destroyed housing.
The city of Plymouth was completely abandoned in 1997 and till this day remains a desolate ghost town buried beneath the ground.
The volcano has consistently puffed clouds of ash and smoke since the eruption, with occasional small eruptions streaming down the mountain’s sides.