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Towards forecasting phreatic eruptions: Examples from Hakone volcano and some global equivalents

Edited by: Kazutaka Mannen, Diana Roman, Graham Leonard, Stephanie Prejean, Mitsuhiro Nakagawa

Hakone volcano, located 100 km west of Tokyo, Japan, is a hot spring resort area and one of the most popular tourism destinations in the country, with over 20 million visitors every year from all around the world. Although there is no historical record of eruption prior to 2015, frequent and intense earthquake swarms have occurred beneath the volcano. The 2015 eruption was a small phreatic eruption and only 100 tons of fine ash was released. However, precursory unrest began two months before the eruption and the entire precursory sequence was monitored in detail using densely distributed seismic and geodetic instruments. This special issue aims to compile multidisciplinary observations and understanding of this eruption and volcanic system and similar volcanoes worldwide to provide a basis for volcano monitoring and hazard mitigation in hydrothermal-prone volcanoes.

  1. Definite increases in the components ratios of CO2/H2O, CO2/H2S, CO2/CH4 and He/CH4 were observed at the fumarolic gases from Owakudani geothermal area located at the center of Hakone volcanic caldera (Honshu Isl...

    Authors: Takeshi Ohba, Muga Yaguchi, Kana Nishino, Nozomi Numanami, Yasushi Daita, Chiho Sukigara, Masanori Ito and Urumu Tsunogai
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2019 71:48
  2. On 27 April 2016, White Island erupted in a multi-pulse, phreatic event that lasted for ~ 40 min. Six, variably sized pulses generated three ballistic ejections and at least one pyroclastic surge out of the in...

    Authors: Geoff Kilgour, Stephanie Gates, Ben Kennedy, Aaron Farquhar, Ame McSporran and Cameron Asher
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2019 71:36
  3. At approximately 09:36 UTC on 27 April 2016, a phreatic eruption occurred on Whakaari Island (White Island) producing an eruption sequence that contained multiple eruptive pulses determined to have occurred ov...

    Authors: Braden Walsh, Jonathan Procter, Ivan Lokmer, Johannes Thun, Tony Hurst, Bruce Christenson and Arthur Jolly
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2019 71:25
  4. The present contribution investigates the temporal changes in volcaniclastic sediment transport over the 2-year period after the 2014 eruption of Ontake Volcano in two small drainage basins where increased tur...

    Authors: Kyoko S. Kataoka, Takane Matsumoto, Takeshi Saito, Yoshitaka Nagahashi and Tsutomu Iyobe
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2019 71:15
  5. Rootless eruption is caused by lava flow entering inland water or wet sediment and forms craters and cones far from the actual vent. Since the rootless eruption can be significantly explosive, the possibility ...

    Authors: Rina Noguchi, Ai Hamada, Ayako I. Suzuki and Kei Kurita
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:208
  6. We successfully monitored the ground deformation of an eruption center during the 2015 phreatic eruption of Hakone volcano, Japan, using ground-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (GB-InSAR). GB-InS...

    Authors: Senro Kuraoka, Yuichi Nakashima, Ryosuke Doke and Kazutaka Mannen
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:181
  7. The April 27, 2016 eruption sequence at White Island was comprised of 6 discrete eruptive events that occurred over a 35-min period. Seismicity included three episodes of VLP activity: the first occurring ~ 2 ...

    Authors: Arthur Jolly, Ivan Lokmer, Bruce Christenson and Johannes Thun
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:177
  8. This study investigates phreatic eruptions at two similar volcanoes, Kawah Ijen (Indonesia) and White Island (New Zealand). By carefully processing broadband seismic signals, we reveal seismic signatures and c...

    Authors: Corentin Caudron, Benoit Taisne, Jurgen Neuberg, Arthur D. Jolly, Bruce Christenson, Thomas Lecocq, Suparjan, Devy Syahbana and Gede Suantika
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:168
  9. Global navigation satellite system data from Hakone volcano, central Japan, together with GEONET data from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, were used to investigate the processes associated with ...

    Authors: Masatake Harada, Ryosuke Doke, Kazutaka Mannen, Kazuhiro Itadera and Mikio Satomura
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:152
  10. The 2015 unrest of the Hakone volcano in Japan, which began on April 26, generated earthquake swarms accompanied by long-term deformation. The earthquake swarm activity reached its maximum in mid-May and gradu...

    Authors: Ryou Honda, Yohei Yukutake, Yuichi Morita, Shin’ichi Sakai, Kazuhiro Itadera and Kazuya Kokubo
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:117
  11. In association with the September 2014 phreatic eruption (VEI 1–2) at Ontake Volcano, a syn-eruptive and two post-eruptive lahars occurred in the Akagawa–Nigorigawa River, southern flank of the volcano. The pr...

    Authors: Kyoko S. Kataoka, Takane Matsumoto, Takeshi Saito, Katsuhisa Kawashima, Yoshitaka Nagahashi, Tsutomu Iyobe, Akihiko Sasaki and Keisuke Suzuki
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:113
  12. We investigate a volcanic hydrothermal system using numerical simulations, focusing on change in crater temperature. Both increases and decreases in crater temperature have been observed before phreatic erupti...

    Authors: Ryo Tanaka, Takeshi Hashimoto, Nobuo Matsushima and Tsuneo Ishido
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:72
  13. The 2015 eruption of Hakone volcano was a very small phreatic eruption, with total erupted ash estimated to be in the order of only 102 m3 and ballistic blocks reaching less than 30 m from the vent. Precursors, ...

    Authors: Kazutaka Mannen, Yohei Yukutake, George Kikugawa, Masatake Harada, Kazuhiro Itadera and Jun Takenaka
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:68
  14. On 29 June 2015, a small phreatic eruption occurred at Hakone volcano, Central Japan, forming several vents in the Owakudani geothermal area on the northern slope of the central cones. Intense earthquake swarm...

    Authors: Ryokei Yoshimura, Yasuo Ogawa, Yohei Yukutake, Wataru Kanda, Shogo Komori, Hideaki Hase, Tada-nori Goto, Ryou Honda, Masatake Harada, Tomoya Yamazaki, Masato Kamo, Shingo Kawasaki, Tetsuya Higa, Takeshi Suzuki, Yojiro Yasuda, Masanori Tani…
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:66
  15. Although the 2015 Hakone Volcano eruption was a small-scale phreatic eruption with a discharged mass of only about 100 tons, interferometric synthetic aperture radar successfully detected surface deformations ...

    Authors: Ryosuke Doke, Masatake Harada, Kazutaka Mannen, Kazuhiro Itadera and Jun Takenaka
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2018 70:63
  16. In the present study, we analyze the seismic signals from a continuous volcanic tremor that occurred during a small phreatic eruption of the Hakone volcano, in the Owakudani geothermal region of central Japan,...

    Authors: Yohei Yukutake, Ryou Honda, Masatake Harada, Ryosuke Doke, Tatsuhiko Saito, Tomotake Ueno, Shin’ichi Sakai and Yuichi Morita
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2017 69:164