KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) Monday warned people not to visit the La Soufriere volcano as above-normal temperatures have been detected there.
“Potential scenarios associated with the detection of the thermal anomaly include a sulphur fire in the crater, a small phreatic (steam) eruption that may have exposed hot underlying rocks, or the start of new extrusion of lava in the crater,” NEMO said.
La Soufriere erupted explosively on April 9, 2021, about five months after the volcano began erupting effusively. It was the second time that the volcano erupted in just over four decades, following the 1979 eruption, which came after another explosive eruption in 1902.
NEMO said that the latest spike in temperature was detected at the summit of the 4,000-foot volcano by the NASA FIRMS hot spot detection system on Sunday.
“According to information received from the Seismic Research Centre at 2:38 pm (local time). today (Monday).. a low thermal anomaly (temperatures above existing background/base levels) was detected at the summit of the La Soufriere volcano by the NASA FIRMS hot spot detection system on Sunday October 6, 2024,” NEMO said in a statement.
It said that “this low thermal anomaly as detected by NASA FIRMS is currently ongoing” and that analysis of multigas data collected on October. 4 by NEMO Soufriere Monitoring Team, and further reconnaissance via sea along the west coast on Monday are still underway.
“Further updates will be given following the analysis of the multigas data and the conclusions from the visual observations,” NEMO said, advising that the volcano still remains at a green alert level, meaning that the volcano is quiet; seismic and fumarolic (steam vent) activities are at or below the historical level at this volcano.
No other unusual activity has been observed.
NEMO said in the meantime, it is “advising persons not to visit the volcano at this time and that the La Soufriere Trail remain closed.
“There should be no unauthorized visits to the summit until further notice,” it added.
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