Volcano in Japan

Aira volcano: eruption status today

Updated

Aira is active now: NASA lists an open volcanic activity event (latest report Jun 27, 2022) 0 earthquakes within 50 km in the past 7 days.

Live status of Aira: whether it is erupting now, satellite hot spots, earthquakes around it, and what an eruption would mean for nearby cities and flights.

Status now
Active (NASA EONET) latest report Jun 27, 2022
Last eruption
1964 or later last significant: 2013
Elevation
1,117 m 3,665 ft
Type
Stratovolcano
Earthquakes within 50 km
1 past 30 days (USGS)
Hot spots within 10 km
0 latest NASA FIRMS VIIRS data
Nearest city
Kagoshima 10 km W

Open on the live map

Is Aira erupting right now?

NASA's Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET) has an open volcanic event for Aira, last updated Jun 27, 2022 (1582 days ago). EONET opens an event when agencies such as the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program report eruptive activity or unrest, and closes it when activity ends.

No satellite thermal hot spot was detected within 10 km of the summit in the latest NASA FIRMS data, so there is no sign of lava at the surface large enough for VIIRS to see (clouds can hide it).

Earthquakes near Aira

USGS located 1 earthquake within 50 km of Aira in the past 30 days, 0 of them in the last week. The largest was M4.5 on Oct 3, 2026, 29 km SSW of the summit at 126 km depth.

0 of them were shallower than 10 km. Swarms of shallow quakes can mean magma or gas is moving, but most swarms end without an eruption; observatories combine them with ground deformation and gas data.

Time (UTC)MagnitudeDistanceDepthLocation
Oct 3, 00:11 UTCM4.529 km SSW126 km11 km NNW of Ibusuki, Japan

About Aira

Aira is a stratovolcano in Kyushu-Japan, Japan, rising to 1,117 m (3,665 ft). NOAA NCEI classes its eruptive history as "Historical".

Stratovolcanoes are steep cones built from alternating lava and ash layers; their eruptions are often explosive, with ash columns that can reach cruising altitude.

The nearest large town is Kagoshima, about 10 km W of the summit; 5 other cities lie within 250 km.

Flights and volcanic ash

No major hub airport is within 400 km (the closest is Kansai, 533 km away), but ash clouds from explosive eruptions can drift for thousands of kilometres along flight routes.

Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) issue the official ash advisories that airlines and air traffic control follow.

Other volcanoes in Japan

Japan has 52 volcanoes on this site that erupted since 1900 or are active now, 2 of them with an open NASA activity report today. The closest other one is Kirishimayama, 44 km away.

Nearby volcanoes

Volcanoes in Japan

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Data: NOAA NCEI Volcano Locations, NASA EONET (open volcano events), USGS earthquakes, NASA FIRMS (VIIRS hot spots), Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.