Seismological network - deformation monitoring network - magnetism network
geochemistry networks - meteorological Network

Chart of the Monitoring Networks at "Soufriere"

Introduction to the Monitoring networks

The Monitoring networks consists of almost 200 sites of measurements of which about sixty are equipped with autonomous stations (with batteries and solar panels) connected by radio-transmission to the Observatory. The networks cover primarily "Soufriere" in a broad sense, but about fifteen stations are dispersed on the Arc of the Lesser Antilles, from Nevis (in the north) to Dominica (in the south), passing by the islands of the archipelago of Guadeloupe.
At the south the networks of the Observatory of Martinique take over and extend from Martinique to Sainte-Lucie (see the detailed charts below).

They are designed and intended to better understand:

- The operation of the volcano between eruptive periods and to detect in a more reliable way the sudden or progressive changes of behavior which could anticipate an eruption;
- The mechanism of the geodynamic activity of the arc of the Lesser Antilles by the continuous recording of the seismic activity and the determination of its characteristics.

These networks require a permanent technical maintenance (it is one of the principal tasks of the Observatory) and at the same time are upgraded: regularly, often with the assistance of French or foreign scientific teams, the observatory installs new stations and test new methods or seeks to automate manual measurements.