Volcanoes that have been silent for decades are coming back to life in the eastern Caribbean, which has caused officials to issue alerts in Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists struggle to study the activity they say, not observed years ago.
The latest warning was issued Tuesday by La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a row of islands that are home to more than 100,000 people. Officials reported tremors, strong gas emissions, the formation of a new volcanic dome and changes in its crater.
The Caribbean Emergency and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday that scientists observed “an effusive eruption inside the crater with visible gas and steam.”
The government warned that those living near the volcano should be prepared to evacuate if necessary, thus declaring an orange warning. This means that the eruption could happen less than 24 hours in advance.
The Soufriere is located on the northern tip of the main island of St. Vincent, and the last time it erupted was in 1979 and 192, when it claimed the lives of 1,600 people.
This would have happened just after the Mt. Fight in Martinique erupted and left more than 30,000 people dead.
Mt. Baralli is also now active once again. In early December, officials in French Caribbean territory issued a yellow warning due to seismic activity under the mountain. It was the first such alert issued since the volcano last erupted in 1932, Fabrice Fontaine of the Martinique Volcanic and Seismological Observatory told AP.
While the eastern Caribbean is a long chain of active and extinct volcanoes, volcanologist Erik Klemetti, of Denison University in Ohio, said the activity on Mount Baralli and the Soufriere are unrelated.
While the eastern Caribbean is a long chain of active and extinct volcanoes, volcanologist Erik Klemetti of Denison University in Ohio said activity on Mount Baralli and Soufriere are unrelated.
“It’s not like a volcano is starting to erupt that others will,” he said. “It falls into the match category.”
He said the activity is evidence that magma is lurking underground and percolating to the surface, although he added that scientists still do not have a very good understanding of what controls how quickly it passes.
“The answers are not entirely satisfactory,” he said. “It’s the science that’s still being investigated.”
Klemetti said the most active volcano in recent years in the eastern Caribbean has been Soufrière Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.
Seventeen of the 19 living volcanoes in the eastern Caribbean are located on 11 islands, and the remaining two are underwater near the island of Granada, including a so-called Kick ’em Jenny that has been active in recent years.