The level four warning issued for Kuchinoerabu - or Kuchinoerabujima - tells residents to prepare to evacuate and is only one step away from mandatory evacuation orders.

Kuchinoerabu is located to the south of Japan roughly 1,000km south-west of Tokyo and has been suffering volcanic earthquakes and increased sulphur emissions at a peak on the island.

The warning had been at level two, which asked residents to avoid approaching the crater.

At present some 100 people live on Kuchinoerabu.

What happened the last time Kuchinoerabu erupted?

A MASSIVE humanitarian crisis is unfolding on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean after a volcanic eruption sent thick ash bucketing down on everything in sight.

Thousands of people in Ambae, a tiny, idyllic island in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, have been ordered to evacuate after a volcano at the centre of the island began to spew out thick ash - which has rained down on villages and blacked out the sun.

The volcano has been erupting in bursts since September, but a new UNICEF report this week revealed the situation was becoming increasingly dire for island inhabitants after a surge in volcanic activity.

Local media reports that all roads to the west of the island are cut and massive mud flows have washed away many roads.

It means the entire west side of the island is accessible only by sea or air, forcing volcano experts examining the terrifying situation to trek for hours to find villages filled with desperate residents who clamour for basic supplies.

The Chilean volcano Nevados de Chillan spewed plumes of dark smoke near a popular skifield on Wednesday, as helpless skiers being carried to the volcano's summit watched the eruption.

The Fuego volcano, whose eruption killed around 300 people about two months ago, erupted yet again on Sunday evening.

Authorities have ordered the evacuation of emergency personnel who have been working in the area since the last eruption in early June.

Guatemalan officials warned residents in the area to keep away from rivers that might overflow and to be on alert for further instructions from authorities.

The volcano wreaked havoc on nearby towns almost two months ago, killing around 300 people and displacing thousands.

Strange warm Arctic Ocean tempertaures in a circular point @ 77.5N and 5.5E, in my opinion it could be a large underwater eruption causing the heating. Arctic research vessel turned back by thick sea ice earlier in the year. Covered sections of the Arctic in Google Earth.


Sources

A helicopter tour guide filmed incredible high-definition aerial footage of a Russian volcano as it spewed plumes of ash into the sky. The eruption was so severe that a Volcanic Ash Advisory has been issued for the region.

The Karymsky Volcano in Kamchatka, eastern Russia, is one of the most active volcanoes in the region - which is home to more than 100 active volcanoes. Local tour guide Aleksandr Ostrowski, 27, said he filmed the eruption while flying to the Valley of Geysers via helicopter.

Plumes of ash from the volcano have spread for about 92 km according to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), who have categorized Karymsky's current state as orange, meaning "erupting or restless".

One of Mexico's most active volcanoes has sent a huge ash plume into the sky, the country's centre of disaster monitoring has reported.

Overnight video taken by the centre shows ash and incandescent material shooting from the Popocatépetl volcano 2,000m (6,500ft) into the air.

People have been warned to avoid the area inside the 12km security radius surrounding its crater.

Ash has been falling on communities near the volcano.

Carlos Valdés, the director-general of the monitoring centre, Cenapred, posted footage of the eruption on his Twitter account.

He wrote that incandescent material had been thrown 400m down the slopes of Popocatépetl.

These are some of the strange, unusual and unexplained events that occurred on our planet during the first half of 2018.

Here the latest volcanic news with some new eruptions at Ibu (Indonesia) and Karymsky (Russia) and some updates about the ongoing volcanic activity at Rinjani (Indonesia), Ambae (Vanuatu), Kilauea (USA), Sierra Negra (Galapagos) and Villarica (Chile).

Seismographs going crazy on Lombok, Indonesia

The M6.4 earthquake on July 28, 2018 was followed by an amazing 280 aftershocks (at 30.07 / 10:00 local) ranging between M5.7 and M2.1.

Many landslides were reported on the slopes of Rinjani volcano, situated just a few tens of kilometers away from the epicenter, stranding more than 500 hikers... Their evacuation in helicopters was sheduled for today.

Sources: media

New lava flow and explosions at Ibu volcano, Indonesia

NASA's Juno spacecraft recently spotted a possible new volcano at the south pole of Jupiter's most lava-licious moon, Io. But this volcanically active moon is not alone in the solar system, where sizzling-hot rocks explode and ooze onto the surface of several worlds. So how do Earthly volcanoes differ from those erupting across the rest of the solar system?

Let's start with Io. The moon is famous for its hundreds of volcanoes, including fountains that sometimes spurt lava dozens of miles above the surface, according to NASA. This Jupiter moon is constantly re-forming its surface through volcanic eruptions, even to this day. Io's volcanism results from strong gravitational encounters between Jupiter and two of its large moons, Europa and Ganymede, which shake up Io's insides.


Rosaly Lopes, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed observations of Io between 1996 and 2001, during the Galileo spacecraft mission to Jupiter.

"Io has lots of caldera-like features, but they are on the surface," Lopes told Live Science. "There are lots of lava flows and lots of lakes. Lava lakes are pretty rare on Earth. We have half a dozen of them. We think they have occurred in the past on Venus and Mars. But on Io, we actually see lava lakes at the present time." Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is one such spot on Earth dotted with lava lakes.

Juno scientists asked for Lopes' help in identifying Io's newly found hotspot. She said the new observations of Io are welcome, because Galileo was in an equatorial orbit and could rarely see the poles; by contrast, Juno is in a polar orbit and has a much better view. There are some hints that Io might have larger and less-frequent eruptions at the poles, she said, but scientists need more observations to be sure.