The Crater Lake on White Island is continuing to grow with gas flux at elevated levels, but volcanic seismic activity remains low.

GNS Science staff have made several visits to the island in the last week to assess the status of the volcano, repair existing monitoring installations and evaluate new portable equipment. The volcano remains in an elevated state of unrest.

A view of the Crater Lake on Monday.

Volcanologist Brad Scott says the water level of the Crater Lake is continuing to rise, with observations and photographs suggesting it's about five metres higher than late last year.

Brad says average daily sulphur dioxide gas flux has ranged from 133 to 924 tonnes per day.

He says this remains elevated compared to levels before 2012 when daily averages were generally less than 300 tonnes per day.

GNS scientists have been able to carry out experiment with a recently acquired thermal infrared camera.

'The lake temperature ranged from 37 to 58 °C and averaged 51-52 °C. The temperature of the gas vents on the lava dome range from around 200 to 330 °C, and at one vent we have measured over 400 °C. These observations confirm hot volcanic gases are still passing through these vents.

This new camera gives us some fantastic data on the heat coming from the volcano and allows us to build a better picture of the status of the activity.”

Brad says they have also tested a Diode Laser instrument to evaluate carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas emissions and a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer which can measure a very wide range of different gases.

'We are developing our capabilities in monitoring different gases so that we can better understand how the volcano behaves.”

He says White Island remains in a state of volcanic unrest and a range of eruptive activity can occur under these conditions and eruptions can start with little or no prior warning.

'Larger eruptions can eject mud and rocks and may impact the crater floor area. The Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 1. Aviation Colour Code remains Green.

'GNS Science is continuing to closely monitor the activity at White Island (and other New Zealand volcanoes) through the GeoNet project.”