Whakaari Under Close Watch as Volcanic Plumes Trigger Aviation Alert
- Holly Grundy
- 3 hours ago
- 1 min read
Over the weekend, weather conditions carried steam and gas plumes from Whakaari / White Island westward toward Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty coastline. As a result, MetService, via the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, issued an advisory for aircraft due to elevated ash levels in the airspace. All afternoon flights in and out of Tauranga were subsequently cancelled.
On Monday morning, the GNS Science volcano monitoring team convened to assess the recent volcanic activity.
“The steam and gas plume is typical behaviour for Whakaari / White Island and consistent with what we’d expect at Volcanic Alert Level 3 and Aviation Colour Code Orange,” said GNS Volcano Duty Officer Dr. Oliver Lamb. “These levels acknowledge the current volcanic activity but also reflect the uncertainty around the unrest due to a lack of consistent, stable real-time monitoring.”
Dr. Lamb also warned that activity at Whakaari could escalate with little or no warning.
Although the team does not expect ashfall along the Bay of Plenty coastline, they confirmed that northerly or easterly winds could carry a noticeable sulphur odour inland, caused by minor ash present in the steam and gas plumes.
“Our team is currently compiling an update on the recent activity, including analysis of data from an observation flight late last week,” Lamb added. A Volcanic Activity Bulletin is expected to be issued within the next one to two days.
