MONTSERRAT

Photographs of eruptions, August 1997



Following are two E-mail messages from Bill Innanen about the photographs
of recent eruptions on his website
I just inserted the appropriate links and thank Bill for his efforts and cooperation!

Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 09:21:33 -0400
From: Bill Innanen 
To: mni-info@gemradio.com
Subject: Re: NEW PHOTOS POSTED  8/10/97 [long]

Friends,

As Doug announced, the new photos are posted - now complete with
narratives.  At least one person managed to find the page last night before
it was even linked in.  (There was one thumbnail photo missing at that time
- sorry 'bout that, John!)  The page is now complete and properly linked to
my Montserrat index page
or you can get to it directly at:
photos 5


I had to start removing some of the older photos in order to make room for
the newer ones.  , the Bennette Roach photo page, has been
removed to my local archives.  If anyone has a specific interest in still
seeing them, please contact me off-line.

The new page has 16 photos, one of which is a "double."  The first 6 are
commercial photos by Kevin West.  My personal thanks to Kevin for making
them available to our group.  Please note and comply with the usage
restrictions noted on the page.  I don't have an e-mail address for Kevin,
but his phone number and snail-mail address are in the narrative for the
first photo.  I can see why his photos are in such demand.  That last photo
of his is spectacular!

The last 10 photos, including the double, were taken by Doug Darby on 26
July, before the pyroclastic flows that damaged Plynouth.  I can't wait to
compare the "after" photos Doug said he took from the same location on
Garibaldi Hill.

Below are the narratives for all of the photos, for those of you who can't
access the page, or just want a preview before making the big download.
(Note: With 16 photos the page takes a bit longer than usual to load.  Have
patience, please!)

Bill

------------------------------------------------
Doug's narratives for Kevin West's photos

1.  PLYMOUTH AND SOUFRIERE HILLS VOLCANO  10/95

This and the next 5 photographs are by KEVIN WEST (address:  Kevin
West, Salem, Montserrat, B.W.I.,  TEL 664-491-6177),  Montserrat's best
known professional photographer and its best documenter in still
photography of the volcano from its beginnings.  Kevin sells photos for
$2.00US and $5.00EC and will select a collection of his best photographs
for off island customers according to their interests on specific
geographic areas or aspects of the volcano.  I've posted this relatively
old photo due to its perspective from the pier in Plymouth, given this
week's events.  I can't help but imagine being at the same spot facing
the equivalent view at the wrong time this week....

2.  PLYMOUTH AND FT. GHAUT DELTA   4/97

Looking up Ft. Ghaut you can see the development of a delta that had
formed as early as April '97, primarily from mudflows rather than
pyroclastic flows.  The delta has been expanded by pyroclastic flows
occurring this week.  To the left behind the rock sea wall is the Port
building with the pier's entrance at the far left.  The Port building
has been damaged but as of last report, not destroyed.  The large
building to the right of the ghaut is Lillian and Capt. Weekes
supermarket and has been destroyed.

3.  STREATHAM    7/97

Streatham was devastated by the 6/25 pyroclastic flow.  This photo
looks north with the airport road below the photo's range and
approximately perpendicular to the road pictured.  For those who
remember the old water tower that lay near the airport road in this
area, that's it to the right in the photo,where the force of the volcano
blew it from its previous postition.

4.  BETHEL CHURCH  7/97

Though we posted other photos of Bethel Church this photo looks from a
different angle and may show some additional detail for those who know
the area.  The view is northeast with Spanish Point beyond.  The main
flow on 6/25 was to the left of the church.

5.  BETHEL BOULDERS  7/97

In the above photo, you may have noticed a couple of boulders to the
left of the church.  They were not there prior to the 6/25 pyroclastic
flow and were brought down the mountain by it.  This photo looks from
ground level and gives an idea of their size.

6.  THE VOLCANO    6/97

Taken at dusk, Kevin swears this was taken from the Long Ground area.
It's hard to believe that there would be electricity and lights on in
any house in Long Ground in June '97.  Amazing.. This fiery glowing is
not frequently apparent or visible from most observation grounds on the
island.  This would be looking at the eastern slope of the volcano.

----------------------------------------
Doug's Narratives for his photos

Note from Doug: The following pictures were all taken a week before the
recent explosive events that cause damage to Plymouth.

1.  UPPER BELHAM    7/97

This long view of the upper Belham River Valley shows the potential
path down to the Belham River Valley.  The ridge marks the western side
of Mosquito Ghaut and as you can see, there are signs of ash into the
upper Belham Valley.  The volcano, obviously, is under the clouds on the
right of the picture and St . George Hill is underneath.  Taken from
Garibaldi Hill.


2.  OLD TOWNE AND THE VUE POINTE HOTEL  7/97

From Garibaldi Hill, looking down on Isles Bay on the near side of the
Belham Valley and Old Towne and the Vue Pointe Hotel on the far side.
The view is generally north. The golf course is the grassy area in
between and is on the floor of the Belham Valley.  As of this date, all
areas in this picture have been evacuated due to the potential danger.
If a flow reached this area it would flow from the right heading to the
sea.   As you can see, the area is lush, green and beautiful.  A flow
would have to be multiple sizes larger than anything experienced to date
to have the energy to reach this area, but the potential is real
according to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory scientists.

3.  PLYMOUTH: LONG VIEW  7/97

Though this photo may be too long to be useful I have included it to
show an overall view of Plymouth as seen from Garibaldi Hill.  The view
is south southeast.

4.  LOVER'S LANE AND FT. GHAUT  7/97

The three circular metal buildings are the Rice Mill located on Lover's
Lane above Plymouth..  The inner ridge at the top of the photo is Ft.
Ghaut, the path taken by the flows heading west.  To date according to
reports, the flows have remained directed down the ghaut enough to have
not damaged the rice mill.  To the right of the rice mill is what was
Montserrat Electric's primary power generation plant and the Public
Works Department.

5.  THE DELTA GASOLINE STORAGE TANKS/ LOVERS LANE    7/97

Further northwest of the volcano on Lover's Lane are the gasoline
storage tanks of Delta.  Still visible is Ft. Ghaut  giving a
perspective of the distance between the tanks and the main pathway of
pyroclastic flows into Plymouth.

6.  CORK HILL 7/97

From Garibaldi Hill you get an idea of the path a flow would take to
get to Cork Hill.  Assuming a pyroclastic flow would follow a ghaut
(less likely as the ghauts other than the Upper Belham have been filling
up), a flow could come down the left side and be turned back toward Cork
Hill by  the hill below Molyneaux.   Cork Hill is actually on the other
side of the Belham River away from the initial direction of.a flow.
However,  you can see in the left center of the photo a small browned
area that marks where a surge associated with the 6/25 event singed an
area of trees near Cork Hill.  The view is southeast. St. George Hill
stands between Cork Hill and the volcano affording some protection, but
a surge was seen this week climbing St. George Hill before it descended
into Gages Valley to the south of St. George and toward Plymouth.

7. (the "double") THE PATH TO PLYMOUTH  7/97

Thanks to the magic of Bill's software skills two photos have been
patched together to show the complete path into Plymouth from the
volcano^Å The hill between the path and Garibaldi Hill is part of St.
George Hill with houses in Weekes below to the left.  Though this
partially duplicates some of what's covered in other photos, if it
works, it will show the complete path in a single view.

8.  VOLCANO: LONG VIEW  7/97

Events of this week have had simultaneous pyroclastic flows heading in
both directions, to the right and left in this photo.  To the right into
Plymouth and to the left into Mosquito Ghaut and down the northeastern
slope toward Harris.  Very little has headed down the Belham side in a
northwesterly direction.

9.  OLD TOWNE/VUE POINTE HOTEL AND ISLES BAY: LONG VIEW  7/97

Still beautiful and untouched by any activity, yet threatened by the
possibility. Looking north. And now evacuated.

10.  CENTRE HILLS, FRITH'S AND SALEM  7/97

The area of Frith's has been included in the current evacuation.  It is
in the center of the photo with Salem above it.   Salem remains safe.
The volcano is behind the photographer's right shoulder.  Centre Hills
in the distance protects the north from the potential threat of the
volcano.  Geological evidence shows that volcanic events from the south
have never impacted the areas north of Centre Hills.  The building to
the very right on the hill is Air Studios, where so many musicians,
including all who will perform at the London September 15 benefit for
Montserrat at Royal Albert Hall, including Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney,
Elton John, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, Sting, and perhaps Jimmy
Buffett, as well as Montserrat's own Arrow ("Hot ,Hot, Hot")  have
recorded.

-------------------------------
PS from Bill - The "magic" that Doug referred to in #7 didn't work out
quite as I had expected.  I had thought I'd use my new "Spin Panorama"
software to stitch the two photos together.  Unfortunately there wasn't
enough overlap to establish the needed control points, so I fell back to
the old reliable Photoshop.  WGI

--
Bill Innanen                     
                              


. . . The Electronic Evergreen, courtesy of GEM Radio Network
END



---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 12:18:44 -0400 From: Bill Innanen To: "Ben L. Oostdam" Subject: Re: Montserrat Reporter Photos Ben, You wrote: >Good Morning, Bill, yesterday Doug Darby said you had put some new picts >on the Web for him, but he did not give us the URL. I want to include that >in our Website and wonder if you could send it to me? Thanks a lot Doug knew that I'd be giving it and that it wasn't quite ready yet. If you haven't already seen my post on the subject, the URL for my Montserrat index page is: here

A link to that from your page would be most appropriate.  If you link to
specific photo pages, it could go "stale" on you without notice as I remove
older photos to make room for the new ones, like I had to do this time.

If you do link to my page, please send me the URL of your page.  I like to
keep track of where people find out about my pages.  If you look at my
guest book you'll see that that is practically the first question I ask
visitors, "where did you find out about me?"

Best,
Bill

--
Bill Innanen                     
                              


first version: August 12, 1997; file:/~ehem/car/islands/MTS_picts.html;


Return to EHEM Directory Contents --) EHEM Home Page