Severe weather wipes out last reliable sensors on Whakaari, as gas and steam plumes continue

Recent severe weather has wiped out the last reliable sensors on Whakaari/White Island as the active crater continues to produce steam and gas plumes.

Recent images from a Whakatāne webcam show Whakaari emitting steam and gas, but do not detect any significant changes in overall volcanic activity.

This comes as recent severe weather took out an on-island site, meaning GNS Science volcanologists can no longer receive data from the North Rim webcam and the Crater Floor GNSS (GPS) sensor.

“These were our last remaining reliable sensors on the island,” Geonet said in its volcanic activity bulletin on Tuesday.

READ MORE: * Geysers, bubbling in water at Whakaari/White Island as rain raises lake and pool levels * Collapse craters on Whakaari/White Island sign of continuing unrest * Whakaari/White Island alert level raised to 2

The Volcanic Alert Level remains at 2 – which is for moderate to heightened unrest.

The bulletin said this was mostly associated with volcanic unrest hazards, like discharge of steam and hot volcanic gases, earthquakes, landslides, and hydrothermal activity.

But there was still potential for eruption hazards, and eruptions could still occur with little or no warning.

The Aviation Colour Code remained at Yellow, which acknowledged the current level of activity, but also considered “the greater level of uncertainty in our interpretation due to the current lack of consistent, useful real-time data”.

As the weather allowed, regular gas measurements and observation flights would continue until the on-island equipment and power supplies could be serviced.

“The most recent flights last month showed the steam and gas plume continues to originate from the same vent locations as previously observed, with discharge rates in a similar range.

“There has been no evidence of ash emission or eruptive activity from these vents.”

Satellite-based ground deformation data was obtained about every 10 days that allowed scientists to look for any trends in the ground deforming.

This was alongside daily satellite-based sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission measurements, although the bulletin said this technique was not as sensitive as gas measurements during flights.

“Neither of these satellite techniques have detected significant changes in the overall activity at the volcano over the past few months.”