MVO personnel in front of the Observatory	Instrument set-up inside MVO

Legaspi Volcano Station, the first volcano monitoring station at Mayon Volcano was established in 1955 and housed at the Civil Aeronotics building located near the Legaspi City airport. The second volcano station was established in 1966 in Barrio Sta. Misericordia, Sto. Domingo. It was first equipped with a 3-component Akashi seismograph and a short wave radio transceiver. After a few months, the E-W component of the Akashi seismograph was replaced with an E-W component of a high magnification Hosaka seismograph. This station was transferred to Aquinas University in 1973 upon the request of the University Administration. After almost two years, the station was transferred to the Sta. Misericordia Health Center then moved to the newly constructed COMVOL Sta. Misericordia station on 16 October 1976. The Sta. Misericordia station is located at the northeast basal slope of the volcano and less than a kilometer away from the Health Center.

The seismograph installed at the Provincial Resthouse, located at elevation 760 m above sea level at the NNW slope of the volcano had been gathering more reliable monitoring data than the other two stations. For this reason, COMVOL constructed Mayon Resthouse Observatory (MRHO) in 1969, located a few hundred meters upslope the Provincial Resthouse. The MRHO was equipped with a 3-component Hosaka seismograph, a watertube tiltmeter and a short wave radio transceiver. In late 1971, the Legaspi Volcano station was de-commissioned.

A third observatory, the Lignon Hill Observatory was constructed in 1989. The observatory is situated along the flank of a prehistoric cinder cone in the southeast slope of Mayon. It serves as the central monitoring station for Mayon as well as a Science House for visitors and the scientific community in the area.

Personnel:

CONTACT

Mayon Volcano Observatory

Ligñon Hill, Legazpi City

Telephone No. (052) 824-2383

Telefax: (052) 824-0790