Last Thursday, after months of build up and a sustained increase in volcanic and seismic activity over preceding days, a “red alert” was declared on the Caribbean island of St Vincent in the Lesser Antilles, and an evacuation order issued as an eruption of La Soufrière volcano was deemed imminent. The resulting activity has produced a cloud of Sulphur Dioxide stretching all the way across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands.
Many concerns have been expressed about the large plume, which towered between 10km to 16km into the air, over the island as the volcano erupted. The immediate area has been covered in a thick white blanket of ash. Local observers on the ground have been preparing for the possibility of an eruption since at least December, and so consequently, there is good and accurate information already coming from the area affected.
