The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) is a

volcano observatory A volcano observatory is an institution that conducts research and monitoring of a volcano. Each observatory provides continuous and periodic monitoring of the seismicity, other geophysical changes, ground movements, volcanic gas chemistry, and hyd ...

which is located on the Caribbean island of

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with roughly of coastline. It is n ...

, where the

Soufrière Hills The Soufrière Hills are an active, complex stratovolcano with many lava domes forming its summit on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. After a long period of dormancy, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active in 1995 and has continued to ...

volcano (SHV) has been actively erupting since 1995. The MVO staff describe their activities as working to reduce the impact of volcanic activity by monitoring, researching, educating, and advising. The MVO building is situated in the village of Flemmings, in the parish of St. Peter, in the northern part of the island.

History

An operational base was established by the UWI Seismic Research Unit (SRU) immediately following the first phreatic explosions on 18 July 1995. Various scientists and scientific organizations contributed in the following years, organized at various times by the SRU and British Geological Survey (BGS). The Observatory was officially established as an organization by the Montserrat Government in 1999. It is currently managed by the Seismic Research Centre, University of West Indies.

Reaction to the 1995 outbreaks

The volcanologists monitoring and researching the volcanic activities on Montserrat came under immense political pressure to provide suitable advice after the first outbreak. The eruptions have been deemed a classical example of the

black swan problem Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

as a high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare event which provided major challenges for the prediction of further developments. Until 1995, the volcano had been silent for centuries. After some difficulties, the involved scientists began to use statistical models to estimate the probabilities of particular events, a rather subjective method, but suitable to build up experience-based expertise (including local knowledge and experience) step by step.Amy Donovan, Clive Oppenheimer, Michael Bravo. ''Social studies of volcanology: knowledge generation and expert advice on active volcanoes.'' Bulletin of Volcanology, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2012, 74 (3), pp.677-689.
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/ref> A 2012 study about knowledge generation and expert advice on active volcanoes used the Montserrat eruption as a showcase, but included as well interviews with scientists in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

during fieldwork seasons. It listed the Montserrat case among other recent and historical eruptions that had an influence on

volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin word '' vulcan''. Vulcan was the an ...

as a science.

Online sites

Weekly reports of volcanic activity are posted on the official website; MVO also maintains Facebook and Twitter pages. The MVO has another website with profiles about MVO's staff and general work, but this website is no longer being updated.

References

External links

*
official Facebook account

official Twitter account

Official Montserrat Government page about MVO (archived)

MVO's live webcam view of the volcano

Site written by a retired earth scientist about the Montserrat volcano

A view of the 2003 MVO building
{{Authority control Volcano observatories Buildings and structures in Montserrat

History

Reaction to the 1995 outbreaks

Online sites

See also

References

External links