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Volcano: 71 Live Cameras

Japan's volcano cameras exist to watch for eruptions, not to show off scenery. That is exactly why the summits stay on screen all day, every day.

What you can see

Japan has this many mountains under live camera not for tourism. The Meteorological Agency designates the active ones as constantly monitored volcanoes and installs cameras alongside seismometers and tiltmeters. Plume height and direction, crater colour, a glow at night — several things still have to be judged by eye.

The same mountain often carries cameras from several agencies at once. The Meteorological Agency watches the crater; the transport ministry's erosion-control cameras watch the valleys where debris flows travel; the Environment Ministry's scenery cameras take the whole mountain from a distance. Different purposes mean different angles and different refresh rates. Open them on the same day and one is often inside cloud while another is clear.

Overseas volcanoes are here too. GNS Science covers New Zealand's, the US Geological Survey covers Hawaii's, on the same reasoning. While Japan's volcanoes sit in darkness, it is daylight on the other side of the planet.

Cameras you can watch now: 71

1 video, 70 still. Tap one to open it in the camera list.

When to watch

Winter mornings show the most. From November through February the air is dry and the view runs a long way, and with snow on the slopes any fresh ashfall stands out as a dark patch. Summer afternoons are the opposite: rising air climbs the slopes and the mountain manufactures its own cloud, so it can be a clear day everywhere except on the peak.

To check a plume, go early in the morning. Cool, still air lets the plume rise high with a hard outline. By midday the temperature gradient has flattened and the plume thins out until you cannot pick it from the sky.

On the most active mountains the crater can glow red at night, as lava or hot gas lights the base of the cloud. It is invisible in daylight. Only a few mountains do it, but Sakurajima and Suwanosejima have both been caught at it.

Browse by mountain or lake

Agencies publishing the cameras on this page

The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.

To find other cameras, go to the camera list. You can narrow all 172 cameras by format, region, subject and provider.
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