Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory raised the eruption warning around
Hokkaido's Tokachi-dake from level 2 to 3 at 09:30 local time on Sept. 12 after
a sustained increase in high-amplitude volcanic earthquakes since Aug. 17. The
observatory recorded the largest sequence of events around 08:20 and warned of
possible large ballistic blocks within about 3 km of the crater. Officials
reported persistent deeper crustal inflation since March, rising volcanic gas
emissions since April, and a very small eruption in July.
