Montserrat Volcano Observatory
| Montserrat Volcano Observatory | |
|
Montserrat | |
|---|---|
 The Montserrat Volcano Observatory | |
| Type: | Scientific station |
| Location | |
| Location: | 16°44’55"N, 62°12’46"W |
| Village: | Flemmings |
| History | |
| Scientific station | |
| Information | |
| Website: | http://www.mvo.ms/ |
The Montserrat Volcano Observatory is a volcano observatory on the island of Montserrat, watching over the Soufrière Hills volcano, which has been actively erupting since 1995.
The Observatory staff describe their activities as working to reduce the impact of volcanic activity by monitoring, researching, educating, and advising.[1]
The Observatory building is situated in the village of Flemmings, in the parish of Saint Peter, in the northern part of the island. It is just outside the current Exclusion Zone which covers the whole south of the island.
Reaction to the 1995 outbreaks
After the outbreak of eruptions in 1995, the vulcanologists monitoring and researching the volcanic activities on Montserrat came under immense political pressure to provide suitable advice.[2] The eruptions have been deemed a classical example of the 'black swan problem'[3] 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 scientists involved 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.[2] 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, Montserrat, Italy and Iceland during fieldwork seasons.[2] It listed the Montserrat case among other recent and historical eruptions that had an influence on volcanology as a science.[2]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Soufrière Hills) |
- Montserrat Volcano Observatory
- The Observatory's live webcam view of the volcano
- Technical account of the volcano's activity
- Montserrat volcano
- A view of the 2003 MVO building
References
- ↑ The Observatory: What we do
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 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. doi:<10.1007/s00445-011-0547-z insu-00691620
- ↑ Donovan et al. (2012) cite Taleb NN (2007) The black swan: the impact of the highly improbable. Allen Lane, London