The Montserrat Volcano Observatory has reported a “large rockfall” at the site of the Soufriere Hills volcano.
The event took place on Monday, 24 February, inside the scar of the 2010 partial dome collapse, a Facebook post from the observatory said.
“It was detected by our seismic network and confirmed using thermal camera imagery,” the statement added.
A video from a thermal camera, which is sped up eight times, shows the location of the rockfall as a bright spot inside the scar and indicates that the time of the event was just after 4am.
Click below to watch:
Observatory director Dr Graham Ryan told Montserrat Focus: “We have seen this kind of activity before. The volcanic dome is fairly stable, but pieces fall off from time to time.
“This is one of the bigger rockfalls in recent times, but doesn’t appear to be unusual. We were lucky to be able to catch it with the thermal camera.
“When the helicopter comes we will take a closer look at what happened.”
The last notable event that Montserrat Volcano Observatory recorded was a “brief but intense” swarm of 93 earthquakes in the vicinity of Soufriere Hills volcano on 19 December, 2024.
The activity led the experts at the observatory to advise authorities to temporarily suspend activities in Zone V.
Soufrière Hills is an active volcano that erupted in the 1990s, devastating much of the island and rendering the capital, Plymouth, uninhabitable.
Guidance on how to plan and prepare for volcanic activity is available on the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website here.