Hokkaido is one of the most interesting showcase of calderas and active volcanoes of island arc type. For example, during the recent 350 years, there have been 16 large eruptions with VEI equal or greater than 3 (the size of the 1977 Usu eruption) in such a small island of Hokkaido. The largest three are VEI=5 (the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens). Even in our short term experience of volcano observation since the UVO establishment, 8 eruptive episodes occurred at 4 active volcanoes during 13 years. Precursory activities such as seismic swarms, tremors, heating/fuming anomalies were luckily detected for 6 of them by the routine or the temporary observations.
The observatory is located at the southern shore of caldera lake Toya, and at the northern foot of Volcano Usu. 24 hours continuous monitoring of the five active volcanoes are performed at this small facility in a country side.
For details about the monitoring equipment used by the observatory, how it is deployed, and studies and results at specific volcanoes visit the WOVO Directory.
Contact information:
Usu Volcano Observatory Faculty of Science Hokkaido University Sohbetsu-cho, Usu-gun Hokkaido 052-01 Japan Telephone: (Toyako-Onsen) (81)1427-5-3746 Telefax: (Toyako-Onsen) (81)1427-5-3705 Director: Dr. Hiromu Okada (1987-)
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