New Zealand volcano on verge of eruption: volcanologists (2)

Since late October, small earthquakes had been occurring about 5 km beneath the summit area of Ruapehu, a popular winter skiing ground, but these might not be directly related to the high temperatures beneath the Crater lake as they were much deeper.

As a result, GNS Science had increased the aviation color code warning for aircraft from green to yellow, which reflected a change from a normal non-eruptive state to showing elevated signs of unrest.

However, the volcanic alert level remained at 1 on the scale of 0 to 5, indicating initial signs of possible volcano unrest.

In August, two other New Zealand volcanoes erupted, but no damage or casualties were reported