Sakurajima Volcano Erupts 31 Times This Year
Japan: "No Signs of Large-Scale Eruption After Focused Investigation of 8 Key Sites"
As many await the upcoming spring and look forward to cherry blossom trips in Japan, the Sakurajima volcano in southern Kyushu has erupted explosively 31 times this year. However, according to a Japanese government investigation, there are no signs of a large-scale eruption.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, on the 9th at 8:03 PM, an eruption occurred at the summit crater of Sakurajima Minamidake, sending volcanic smoke up to 2,000 meters high. Photo by Getty Images
On the 18th, according to Kyodo News and the Tokyo Shimbun, the Japanese government’s Volcano Investigation Committee held a press conference stating, "After investigating eight key volcanoes including Sakurajima, there were no indications that an eruption is imminent or that the scale of eruptions is expanding to the extent that residents would need to evacuate."
The Japanese government selected eight volcanoes for focused evaluation out of the 111 volcanoes across Japan that either erupted in the past year or lacked sufficient information. The investigation committee reviewed various factors including surrounding earthquakes, crustal deformation records, underground structures, research papers on eruption history, eruption patterns, and eruption scenarios, concluding that the possibility of a large-scale eruption at Sakurajima is low.
Among the evaluated volcanoes, the relatively well-known ones are Sakurajima and Mount Iwate in Iwate Prefecture, northern Honshu. Sakurajima, in particular, has recently experienced consecutive explosive eruptions. Originally a representative active volcanic island of Japan, Sakurajima’s adjacent sea was filled during a major eruption in 1914, and it is now connected to Kyushu as a peninsula.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, on the 9th at 8:03 p.m., an eruption occurred at the summit crater of Minamidake on Sakurajima, sending volcanic smoke up to 2,000 meters high. The erupted volcanic bombs (solidified lava fragments and rock debris ejected during an eruption) flew distances of 800 to 1,100 meters, and several instances of "volcanic lightning" were captured amid the black smoke caused by static electricity generated from particle friction in the volcanic ash. The volcano erupted again at 1:32 p.m. on the 11th. Although this was the 31st eruption this year, raising concerns about a major eruption, local residents reportedly consider it a routine occurrence.
While the investigation committee judged the likelihood of a large-scale eruption at Sakurajima to be low, they advised the need for collecting volcanic ash and conducting chemical composition analyses. Regarding Mount Iwate, they also pointed out that the probability of an immediate magma eruption is low, but there is a possibility of small-scale steam eruptions.
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