View of Whakaari / White Island from a monitoring flight on 31 August, 2022. Photo: GNS
Explosive activity has recently been recorded at Whakaari/White Island's crater floor, ejecting "ballistic blocks" up to 600m high, according to GeoNet.
GeoNet said on Friday, webcams at Whakatāne and Te Kaha continued to record steam and gas plumes with a "minor but variable presence of volcanic ash" over the past couple of weeks.
On occasions, small amounts of volcanic ash has been detected in the plume by satellite imagery.
"Friday's observation flight has also recorded minor changes in the active vent area, this has enlarged slightly," GeoNet said.
"We also observed impact craters, suggesting that some occasional, more explosive activity has recently occurred, ejecting ballistic blocks up to about 600m from the active vent, on the crater floor.
"The exact timing and number of these more explosive events is unknown, but this type of activity is not uncommon for Whakaari as active vents grow. The impact of these events remained confined to the Main Crater floor."
However, the Volcanic Alert Level remains at 2 and the Aviation Colour Code remains at Orange, according to GeoNet.
The island remained at volcanic alert level two, which indicated moderate to heightened unrest.
GeoNet said it will continue to monitor the island through remote cameras and periodic flights to Whakaari.
It said the Bay of Plenty coast remained unaffected by the short-term activity.
Whakaari/White Island is an active volcano located off the Bay of Plenty coast. In 2019, it erupted, killing 22 people.
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