White Island is just the tip of a submarine mountain that rises a staggering 1.6km from the sea floor, its fiery innards sealed shut from the surrounding Pacific Ocean.

The closest you will ever get to lava going into the ocean, Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big island puts on an amazing show on 10. Filmed from a helicopter and boat at extremely close range, so close that the ocean was boiling. Filmed by Breaking News/Geoff Mackley.

A supervolcano forming north of New Zealand could spell the end of the world - but there is no need to panic, it won't happen for at least 100 million years.

The nzherald.co.nz visited White Island in February 2013 as tourists who are continuing to flock to the volcano are fascinated by the up-close views as the island continues to produce "vigorous bursts" of mud, rock steam and gas up to 100m high.

White Island has been spewing mud and rock several tens of metres into the air in the past few days, as GNS Science warns of a greater risk to visitors.

New Zealand's most active volcano is primed to blow again, just days after scientists thought it had calmed down enough to lower alert levels.

Unsettled activity at White Island, which has prompted authorities to raise alert levels, indicates the volcano could erupt at any moment.

Fireworks are believed to have been responsible for a large fire in the crater of Auckland's Mt Eden early this morning.

New Zealand scientists are hoping to capture new deep-sea species when they head out to one of the world's deepest undersea trenches this week.

The steam and super-heated gases which have been pouring from the side of Mt Tongariro since two surprise eruptions last year are set to be a feature for years.

Plumes of "smoke" seen rising from Mt Tongariro today are not signs of increased volcanic activity, say GNS scientists.

The volcanic alert level at White Island has been raised to 2 and the aviation colour code to orange.

Taupo's mayor has criticised the response to Mt Tongariro's eruption this week, calling it an overreaction and saying we need to "learn to live with a live volcano".

After Mt Tongariro spewed ash into the sky, scientists are closely watching its potentially more destructive neighbour Mt Ruapehu.

Police say they would "discourage" sightseers from travelling to Mt Tongariro following an eruption at the Te Maari crater today.

These images from the GeoNet camera at Te Maari Crater show the scene changing from 11.30am to 1.30 pm today, when an eruption occurred.

An adventure run on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu will be moved if the volcano does not erupt by this weekend.

Organisers of an adventure run on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu are meeting volcanologists amid fears it could erupt in coming weeks.

Scientists are warning there are heightened signs of volcanic activity at Mt Ruapehu and an eruption could be just weeks away.

Prime Minister John Key says he was made aware a few days ago that there was increased activity on Mt Ruapehu.

A Kiwi scientist has helped discover a monster volcano under Hong Kong - one of just 50 'supervolcanoes' worldwide on the scale found under the city.