12 Aug 2024

Ash no longer being emitted from Whakaari / White Island following minor eruption

9:13 am on 12 August 2024
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Photo: Supplied/ University of Canterbury

Ash is no longer emitting from Whakaari / White Island since a "continuous minor eruption" occurred on Friday.

On Sunday around midnight, a continuous amount of ash was being emitted from the volcano and continued throughout the morning.

That has settled down now, GNS Science duty volcanologist Geoff Kilgour said.

Kilgour told Morning Report Whakaari was New Zealand's most active volcano.

He had to emphasise the eruptions were "very minor" and were only affecting the island itself and directly around it.

Ash that has been emitted into the atmosphere was only reaching up to one or two kilometres, being transported away from the volcano by wind.

He said local communities may be concerned - but the activity was very minor.

Kilgour said the most important thing for GNS in the coming days was to continuously monitor the volcano's activity.

Weather permitting, there would also be flights above the volcano to take measurements and see how the ground is reacting.

That key information - including making use of satellite information - would determine what happens next and that information would be made available to the public in the coming days.

The volcano's alert level is currently sitting at a 3 out of 6.

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