Volcano

Ten years after a new islet born in a massive eruption nearby swallowed it, remote Nishinoshima island in the Ogasawara island chain is still showing signs of volcanic activity.  A survey from an Asahi Shimbun aircraft on Nov. 3 confirmed white fumarolic gas rising from a central crater and the slopes and surrounding sea areas turned brown and green. The activity puts the island’s recovering ecosystem at risk, which has seen a decrease in the number of seabirds.  In the Ogasawara island chain, eruptions have occurred at Fukutoku-Okanoba, an undersea volcano, and Iwoto, a volcanic island. “The entire Ogasawara island chain is now in a period of very active volcanic activity,” said Setsuya Nakada, a volcanic geologist and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, who was aboard the aircraft. On Nov. 20, 2013, an eruption occurred on the seafloor near Nishinoshima, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, creating a n...