Movement beneath the eastern Caribbean island is believed to be responsible for the swarm of volcanic tremors that began on October 4.

They were followed by a series of ash-venting events that sent plumes soaring high into the air. In addition to ash plumes, pyroclastic flows and lava dome growth have been reported as part of the current eruptive activity.

Soufriere Hills roared back to life in 1995, with clouds of hot ash eventually forcing residents of the capital Plymouth to abandon their homes and businesses forever.

A series of explosive eruptions from 1995 through 1998 prompted about half of the British territory’s residents to move to nearby islands, the United Kingdom or elsewhere.

More than half the island has been declared an exclusion zone due to the volcanic danger, making it off limits to residents and visitors. Access to one small section on the southwest coast is now limited to daylight hours only.

The image to the upper right was taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) on October 11, 2009, and shows one of the ash plumes from the latest activity extending westward from the volcano over the Caribbean Sea.

The image is what is known as an “oblique” photograph, because it was taken out of a window of the ISS at an angle rather than looking straight down. In this instance, the ISS was passing to the northeast of Montserrat over the Atlantic when the photograph was taken.

The oblique view gives the scene a more three-dimension quality, and provides a look at the vertical structure of the volcanic plume.

While much of the island is covered in green vegetation, gray deposits that include material left from several pyroclastic flows and volcanic mudflows (lahars) are visible extending from the volcano toward the coastline.

Full story and image: NASA