The Suwase Crater in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, erupted again at 9:18 a.m. on February 1, with the eruptions rushing to an altitude of 1,200 meters, and since the eruption of Mount Tonga, the Sakurajima Volcano and The Misaksat Volcano on Suwajima Island in Kagoshima, Japan, have erupted continuously, of which Suwa no Shima Misak has erupted seven times in the past 8 days, making one wonder if there will be a bigger eruption in the future.
Suwa no Sejima Volcano
This is a volcanic island located in the Togara Archipelago, administratively belonging to the Japanese kagoshima prefecture Kagoshima Gun Toshima Village, the island has a permanent population of only 71 people, although there are not many villagers, it is very famous in Japan, because this is Japan's second largest erupting volcano, the first is Kagoshima Volcano.
Just a few days ago, there was a relatively large-scale eruption of Sakurajima Volcano, which occurred at 1:19 p.m. local time on January 28, and according to Japanese media reports, the smoke column spewed out was as high as 3400 meters, which was the most violent eruption of Sakurajima Volcano since April 2021! On February 1, Mount Misak, Suwa Noze Island erupted.
Suwa no Seshima experienced fairly large eruptions in 1813-1814 and 1884-1885, followed by nearly 80 years of silence, and repeated eruptions from 1957 onwards, but compared to Sakurajima Volcano, it was relatively small in scale, but Suwa no Sejima Erupted more frequently, accompanied by a loud explosion sound.
Beginning in 1989, the Japan Meteorological Agency began monitoring Suwase Island, and in 1994, GPS was installed on the island to monitor ground movements, and from 1989 to 1994, there were frequent eruptions of Suwase Island, and 1992-1993 was the peak of this phase of eruptions, including 244 explosive eruptions on January 21, 1992.
After 1995, the volcanic activity was relatively quiet, but it began to increase after 2000 and began to decrease in 2004, but from 2020, Suwase Island Volcano began to enter a phase of frequent eruptions, and there are signs that Suwase Island Volcano has entered a new round of frequent activity.
How many volcanoes are there in Japan? Why are eruptions so frequent?
According to data released by the Japan Meteorological Agency, there are about 111 volcanoes that have erupted in Japan since 10,000 years, almost all over Japan, except for the southern part of Honshu Island:
The Japan Meteorological Agency maintains real-time observation and monitoring of several 50 volcanoes, and has also issued continuous early warnings of eruptions on 41 volcanoes, with 5 volcanoes at level 2 of the alert level: Mount Kusatsu Shirane (Gunma Prefecture), Mt. Asama (within Nagano and Gunma Prefectures), Mount Iwo Jima (Miyazaki Prefecture) of the Kirishima Mountains, Kounaga Ryōbe Island (Kagoshima Prefecture), and Suwa No Sejima (Kagoshima Prefecture) (in this case).
It's really speechless, densely packed with volcanoes everywhere, travel to Japan, accidentally can see a volcano that is on fire, this seems to be no news, looking at it is indeed a good scenery, but the only question that remains in everyone's mind is why there are so many volcanoes in Japan
In fact, it is not difficult to answer this question, because the whole of Japan is above the wrestling field of the major plates, the Pacific Plate in the east, the North American Plate in the north, the Eurasian Plate in the northwest, and the Philippine Plate in the southeast.
Its main mode of motion is that the Philippine Plate subducts below the Eurasian Plate, while the Pacific Plate subducts below the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian and North American Plates:
The direction of the movement of the plate below the continent where Japan is located, the result of several continental struggles is that The Japanese earthquake and volcano are continuous, the movement between the plates and the plates will produce stress, the accumulation of faults will cause a large earthquake, and the magma under the plate will also rise up to the surface along the fissure to form a volcano.
Plate movement trends below mainland Japan
There is also a famous Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean, which is the main reason for the volcanic belt caused by plate movement, and Japan is just one of the sections of the Northwest Pacific Fire Circle.
Pacific Rim Volcanic Seismic Zone
The advantage is that Japan is full of hot springs, friends who travel to Japan must not miss, the disadvantage is that earthquakes come, without warning, the threat site of volcanoes is always fixed, of course, in addition to large-scale volcanic eruptions, and Japan has a giant volcano, volcano or cross-level arrival, will there be a large-scale eruption?
Will Japanese volcanoes enter an active period? Will there be a large-scale volcanic eruption?
Suwase Island has been active since 2020, but its volcanic eruptions are relatively "mild", and it is located in the Togara Islands, even if there is a relatively large-scale eruption, the impact on mainland Japan is limited, and under the influence of the westerly wind belt, the volcanic ash also affects flights and shipping nearby.
The biggest question is whether there will be a volcanic active season, such as Sakurajima Volcano, which is only 8 kilometers from Kagoshima City, as well as Mount Niigata, Mt. Aso, Mt. Misho, Mt. Asama, mt. Asama, and of course, Japan's most famous mt. Fuji, if this volcano erupts, it is estimated that Japan will be doomed, because these volcanoes are near large cities.
The biggest threat is undoubtedly Mt. Fuji, only 20 kilometers away from Gotemba City in Shizuoka Prefecture, 80 kilometers from Yokohama City, 100 kilometers from Tokyo, volcanic ash can reach Tokyo in 2 hours, yokosuka and Kawasaki around Tokyo Bay in 3 hours, as well as Tokyo, Chiba, Kisaratsu, etc. will be paralyzed, volcanic ash will cause power grid short circuit blackouts, blockages of internal combustion engines that need to be inhaled, air-cooled cooling systems, etc., Shinkansen, buses and communication systems will be shut down, which is an extremely terrible result. Because there are 37 million people living around Tokyo Bay.
So will Mt. Fuji erupt?
As early as January 1, the Japanese weekly Aera reported that toshiyasu Nagao, a visiting professor at the Maritime Research Institute of Tunghai University, said that seismic activity around Mt. Fuji (on December 3, three consecutive earthquakes at the bottom of Mt. Fuji were 20 kilometers below) was increasing, and mt. Fuji had not erupted for more than 300 years and was likely to erupt at some point in 2022.
And as early as July 2020, Hiroki Kamada, a professor at the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, said that about 20 kilometers under Mt. Fuji, there is a "magma chamber" filled with magma, and the magma injection process below will cause earthquakes, and as the earthquakes occur frequently, it will herald the gradual approaching of the eruption date.
What is more noteworthy is that the Boyong earthquake occurred on October 28, before the boyong eruption on December 16, 1707, and Japanese seismologists believe that the possibility of the boyong earthquake triggering the eruption of Mt. Fuji is very large, and the already critical state of Mt. Fuji is likely to be detonated by the earthquake of loose soil.
From the perspective of the possibility of the eruption of Mt. Fuji, suwa no Sejima volcano seems to be unable to detonate, but with the gradual awakening of the volcanoes on the Japanese archipelago, this possibility is really difficult to predict, and many Japanese academic institutions have predicted that within 30 years, Japan will have a magnitude 9 earthquake, if the earthquake is inserted again, it is estimated that the eruption of Mt. Fuji may really come.