Working closely with the Department of Geophysics at Tohoku University, Sakurajima Volcano Observatory at Kyoto University, Institute of Seismology and Volcanology at Kyushu University in Japan, Sintela have deployed a dual fiber ONYX™ peta Sensing Unit for real-time monitoring of the seismic activity at the Sakurajima Volcano in Kagoshima, Japan.

Sakurajima is an active volcano which often erupts and produces a substantial amount of seismic activity. Using the ONYX™ peta Sensing Unit this activity is continually captured and recorded. This growing dataset provides a unique asset to geoscientists to analyse and further understand the behaviour of volcanos.

A dual fiber ONYX™ peta is located within the Sakurajima International Volcanic Sabo Center.

Connected to the sensing unit, around the base of the volcano following the route of the highways 224 and 24, for approximately 38,800 m is a fiber providing approximately 7,820 independent, simultaneously sampled channels of seismic data.

Up the side of volcano following the route of the Nojiri river for approximately 4,430m is a second fiber which provides a further 892 channels of seismic data. The raw data is acquired and recorded locally but over the internet decimated data is being sent to a cloud server.

The following live feeds show the real-time data acquired on both fibers in the form of Power Spectral Density (PSD) time verses distance ‘waterfall’ plots:

Project Details

DATE

2025

CLIENT

Tohoku University

PROJECT TYPE

Scientific Research

CONTRACTOR

Sintela

Google Earth image of Sakurajima showing route of fibers around the base and side of the volcano

Live webcam view of Sakurajima volcano

Real-time PSD waterfall plot of the activity detected on Fiber 1 around the base of Sakurajima

Real-time PSD waterfall plot of the activity detected on Fiber 2 up the side of Sakurajima

The industry leading performance and simplicity of use of the ONYX™ peta sensing unit is providing geoscientists across the world with the ability to captures unrivalled high quality seismic data. This is being used to:

Analyse earthquakes – Helping to provide early warning of major earthquakes and Tsunami’s
Monitor volcanic activity – Providing a deeper understanding of volcanic behaviour leading to better prediction of imminent eruptions
Measuring the cryosphere – To predict the rate of melting and movement of glaciers and the icecaps.