NEMO says there is no unusual activity at La Soufriere volcano amid steaming

By Admin. Updated 3:28 p.m., Sunday, September 8, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4). 

The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) says there is no unusual activity at the La Soufriere volcano amid steaming in the volcano’s crater that was visible in some northern communities.

In a September 8 Facebook post showing photos of the crater, NEMO said a team from its Soufriere Monitoring Unit visited the volcano and submitted some photos of the steaming as part of their routine monitoring.

“There are extremely hot rocks in the crater and when these hot rocks interact with water this results in steaming which is more visible to nearby communities. This steaming is likely to go on for years or decades until the rocks have cooled sufficiently to not generate steam,” NEMO said.

“From visual observations and continuous monitoring of our seismic stations and data, there is no unusual activity at the La Soufriere volcano,” NEMO added.

The La Soufriere volcano began erupting explosively on April 9, 2021 after months of effusive eruptions that began in late December 2020.

The explosive eruptions ended on April 22, 2021. Those eruptions displaced thousands of people and the heavy ashfall damaged property, infrastructure, and agriculture, mainly in the north of the country.

Before that period, the last recorded period of explosive eruptions was April 1979.