Japanese supervolcano might be building up for eruption

There is currently some alarming activity happening inside a supervolcano that sits just 31 miles away from Southern Japan.

A paper published in Nature Scientific Reports says that a lava bubble is expanding inside of the Kikai Caldera, a massive underwater volcano.

More than 31 cubic kilometers of lava have pushed the seabed up around 2,000 feet, with the volcano's peak now resting only 98 feet below the ocean’s surface.

But the issue here is the bubbling cauldron of magma inside the supervolcano is starting to build up large amounts of pressure.

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Japanese volcanologists say they have found evidence of a massive eruption at Kikai Caldera 7000 years ago, and another one 95,000 years ago.

Volcanologist Yoshiyuki Tatsumi tells the New York Post that presently there is a 1% chance of a catastrophic eruption.

So the odds are pretty good we are safe for now. However, if the supervolcano were to erupt, researchers say that it has the potential to kill 100 million people.

A fourth survey of the caldera is expected in March, with scientists hoping to figure out exactly where we stand against this magma monster.