Sakurajima volcano (Japan): large explosion damages cars

Wed, 4 Sep 2013, 14:49

14:49 PM | BY: T

Vulcanian explosion from Sakurajima this morning (JMA)

Damage to cars from this morning's eruption (JMA)

A moderately large vulcanian explosion occurred this morning, producing significant fallout of lapilli and small bombs in several kilometers distance. Cars parked at the Arimura Lava observatory observation point to the south of the volcano were damages and windshields broken, at a distance of about 4 km. There are no reports of injuries to people.
The ash plume from the eruption rose to approx. 12,000 ft (3.6 km) elevation, i.e. about 2.5 km km height. In itself, today's explosion is not even among the largest that have occurred in the past months, but the volcano clearly continues to be in a state of elevated activity when seen on a long-term average. The following webcam time-lapse video shows frequent ash emission and explosions from the volcano today:
In a recent interview with Radio New Zealand, volcanologist Masato Iguchi mentions that the volcano might be heading for a larger eruption comparable to that of 1914:
“The magma level deep within the volcano is back to about 90% of what it was before the 1914 eruption. So we do have to worry about a big eruption in the long term”.

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Report by JMA (in Japanese)
Another eruption by Mt Sakurajima foreseen in Japan (Radio New Zealand)

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Wed, 28 Aug 2013, 08:58

Sakurajima volcano (Kyushu, Japan) activity update

Activity remains at high levels. Over the past 24 hours, the volcano has had 8 explosions recorded by VAAC Tokyo, with ash plumes rising to up to 12,000 ft altitude. The following shows an explosion this morning seen from Kagoshima: Read all

Fri, 23 Aug 2013, 06:58

Sakurajima volcano (Japan): strong explosions

MODIS hot spot data (past 7 days) for Sakurajima volcano (ModVolc, Univ. Hawaii)

On 21 August, the volcano had at least 8 (!) vulcanian-type explosions with ash plumes rising up to 15,000 ft (4,5 km) altitude that often drifted over the bay and Kagoshima city, causing ash fall there. Some of the explosions can be seen on the following time-lapse video. The volcano has been in an elevated state of activity during the past weeks. A significant hot spot is visible on MODIS data, suggesting that magma levels are high in the crater and the presence of significant amounts of still hot fresh deposits on the flanks. ... Read all

Mon, 19 Aug 2013, 07:32

Sakurajima volcano (Japan): large explosion sends ash plume to 20,000 ft (6 km) altitude

A very large vulcanian explosion, one of the largest during this year occurred yesterday morning. It produced a mushroom shaped ash column that rose to about 20,000 ft (6 km) altitude that drifted over the Kagoshima town where ash fall occurred. Read all

Wed, 14 Aug 2013, 15:10

Sakurajima volcano (Kyushu, Japan) activity update

SO2 plume from Sakurajima volcano (NOAA)

Explosions have been averaging to about 2-3 per day over the past week. Many of them have been moderately large with plume heights reaching 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude. Read all

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Sakurajima volcano (Japan): large explosion damages cars

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