Prototype PBO instrumentation of CALIPSO project captures world‐record lava dome collapse on Montserrat Volcano

Abstract

This article is an update on the status of an innovative new project designed to enhance generally our understanding of andesitic volcano eruption dynamics and, specifically the monitoring and scientific infrastructure at the active Soufrière Hills Volcano (SHV), Montserrat. The project has been designated as the Caribbean Andesite Lava Island Precision Seismo‐geodetic Observatory known as CALIPSO. Its purpose is to investigate the dynamics of the entire SHV magmatic system using an integrated array of specialized instruments in four strategically located ∼200‐m‐deep boreholes in concert with several shallower holes and surface sites. The project is unique, as it represents the first, and only such borehole volcano‐monitoring array deployed at an andesitic stratovolcano.