First Photo From La Soufriere Shows A Volcanic Crater Lake

(By Ernesto Cooke) – After a series of explosive eruptions at La Soufriere volcano on the island of St Vincent, the first photo of inside the crater has emerged.

The recent photo captured by Desron (lavaman) Rodriquez, who collected souvenir samples of rocks in January at the time of effusive eruptions, gives a clear view of portions of the crater.

The Thrillseeker told News784 on his recent visit, he was able to take a photo of a newly formed lake in the area where the 2021 dome existed.

Professor Richard Robertson, on April 12th, said the explosive eruptions had destroyed the preexisting domes (1979 and 2020-21) and created a new vent.

Rodriguez told News784 he could not view the entire crater since the visibility did not allow it.

“It was amazing, just the site of that lake, absolutely breath-taking; steam was also emitting from the volcano,” Rodriquez said.

Images captured by the Sentinel Satellite have shown an obscured view of the new crater, and no scientist has so far ventured to the summit.

On May 18th Dr Adam Stinton said that the volcano continues to be in a state of unrest with continuous steaming visible from the Belmont observatory.

Stinton says persistent steaming is often associated with volcanic activity either as a precursor or remnant after the main phase of activity.

The Volcanologist on May 18th said from satellite images; it appears that the new crater would be about 600-700 in diameters and could be 100 – 300 meters deep; Stinton said it’s a sizeable hole that has been excavated inside the floor of the summit.

The UWI SRC monitoring the volcano on the island confirmed on Monday 17th that thermal anomalies, indicating high temperatures inside the new crater, continue to be detected by the NASA FIRMS alert system.

The volcano alert on the island remains at ORANGE.