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.
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. (... [info] (981 Hits) |
Evening with Sakurajima in a period of calm. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (774 Hits) |
Suddenly, the volcano explodes with a very loud detonation and ejects a mass of lava, rocks and a qu... [info] (1838 Hits) |
The plume from the explosion rises vertically to 12,000 ft. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (1399 Hits) |
Weak westerly winds drift the plume over the eastern sector, where the otherwise full-moon lit sky d... [info] (999 Hits) |
Constant ash venting and smaller explosions followed during the rest of the night. After the explosi... [info] (845 Hits) |
Zoom onto the Showa crater from the southeast. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (1032 Hits) |
Sakurajima seen from the Shiroyama park. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (1504 Hits) |
A series of 4-5 increasingly powerful explosions occurred within about half an hour on the afternoon... [info] (996 Hits) |
The last explosion produced an ash eruption column rising to 14,000 ft (22 July 07:35 UTC). (Photo: ... [info] (1464 Hits) |
Shortly after sunset on 22 July (11:19 UTC), a large explosion occurs that produces an ash plume ris... [info] (1094 Hits) |
Sakurajima, Japan, July 2013: The largest explosion observed from close occurred at 23h33 (14:33 UTC... [info] (8834 Hits) |
Lava fountaining (or continuous strombolian-type eruptions) during the eruption with lightning cause... [info] (1321 Hits) |
The slopes of Showa crater littered with incandescent bombs during the fountaining phase of the ongo... [info] (1203 Hits) |
Ash emission from Showa crater on the evening of 24 July. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (950 Hits) |
An explosion on 24 July evening (12:11 UTC) - only eruption lightning was visible in the ash-filled ... [info] (1049 Hits) |
On 14 July, the Showa crater was mainly producing near-constant ash emissions, which were very noisy... [info] (889 Hits) |
Ash emissions reaching about 500 m height above the Showa crater (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (768 Hits) |
After sunset, small lightnings could sometimes be seen in the ash column (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfei... [info] (751 Hits) |
Moon-lit ash plume with lightning (14 July). (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (776 Hits) |
At 12:50 UTC (21:50 local time), a rather small vulcanian explosion could be seen (ash plume height:... [info] (855 Hits) |
During the second half of the night 14-15 July, the Showa crater continued to produce noisy ash emis... [info] (803 Hits) |
Occasionally, strombolian activity was strong enough to eject bombs above the rim of Showa crater (e... [info] (751 Hits) |
Small ash puff on the afternoon of 19 July, seen from Kagoshima Bay. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info] (1482 Hits) |
