Photo: Alessandro KauffmannScientists have pioneered a new eruption alert system they say could have given 16 hours' warning of December's deadly disaster at Whakaari/White Island. New Zealand doesn't currently have an advanced real-time warning system for volcanic eruptions. Instead, the existing Volcano Alert Level (VAL) system is updated every few weeks or months and relies on human judgement and consensus amongst scientists to spot activity that could signal a pending eruption. "It's a warning sign that could have been detected almost instantly by the forecasting system we have developed." "The types of eruptions this system has detected are the ones most likely to be fatal," Cronin said.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 19, 2020 21:00 UTC