JMA reported that the number of volcanic earthquakes located at shallow depths beneath Kuchinoerabujima’s Shindake Crater increased on 21 February and remained elevated. The Alert Level was raised to 3 (the middle level on a scale of 1-5) on 28 February. No other monitoring data showed upward trends and no surficial changes were visible; sulfur dioxide emissions remained low at 60 tons per day on 24 February.

Geological Summary. A group of young stratovolcanoes forms the eastern end of the irregularly shaped island of Kuchinoerabujima in the northern Ryukyu Islands, 15 km W of Yakushima. The Furudake, Shindake, and Noikeyama cones were erupted from south to north, respectively, forming a composite cone with multiple craters. All historical eruptions have occurred from Shindake, although a lava flow from the S flank of Furudake that reached the coast has a very fresh morphology. Frequent explosive eruptions have taken place from Shindake since 1840; the largest of these was in December 1933. Several villages on the 4 x 12 km island are located within a few kilometers of the active crater and have suffered damage from eruptions.

Source: Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)