An eruption has occured on Whakaari / White Island in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, sending a huge plume of smoke and ash into the sky.
The ash cloud rising from White Island today. Photo: GeoNet
GNS Science says the eruption occured at 2.10pm.
Follow the latest developments with RNZ's live blog:
There's has been moderate volcanic unrest on the island for the past few weeks, prompting GNS to say it appeared the volcano was possibly entering a period where eruptive activity is more likely than normal.
Ash particles are similar enough in size to rain that we can see the White Island eruption on our radar. ^AJ pic.twitter.com/1IkGMLzQm7
— MetService (@MetService) December 9, 2019