Tokyo, Dec 23
A volcano on Sakurajima in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, erupted Monday, with plumes rising to 3400 metres above the summit crater, the country's weather agency said.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the eruption occurred at the Minamidake crater at 7:29 am local time (2229 GMT on Sunday). There were no immediate reports of injuries and damage to buildings.
Following the explosive event, volcanic smoke drifted southeast and weather officials warned related areas to be on alert for falling volcanic ashes.
The JMA maintained the volcanic activity alert level at three on its five-point scale, meaning that people should not approach the crater, Xinhua news agency reported.
Sakurajima, located in Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu, the country's southwestern main island, is an active composite volcano with three peaks, consisting of Kitadake, Nakadake and Minamidake.
This comes after Mount Sakurajima, a volcano in Japan's Kagoshima prefecture erupted on February 8, 2023, the weather agency said.
The JMA issued a level-2 warning on its five-tier scale, and will raise it to level 3 if volcanic activity increases, it said.
The JMA warned people within a 1-km radius against pyroclastic flows and falling rocks.
The eruption, the first at the Showa crater since April 2018, was observed at 10:52 am local time, with plumes rising to 1,000 metres noted at 11:10 am, local media reported, citing the Kagoshima Meteorological Office.
Sakurajima, Japan’s most active volcano, is located on the southern island of Kyushu and has erupted since the 1950s, sometimes over 200 times a year.
As it is situated on a convergent plate margin, Sakurajima is a stratovolcano formed from layers of lava and ash. Eruptions are explosive, producing large volumes of ash, pyroclastic flows, volcanic bombs and poisonous gases. The lava is andesitic, meaning it has a high gas content and is very viscous.
The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Osumi Peninsula. It is the most active volcano in Japan. Its summit has three peaks, Kita-dake (northern peak), Naka-dake (central peak) and Minami-dake (southern peak) which is active now.