TOKYO —

The Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions will put seven volcanoes in Japan under round-the-clock surveillance as they are likely to affect public life by erupting or becoming active in the coming 100 years, its sources said Saturday. The seven volcanoes include Mt Shirane between Gunma and Tochigi prefectures and Mt Norikura between Nagano and Gifu prefectures, according to the sources.
   
The committee monitors the volcanic activity of 108 volcanoes across Japan and has already put 34 of them, such as Mt Asama straddling Gunma and Nagano prefectures that experienced a minor eruption earlier this month, under 24-hour surveillance through seismographs and a global positioning system.
   

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15 Comments

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  kwatt at 09:55 AM JST - 15th February

  Sound like only matter of time?

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  YangYong at 10:24 AM JST - 15th February

  Well, yes, that's what dormant volcanoes do, they sleep then... wake up. Time is the prime mover when it comes to natural occurrences set on geological scales such as hundreds, thousands, millions of years. It's only a matter of 'time' until the sun expands, collapses and becomes a red dwarf...

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  Molenir at 10:29 AM JST - 15th February

  Sometime in the next 100 years? Wow, really urgent disaster warning then eh?

  Seriously though, is this really news? Don't they monitor these volcano's already for signs of eruption? If they're putting these under 24/7 watch, does that mean there is real possible danger soon? Or are they downplaying this with the 100 year thing so as not to panic people?

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  Statistician at 11:41 AM JST - 15th February

  Just so long as the police aren't given responsibility for the job. It needs doing properly.

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  blvtzpk at 11:49 AM JST - 15th February

  Volcanoes - you're on notice, OK? OK???

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  jonobugs at 01:12 PM JST - 15th February

  As far as I understand things like volcanoes, there is a constant pressure that builds up. Small releases of gas, heat, etc will reduce the pressure and keep the volcanoes from becoming dangerous. However, there is no way to accurately predict when a volcano will erupt. With the right amount of pressure, it could erupt now, or stay dormant for a hundred years.

  I'd like to know how they use GPS though. I mean, it's not like the volcanoes are going anywhere...

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  illsayit at 01:32 PM JST - 15th February

  Lets guess the time,is what they are trying to do right? I hope they let us all in on the results

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  solarbuster at 01:32 PM JST - 15th February

  They can use GPS to see movement and ground swell, it is not the same as your car a bit more precise and they also use fixed LAZERs. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/about/faq/faqmonitoring.php

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  TheMarion at 02:38 PM JST - 15th February

  Strange........... This is the 14th of Febuary and five days from today is the 19th and the day the Marines landed on Iwo Jima (Sulphur Island) and introduced to the world an extinct volcano name of Suribachi - now wouldn't it be a real omen if Suribachi would spring to life on the 22nd on this month?

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  YangYong at 02:52 PM JST - 15th February

  Marion: No.

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  TheMarion at 10:00 PM JST - 15th February

  YangYong; i concur, however - I was just taking my mind fora walk.

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  ThonTaddeo at 12:10 AM JST - 16th February

  Today the volcanoes, tomorrow the foreigners, next week the whole population!

  I'm sure the government is anxiously awaiting good results from these prototype cameras.

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  cuddles2009 at 12:36 AM JST - 16th February

  anyone want to place bets on which volcano and what time it will erupt?

  Place your bets. Opps gambling here is illegal

  maybe I could do it through a pachinko or horse/boat racing outlet

  cheers

• 

  techall at 10:11 AM JST - 16th February

  >

  volcanoes to be put under 24-hour surveillance

  Don't lose those volcanoes!

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  MikeHydrosoils at 06:55 AM JST - 9th March

  Good, I am pleased to hear Japan seismic is on the ball with this one, at date there have been a sequence of earth tremors Pacific as the Nazca Pacific are forced against the North America plate since Haiti, with what is known as the high compression Andean mountain chain subduction taking the highest stress at Chile; New Zealand was not exempt last year. The theory is the Atlantic mass is thickening, the Pacific magma more thin, Peru Amazon basin subsidence (Brazil plateau) and Mississippi are linked and Yellow River sediments, so Japan is right to use their best and structures Designers. China is aware and Taiwan has been recently struck by motion. MD Stagg BScWales UCW 1969

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