A Volcanologist's Life: Azuma Fieldwork V2

Greetings,

long time no see. It has been quite a while since my last post. Since arriving here I have made the unfortunate discovery that there is something you always seem to lack, and that is the time to sit down unperturbed for an hour two to focus on what is important to you, like for example, writing another blog post. Today however I find myself enjoying Japan's "Labor Thanksgiving Day", one of its many holidays. Yesterday I was asked if I would be going to University today. Perplexed I simply asked why I would be, it's a holiday after all. I now understand that holidays in Japan are just a suggestion. Nothing weird about celebrating "Labor Thanksgiving Day" by laboring away I guess. Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post and I have a lot of material piled up for more. Let me just start off with what's on top. Ahhh yes, more fieldwork at Azuma volcano!

Now with nice weather!

Azuma has become an important research subject for my project. The data we collect on volcanic bomb distribution and size serve as an excellent way to test out the new model I am developing. Inferring the physical parameters of the 1893 eruption for comparison with other methods is a great way to see if the model is doing its job properly. From there we can use it to do a statistical analysis to assess the hazard of potential future eruptions. For that we want data on around a thousand samples. Currently we have around 300. A long way to go. And since the road up to the volcano is closed during winter we used the last two weeks at the end of October to go there twice. The weather was much better than last time. Blue sky with the occasional cloud for the most part. Let me reveal to you what was hidden the last time!

That's the wooden path that crosses the swamp that was previously mostly concealed by fog.

Here you can see the cliff with the huge fumarole constantly spewing sulfur dioxide into the air.

The huge bomb that you can find when going up the path to the top. I had to take a picture again, it is just to impressive.

Now you could also see Azuma-Kofuji in all its glory. The smaller crater is to the right is Okenuma. It's filled with water and surrounded by trees. It is actually older then Kofuji and therefore covered by the products of its eruption. I am amazed it still has its distinct crater shape despite that fact. Kofuji erupted between 4.8 and 5.9 thousand years ago. It produced 99 percent of the erupted material of the current phase activity of Azuma, which began when a huge part of the mountain collapsed and formed a horseshoe shaped caldera facing westward, towards Fukushima city. That was sometime between 100 and 280 thousand years ago.

Since all the snow had melted we were able to go higher up the mountain than we were able to in June. This here is a crossroads between the many peaks and the part with the brownish grass is another swampy area. North (right in the picture) you go further up towards other craters that formed in this latest stage. If you continue west (straight ahead in the picture) you'll get to a small lake. Unfortunately we weren't there for leisure, so this is as far as we went. Beyond this point we don't expect to find bombs from the 1893 eruption, but a closer look is warranted in the future.

We spent more time that day collecting data than we expected. You would expect that not to be a problem but the road up the mountain is actually closed during the night. When we came back to the parking lot our car was the only one left. The people were actually waiting for us and were quite relieved to find out that the car belonged to us. I guess they didn't fancy to go looking for some lost hikers. We passed the gate at the foot of the mountain, which closes at 5 pm, with three minutes to spare. The guy was already standing there to look it shut. We all learned a valuable lesson that day: Unless you want to spend the night in a single car with four people, you better keep an eye on your watch.

As a little bonus, since you had to wait so long for a new post, here are some pictures from my trip to a local museum about "benibana", or Japanese safflower. It is a yellow to orange flower that was and still is used to dye cloth. The museum was the mansion of a rich merchant family back in the day. The trip was organized by the university for all the international students to show us around the prefecture.

The main entrance. Quite a sight.

Imagine having your own bloody moat around your house. Money isn't everything in life but having a little extra sure doesn't hurt, be it now or in the past.