Volcano Journal Entry
Satellite Sees Smoke from Oyama (February 28, 2002)
View of smoke rising from Oyama volcano courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE.
NASA's SeaWIFS satellite captured a view of smoke rising from Japan's Oyama volcano this week. The volcano is found on Miyake Island about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Tokyo.
The volcano was quiet for 17 years before exploding in June 2000. That eruption was followed by several others that forced the evacuation of the island the following month. Volcanologists say shifts in huge underground pools of magma may be responsible for the recent increase of volcanic and earthquake activity on the island.
Japan has many active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. The nation lies in a region where four of Earth's tectonic plates come together.
