Abstract
Following several years of small phreatic eruption events, Shinmoedake volcano in Kyushu, Japan, began a new phase of activity on 19 January 2011. The eruption commenced with a small phreatomagmatic event followed by subplinian events on 26 and 27 January. Lava emerged as a dome in the summit crater on 27 January and filled the crater until the beginning of February. During the subplinian events and lava dome growth, deflation of the deep magma chamber was observed by tiltmeters and GPS. Eruptive activity began to decrease in March 2011 and no eruptive event occurred after the 7 September 2011 event. In response to the eruption, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued warnings repeatedly to prepare local people and infrastructures around Shinmoedake. JMA did not raise the Volcanic Alert Level before the first subplinian event, because of a lack of clear precursory signals. We conclude that a large amount of magma moved in the shallow Shinmoedake plumbing system for a short time, based on a number of geophysical observations. It is important to detect magma movement and understand eruptive phenomena quickly in order to mitigate risks of volcanic hazards.
Highlights
Kirishimayama, located in southern Kyushu, Japan, is a group of more than 20 basaltic-andesite volcanoes (Fig. 1)
Volcano Monitoring at Shinmoedake Volcano The Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory (FDMO) and the Kagoshima Local Meteorological Observatory (KLMO) of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) jointly monitor the activity of Shinmoedake Volcano with a real-time network consisting of seismometers, low-frequency (LF) microphones, tiltmeters, GPS stations and cameras
We evaluated the relative magnitudes of individual phreatic eruption events by comparing seismic and infrasonic signals
Summary
Kirishimayama, located in southern Kyushu, Japan, is a group of more than 20 basaltic-andesite volcanoes (Fig. 1). 2. Volcano Monitoring at Shinmoedake Volcano The Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory (FDMO) and the Kagoshima Local Meteorological Observatory (KLMO) of JMA jointly monitor the activity of Shinmoedake Volcano with a real-time network consisting of seismometers, low-frequency (LF) microphones, tiltmeters, GPS stations and cameras. Volcano Monitoring at Shinmoedake Volcano The Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory (FDMO) and the Kagoshima Local Meteorological Observatory (KLMO) of JMA jointly monitor the activity of Shinmoedake Volcano with a real-time network consisting of seismometers, low-frequency (LF) microphones, tiltmeters, GPS stations and cameras This monitoring is carried out in cooperation with the University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, National Research Institute for Earth Science and. The seismic activity rapidly declined after 22 August and volcanic plume activity gradually declined toward January 2009 (Fig. 3) Both campaign and continuous GPS observations by JMA detected local ground deformation changes at Shinmoedake summit area before the 22 August 2008 eruption event. Are about one order of magnitude smaller than those for the magmatic eruption events which started in January 2011
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