Pressure building below Mt Ruapehu's crater lake, Crown institute says
Scientists are warning there are heightened signs of volcanic activity at Mt Ruapehu and an eruption could be just weeks away. GNS Science experts say pressure is building up in the crater lake at the volcano and there is now a high risk of an eruption. Read more
After months of heating up, Mount Ruapehu's Crater Lake has gone off the boil. Scientists today recorded a dramatic drop in temperature which means less chance of an eruption. While the volcanic alert level remains in place, it is reassuring for skiers gearing up for the winter season. Read more
Mount Ruapehu is heating up -- but there's no need to panic, a volcanologist says. Ruapehu's Crater Lake has reached 40degC, the third-highest temperature recorded at the lake since 2002. Read more
In June of 1996 New Zealand's Mt. Ruapehu erupted with violence. Its ash cloud blotted out the sun for miles, climbing almost 30,000 feet into the atmosphere. In all, some 7 million tons of rock and ash were ejected. Yet no one was killed. At least, not within 60 miles of the volcano. But in the cities of Auckland and Hamilton, hundreds of miles from Ruapehu, something strange happened. No warnings were sounded, and the skies appeared normal to the naked eye. But more people than usual started showing up at hospitals, many of them later dying of aggravated respiratory diseases. Read more
Mount Ruapehu volcano erupted again last week, producing two lahars and ejecting ash. One lahar travelled down the western boundary of the Whakapapa skifield. After that officials issued warnings for skiers and other visitors to stay away from the mountain, however people are still skiing, venturing into the valleys looking at the lahar deposits.
Eruption on Mt Ruapehu What appears to have been a small volcanic eruption has occurred on Mt Ruapehu this evening at 8.20pm and lasting for about 10 minutes. Monitoring equipment reported ash fall on ski fields and small lahars on the northern and eastern sides of the mountain.
Geologists Witness Unique Volcanic Mudflow in Action in New Zealand Crater Lake event may lead to development of hazards assessment tool Volcanologist Sarah Fagents from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa had an amazing opportunity to study volcanic hazards first hand, when a volcanic mudflow broke through the banks of a volcanic lake at Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand. Fagents and colleagues were there on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to study the long-forecast Crater Lake break-out lahar at Mount Ruapehu. A lahar is a type of mudflow composed of water and other sediment that flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are caused by the rapid melting of snow and/or glaciers during a volcanic eruption, or as in the case of Mount Ruapehu, the breakout of a volcanic lake.
GNS dam-cam films Crater Lake outburst A camera installed by GNS Science near the summit of Ruapehu has captured the moment when the wall of tephra that had been holding back the Crater Lake failed, triggering last Sundays spectacular lahar. The fixed digital still camera was installed overlooking the downstream side of the barrier in early January, and had been taking pictures at one minute intervals during daylight to monitor the development of erosion scarps and to attempt to capture unique pictures of the dam failing.