Large partial dome collapse at Soufrière Hills: 15 km ash plume (updated)

Quick note: there was a large partial dome collapse at Soufrière Hills volcano this afternoon, beginning at 12:35 local time and lasting 55 minutes. Pyroclastic flows descended to the north-east and reached the sea, and the resulting ash plume reached 50,000 feet a.s.l. (15,240 metres). Report available at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website.

UPDATE. Caribbean airline LIAT has suspended flights in and out of Antigua because of ash clouds from Soufrière Hills. Washington VAAC reports ‘large eruption at 1700Z’ (i.e. 17:00 GMT) with ash emissions reaching FL500 (50,000 feet or 15,240 metres), confirming the earlier pilot reports quoted by MVO. The Soufrière Hills webcam (which can be seen on the MVO front page) seems to show a distinct change in the topography of the summit as a result of the collapse. Well, as of 22:44 GMT the webcam image is completely dark – it may be very ashy there, or there is a technical fault, or the camera has been knocked out by the volcano’s activity.

FURTHER UPDATE. The Washington Post, quoting an AP bulletin, says that 20 people were evacuated during this event, which involved (according to MVO) the largest-scale ejection of material from the volcano for four years. MVO’s Paul Coles reports that 10-15% of the lava dome has been removed by this collapse.

[Thanks to Chance Metz.]

For all our Soufrière Hills coverage: Soufrière Hills « The Volcanism Blog.