Volcanic eruption of Mount Aso, Japan.

Mount Aso, located on the southern island of Kyushu, erupted on Monday 14 September. The eruption reportedly sent an ash column 2,000 m into the air. Currently there are no reports of damage or injuries.

Mt. Aso is at the tip of the arrow on this graphic. It's about 525 miles WSW of Tokyo. #Japan #volcano #eruption pic.twitter.com/WqI7nszBBD — The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 14, 2015

Reports indicate that tourists near the volcano have been safely evacuated and the volcanic alert is currently at 3 (5 point scale). The area around the volcano had been on alert previously. In May, alert was raised to 5, resulting in evacuations.

See below tweet for a photo taken from a passing aircraft.

https://twitter.com/kmmep/status/643236276318023682

Japan Airlines has since reportedly cancelled flights through the area.

EDIT (10:45pm GMT, Sept 14): It is being speculated that the eruption could be stream driven phreatomagmatic eruption. Meanwhile, the impact on aviation has some more detail with at least 20 flights cancelled, and more expected to be either cancelled or disrupted. In total, 30 people were evacuated from the volcano, and access is closed within a 4 km wide area of the volcano.

EDIT (01:35am GMT, Sept 15): Brad Scott from GNS Science in New Zealand has written about the simularities between the eruption of Mount Aso and an eruption at the 2012 Te Maari eruptions.

This post will be updated as new developments are reported.