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Sakurajima volcano, Japan: vulcanian explosions in July 2013 (photos)
During the 2013 IAVCEI conference held in Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan, from 19-24 July, Tom had the opportunity to visit the volcano (mainly in the evenings) and take pictures of the elevated activity the volcano was in during this time.
Vulcanian-type explosions, sometimes powerful with ash plumes rising up to 20,000 ft (6 km) altitude occurred at exceptionally high rates of 5-10 per day, and during intervals, the volcano had often displayed (silent as well as loud) near-constant ash venting in combination sometimes with deep-seated strombolian activity.
A powerful explosion produces a large mushroom plume of ash with two fans drifting to the E and N. (... [
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Evening with Sakurajima in a period of calm. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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Suddenly, the volcano explodes with a very loud detonation and ejects a mass of lava, rocks and a qu... [
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The plume from the explosion rises vertically to 12,000 ft. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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Weak westerly winds drift the plume over the eastern sector, where the otherwise full-moon lit sky d... [
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Constant ash venting and smaller explosions followed during the rest of the night. After the explosi... [
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Zoom onto the Showa crater from the southeast. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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Sakurajima seen from the Shiroyama park. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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A series of 4-5 increasingly powerful explosions occurred within about half an hour on the afternoon... [
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The last explosion produced an ash eruption column rising to 14,000 ft (22 July 07:35 UTC). (Photo: ... [
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Shortly after sunset on 22 July (11:19 UTC), a large explosion occurs that produces an ash plume ris... [
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Sakurajima, Japan, July 2013: The largest explosion observed from close occurred at 23h33 (14:33 UTC... [
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Lava fountaining (or continuous strombolian-type eruptions) during the eruption with lightning cause... [
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The slopes of Showa crater littered with incandescent bombs during the fountaining phase of the ongo... [
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Ash emission from Showa crater on the evening of 24 July. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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An explosion on 24 July evening (12:11 UTC) - only eruption lightning was visible in the ash-filled ... [
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On 14 July, the Showa crater was mainly producing near-constant ash emissions, which were very noisy... [
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Ash emissions reaching about 500 m height above the Showa crater (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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After sunset, small lightnings could sometimes be seen in the ash column (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfei... [
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Moon-lit ash plume with lightning (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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At 12:50 UTC (21:50 local time), a rather small vulcanian explosion could be seen (ash plume height:... [
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During the second half of the night 14-15 July, the Showa crater continued to produce noisy ash emis... [
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Occasionally, strombolian activity was strong enough to eject bombs above the rim of Showa crater (e... [
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Small ash puff on the afternoon of 19 July, seen from Kagoshima Bay. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [
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