Large plumes of steam and gas have been rising from Whakaari/White Island.

But, there is no cause for concern, according to GNS Science, which says the volcano is just doing its thing and the plumes over the island are more visible today due to favourable atmospheric conditions.

The plumes became visible at first light on Wednesday and formed larger clouds over the island as the day progressed.

Light winds and cool air above the volcano this week gave the impression it could have been erupting again, but it was not the case.

According to GNS, it is common to see larger steam and gas plumes from Whakaari/White Island when there are ideal atmospheric conditions.

'Today is a good example of this, with the hot steam/gas plume expanding in the cool and calm conditions to tower above the volcano.”

Whakaari remains in a state of volcanic unrest at Alert Level 1 and was showing minor volcanic activity, according to the GeoNet website on Wednesday afternoon.

However, on August 10, GNS volcanologist Geoff Kilgour said near real-time monitoring of Whakaari had been lost after the failure of the last surviving seismometer and pressure sensor on the island.

'The monitoring network at Whakaari consisted of two sites with earthquake and pressure sensors (to detect explosive airwaves), three cameras, two SO2 (sulphur dioxide) gas scanners and two GNSS antenna for measuring ground deformation,” he said.

'Since the December 9, 2019, eruption, the on-island network has not been serviced and power supplies, sensors and cameras have degraded or failed over time.

'Our near real-time capability has been largely reliant on the on-island earthquake and pressure sensors.

'The first of these failed in April 2021 and the second failed late last week.”

Since the on-island equipment failures, GNS had increased the frequency of its gas and observation flights to the island.

-Stuff/Matthew Martin.