article: Mar 17 2006 - Raoul Island Volcano Eruption

At about 8.21 am this morning a volcanic eruption began at Raoul Island. Based on data from a seismograph on the island the eruption appears to have continued for up to 30 minutes, although the most intense part of the eruption lasted for only 5 to 10 minutes. The eruption in the Green Lake area appears to have ejected mud and rocks with a steam plume visible on the island.

Since Sunday night Raoul Island has experienced a strong sequence of earthquakes, but over the last few days these had declined in both size and number. Today's eruption seems to have occurred with no immediate warning.

Raoul Island last erupted on 21 November 1964. This eruption also followed a strong earthquake sequence but at that time there were also significant changes in lake level, gas emissions and hot springs. That eruption also lasted about half an hour. There was a further strong earthquake sequence in March 1993, but that was not followed by an eruption.

Raoul Island is approximately 1000 km north-east of Auckland, and is one of the Kermadec Islands, part of New Zealand territory. For further information on Raoul Island refer to our summary page at GNS Science.

We will issue further bulletins as and when information becomes available.

As a result of the eruption the Alert Level for Raoul Island has been increased from 0 to 2.