September 4, 2013 Eruption of Aira

A moderately large vulcanian explosion occurred this morning, producing significant fallout of lapilli and small bombs in several kilometers distance. Cars parked at the Arimura Lava observatory observation point to the south of the volcano were damages and windshields broken, at a distance of about 4 km. There are no reports of injuries to people. The ash plume from the eruption rose to approx. 12,000 ft (3.6 km) elevation, i.e. about 2.5 km km height. In itself, today's explosion is not even among the largest that have occurred in the past months, but the volcano clearly continues to be in a state of elevated activity when seen on a long-term average. (reference #10730)

JMA reported that 34 explosions from Sakura-jima's Showa Crater ejected tephra as far as 1,300 m during 26-30 August. Incandescence from the crater was visible at night on 26 August. An explosion on 29 August at 0927 generated an ash plume that rose 3 km and caused ashfall in areas from Miyazaki (80 km NW) to Kagoshima (12 km W). Tephra 1 cm in diameter was confirmed in an area 4 km E.

Based on information from JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported that during 28 August-3 September explosions generated plumes most days that rose to altitudes of 1.5-4 km (5,000-13,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E, NE, and NW. On 31 August a pilot observed an ash plume that rose to an altitude of 2.7 km (9,000 ft) a.s.l. and traveled NE. (reference #2432)