The UWI Seismic Research Centre’s (UWI-SRC) scientific team has increased its capacity to bolster seismic monitoring of La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) through a donation of seismic stations and tele-metry equipment.
The USGS-USAID Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) recently donated equipment to build four seismic stations and radios to enhance communication.
Three of the stations are solar powered installations with post-hole seismometers. The fourth sensor is a spider seismometer, a device that is designed for rapid deployment in high risk locations where human exposure to hazards should be minimized e.g. volcanic craters.
The USGS-USAID VDAP approved the donation after receiving a request from UWI-SRC following the effusive eruption, which was first detected on December 29th, 2020.
UWI-SRC Instrumentation Engineer, Lloyd Lynch said this equipment is needed as it allows the Scientists to densify the seismic network by placing them in locations where there are significant gaps and the spider seismometer will fortify the near crater monitoring,
In the event of escalated volcanic activity at La Soufriere, enhanced monitoring should allow scientists to alert authorities with sufficient time to activate appropriate emergency responses e.g. evacuations.
