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Date Posted: April 02, 2008.
For the next five years the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) will be
jointly managed by the UWI Seismic Research Unit (SRU) and the Institut de
Physique
du Globe de Paris (IPGP), bringing the Caribbean’s only currently erupting
volcano back
under the watch of regional scientists.
This decision is potentially beneficial
to Montserratians and provides significant opportunities for advancing geoscience
research
in the region.
The joint SRU/IPGP contract took effect on April 1, following an almost ten
year
relationship between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the MVO.
Collectively,
the staff of the SRU and the IPGP has over one hundred years of experience
studying
volcanoes in the West Indies and elsewhere. Both agencies were involved in
managing
the MVO during the first few years of the eruption which began in 1995.
“This is a major undertaking for the University of the West Indies and the SRU.
We look forward to strengthening our existing collaboration with the IPGP to
ensure that
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the MVO continues to provide the Government of Montserrat with the highest
quality of
scientific advice while improving on existing practices,” said Dr. Richard
Robertson,
Geologist and Head of the Seismic Research Unit.
Dr. Vincent Courtillot, Professor of Geophysics and Director of Institut de
Physique du Globe added: “We are delighted to undertake this challenging task in
collaboration with our SRU colleagues, with whom we have a longstanding and
close
working relationship. We are already serving the populations of Martinique and
Guadeloupe through volcanic and seismic monitoring and are in an excellent
position,
together with the SRU, to add Montserrat to the other active volcanoes under our
watch”.
IPGP is also responsible for monitoring of the very active Piton de la Fournaise
volcano
on Reunion Island, Indian Ocean, which has erupted 25 times in the past decade.
Based at the UWI’s St. Augustine campus in Trinidad, the SRU monitors
earthquakes and volcanoes for most of the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean
countries.
The IPGP has volcano observatories on Martinique and Guadeloupe, i.e. the main
French-speaking Antilles. Island arcs such as the Lesser Antilles are regions
where
complex real-life hazards exist, not only the better known volcanic eruptions,
but also the
generation of a tsunami by a submarine earthquake or a volcanic landslide. The
linking of
these two research institutions will provide greater opportunities for studying
volcanism
and earthquake activity at arc-scale rather than the scale of individual
islands, a logical
and innovative step towards disaster risk reduction regionally and globally.
“The MVO contract is in line with the University’s current thrust towards
promoting disaster risk reduction. It will provide major opportunities for
deepening
research not only in geoscience but also in hazard and crisis management thereby
improving our understanding of the disaster risk reduction cycle,” said Dr.
Robertson.
“IPGP is getting more and more involved in socially relevant problems that have
to do
with the solid Earth and its interfaces with oceans and atmosphere. These are
also the
source of major scientific advances,” added Dr. Courtillot. Both directors
concluded that,
“The Soufričre Hills Volcano is in our backyard and awarding the management
contract
to the SRU/IPGP emphasizes the relevance and importance of the work being done
at the
UWI, and at IPGP in Paris, in Guadeloupe and in Martinique, to our Caribbean
people.”
The Soufričre Hills Volcano on Montserrat has been erupting since 1995 and has
rendered almost two-thirds of the island uninhabitable, including the former
capital of
Plymouth.
Of the original 12,000 residents only about 4000 of those currently
live on the
island. Montserrat is a British overseas territory in the northern region of the
Eastern
Caribbean.
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