This year the study will look at Lake Rotoiti, with the scientists measuring the amount of heat coming from beneath the lake.
Studies of Lake Rotomahana and Lake Tarawera have been completed.
Dr De Ronde said the lake floor offered 100 per cent exposure with relatively easy access "making it easier to do the measurements on the lake than on land".
Measurements are done using thermal blankets held on the lake floor by weights, which include temperature recorders measuring the heat being expelled through the lake floor, and the temperature of the surrounding lake water.
Dr De Ronde said scientists can calculate the number of megawatts of power coming through the lake using the difference in temperature between the measurements for the lake floor and that of the lake itself.
"If we can accurately measure the heat flow for 20 per cent of the caldera, then we can multiply that for the whole caldera and at the end of the day we can work out how much heat is coming up through this super volcano.
"If there is more heat being produced theoretically below the caldera than what is being measured coming through, we can deduce the magma chamber is building up and there is a possibility of an eruption. However, we have no idea when this will be, but it will happen at some point, but not in our lifetime."
The study is also providing information on the potential for geothermal power, as the research so far from Lake Rotoiti shows it could generate as much as 200 megawatts of energy, which is more than is being harnessed at the Wairakei Power Station.
"This is an incredible amount of geothermal energy, which ultimately could be tapped as a geothermal resource in the future."
Dr De Ronde said Okataina, Rotoma and Rotoehu lakes were yet to be looked at.
