Incredible new footage shows the Sakurajima volcano erupting in Kyushu, Japan today, spewing volcanic ash high into the air and causing Japanese authorities to issue an ash advisory. Sakurajima, also known as “Cherry Blossom Island,” is a stratovolcano, and its summit has three peaks, Kita-dake, Naka-dake, and Minami-dake, the lattermost of which remains active. The peninsula has a relatively small population of a few thousand residents and is a popular tourist destination thanks partly to artisan pottery made using volcanic ash. The latest eruption, captured on video by Nobumi Moriya and shared by Volcanholic1 on Threads, sent ash plumes up to six kilometers (3.7 miles) into the air above Minami-dake. Post by @volcaholic1 View on Threads The eruption follows about a week after another, which occurred about six months after a sizable eruption at Sakurajima this past February, the first volcanic eruption there since 2020. After a few years of inactivity, the volcano seems to be becoming very active again, leading to the risk of volcanic ash falling in parts of surrounding prefectures.
#Sakurajima Volcano #Kagoshima, Japan, 29.07.2024, 16:46 local time cam streamed by ZAIHOSource: https://t.co/4jKC0AxMgJ pic.twitter.com/5oCDg0AQPF — Rita Bauer (@wischweg) July 29, 2024 Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, has been active for decades, sometimes erupting more than 200 times annually. However, no eruption in the last century has been as strong as the historic 1914 eruption on January 11, the most powerful volcanic activity of the 20th century in Japan. This eruption was preceded by several days of powerful earthquakes, which killed dozens of people, and the volcanic lava flow turned what was once an island into a peninsula, filling the narrow strait and connecting Sakurajima to the mainland. The aftermath of the 1914 eruption significantly affected the topography of the bottom of Kagoshima Bay, impacting tidal activity and the local ecosystem. Sakurajima is part of the Kirishima-Yaku National Park in Japan, and its regular lava flows are a tourist attraction. © Martin Reitze. More of Reitze’s amazing photos are featured in PetaPixel‘s original 2013 coverage. The volcano is also well-known to people worldwide thanks in part to incredible images shot by photographer Martin Rietze in 2013, which showed lightning inside a volcanic ash plume. Image credits: Header image by Nobumi Moriya. Additional video courtesy of Zaiho, which currently has three active live streams of the Sakurajima volcano on YouTube.
