I first visited Sakurajima (1117 m) while at the IAVCEI general assembly in July 2013. Myself and the other conference attendees were frequently treated to exciting Vulcanian explosive eruptions from the Showa crater. I went back twice in 2014 to work in collaboration with the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre on a volcano deformation project. The volcano deformation project opened up a myriad of other research questions that I am still working through, and this has prompted two further trips to the region (2017 and 2018). I continue to work with the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre and during the 2017 and 2018 trips collected samples from eruption deposits for geochemical and petrological investigation.
First sight of the volcano.
Waiting for the volcano to do something.
Boom!
Happy volcanologists.
Sunset over Kagoshima.
Walking around Sakurajima.
More happy volcanologists.
Posing for a photo…and boom!
Eruption posing.
Eruption time.
Eruption time.
Eruption time.
Enjoying the sun and eruptions at Sakurajima in 2013.
Eruption time.
Eruption time.
Pyroclastic flows.
Pyroclastic flows.
Eruption time.
A quiet Sakurajima.
VUELCO presence at the volcano observatory.
The edifice.
Jo representing VUELCO.
Minor ash venting.
He must have been hot with that hat on…
A little bit of lava…
Joe examining our samples.
Stroll across the beach to the ~29 ka deposits.
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