Mt Ruapehu alert level rise: DOC to carry out aerial sweep

A two kilometre exclusion zone is in place around the Mount Ruapehu crater lake - Te Wai a-moe - after GeoNet raised its volcanic alert level. The temperature in the crater lake has risen to 43 degrees, and it's now at Alert Level two - which indicates moderate volcanic arrest. GNS duty volcanologist Mike Rosenberg says gas output through the crater had also increased - the mix of gases in the plume is now the largest measure in the past two decades. The Department of Conservation is preparing to do an aerial sweep of the area tomorrow - spokesperson Connie Norgate says anyone in the immediate vicinity should leave.