Alert level: Yellow
- IGPG bulletins (French)
- Global Volcanism Program page
- The 1902 disaster and follow-up by Frank Perret
This early twentieth-century Big Bad has been slowly waking up again, and I decided to do a post on it (but not pinning it) after this update today via the Volcano News blog:
The following is an excerpt/highlights. The complete report PDF in French can be found here.)
A) Volcanic activity of Mount Pelée
Mount Pelée is an active explosive volcano that has experienced numerous magmatic and phreatic eruptions in the past. Since the end of the last magmatic eruption in 1932, which was associated with the formation of a lava dome, its activity has decreased significantly, until the cessation of fumarolic activity since 1970 and overall very low seismic activity.
Since April 2019, seismic activity has risen above its baseline established from continuous instrumental observations in previous years. This new activity is characterized by numerous low-energy shallow earthquakes, a few rare deep earthquakes (located at a depth of approximately 10-20 km beneath the volcanic edifice), and the appearance of tremor and long-period seismic signals, indicating movements of overpressured fluids in the hydrothermal system. Areas of degraded vegetation on the southwest flank of Mount Pelée observed since 2019 indicate diffuse degassing of CO₂ from the ground. A degassing zone at sea (presence of low-temperature CO₂ bubbles) north of Saint-Pierre is being monitored in partnership with the Martinique Marine Natural Park to track the evolution of this phenomenon in possible relation to the volcano’s activity. Since June 2022, the deformations of the edifice measured by the GNSS sensor network indicate a weak long-term swelling that can be interpreted by a superficial source of slight pressurization located under the summit part of Mount Pelée. This source could be generated by the rise of limited volumes of hydrothermal and/or magmatic fluids (gas, hydrothermal waters) into the volcanic edifice from the depths of the magmatic system. All of these observations reflect a reactivation of the volcanic system that is still ongoing in April 2025, although at a relatively reduced level in recent months on some observables.
In April 2025, volcanic seismic activity increased compared to the previous month and was marked by the beginning of a swarm of deep, hybrid, long-period earthquakes. The seismic energy released by all shallow earthquakes remains low, and no volcanic earthquakes were felt. The temperature and acidity (pH) of the thermal springs of the edifice show no significant variation. Deformations of the edifice are very low and appear stable in the short term. It should be remembered that during phases of volcanic reactivation, periods of higher activity, particularly seismic, often alternate with phases of lower activity. The probability of short-term eruptive activity remains low. However, taking into account all the observations collected since the end of 2018 and their nature, and on the basis of the OVSM-IPGP observations recorded during the month of April 2025 and summarized in this bulletin, we cannot exclude a change in the situation in the medium term (years, months, weeks, see table in appendix). In accordance with the provisions planned by the authorities, the alert level is currently YELLOW ALERT
Updates
December 14, 2025, 10:21 a.m., Pacific: Mont Pelée’s alert status is unchanged. I am updating all these posts, and ran the current OVSM-IPGP bulletin through Google Translate:
Institute of Globe Physics from Paris, OVSM
Place called Blondel, Morne la Rosette,
Observatory Road,
97250 Saint Pierre, Martinique
http://www.ipgp.fr/fr/ovsm/actualites-communiques-
publics-de-lovsm
bluesky: @ovsm.bsky.social
facebook: ObservatoireVolcanoSismoMartinique
youtube: IPGP channel
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Weekly report
Paris Institute of Globe Physics
Martinique Volcanological and Seismological Observatory
Activity of Mount Pelee
Saint-Pierre, December 12, 2025, 2:30 p.m. local time (GMT-4)Volcanic activity has been stable this week with 19 volcanic earthquakes observed.
Between December 5, 2025 at 16:00 (UTC) and December 12, 2025 at 16:00 (UTC), the OVSM has recorded:
• 19 shallow volcano-tectonic type earthquakes. Among them, 3 have a magnitude (duration magnitude
Md or local magnitude Mlv) higher than 0.5. The largest has a magnitude Mlv = 1.7. The others are of lower energy. These earthquakes originate from well-known seismically active zones at Mount Pelee, located between 1.0 and 1.4 km below the summit of the volcano. Superficial volcano-tectonic seismicity is associated with micro-fracturing in the volcanic edifice related to the overall reactivation of the volcano
observed since 2019.No earthquake was felt by the population.
The week before, the OVSM had recorded 27 earthquakes of volcanic origin. As of December 12, and during the last 4 weeks, the OVSM recorded a total of 299 volcanic earthquakes, and an average of 74 to 75 volcanic earthquakes per week.
During phases of volcanic unrest on volcanoes similar to Mount Pelee, it is usual to observe seismic activity variable in intensity and frequency. The probability of eruptive activity in the short term remains low. However, given all the observations collected since the end of 2018 and their nature, and based on the recent observations of the OVSM-IPGP, we cannot exclude a medium-term evolution of the situation (weeks, months).
For more details on longer-term observations and interpretations of volcanic activity, please refer to the monthly bulletins of the OVSM.
The alert level, in accordance with the provisions planned by the authorities, is currently YELLOW: vigilance
The Director’s office of OVSM-IPGP.
InformationThe data in this report are preliminary and subject to change depending on their subsequent analysis.
The reports of OVSM-IPGP, including detailed monthly bulletins, are available at https://www.ipgp.fr/observation/ovs/ovsm/.
You can also find us on our Bluesky and Facebook accounts. Locations of volcano-tectonic and tectonic earthquakes determined by the OVSM-IPGP are available in real-time at https://renass.unistra.fr/fr/zones/les-antilles/.
To receive the weekly report by email, simply request it at: infos@ovmp.martinique.univ-ag.fr
The information in this document cannot be used without explicit reference to it.
Featured image: Pelee in 2019, by Chromoprisme/Shutterstock
Flight To Wonder 