Small White Island eruption: Minor ash plume disperses, alert level unchanged

A webcam image from Whakatāne at 10.20am, showing a darker plume containing some volcanic ash being blown to the northeast. Photo / Earth Sciences NZ

A “short-lived” eruption has been observed at White Island.

Earth Sciences New Zealand duty volcanologist Paul Jarvis said a minor, short-lived eruption started at Whakaari/White Island at 10.15am on Thursday.

This generated a plume which rose to less than 1km above sea level and contained minor amounts of volcanic ash.

Jarvis said the wind dispersed the plume towards the northeast.

Jarvis said the small scale of yesterday morning’s activity meant it was “very unlikely that ash will impact the mainland”.

He said the level of volcanic activity would have to change significantly for this likelihood to increase.

He said the initial eruption plume from Whakaari/White Island identified on the agency’s Whakatāne webcam was dark coloured due to the volcanic ash.

“After around 30 minutes, the plume returned to a paler colour, more typical of Whakaari’s normal steam and gas plume.

“Subsequently, occasional short-lived [seconds-minutes] darker plumes containing ash were observed, rising to 700 – 800m above sea level. There had been no observed ash emission since about 12pm.“

Jarvis said it was unclear yesterday whether the morning’s activity would cease or progress to more sustained ash emission in the coming days.

Whakaari/White Island

He said given the short duration and small scale of this emission of ash, the Volcanic Alert Level remains at 2.

“Although the Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 2, short-lived increases in degassing or steam and gas plumes containing some volcanic ash can still occur with little or no warning, as shown by this morning’s activity.”

“While Volcanic Alert Level 2 is mostly associated with volcanic unrest hazards, including discharge of steam and hot volcanic gases, earthquakes, landslides and hydrothermal activity, the potential for eruption hazards remains.”