Quake raises Ruapehu crater level

[Lovelee]

Volcanologists say there has been a 15 centimetre jump in the level of the crater lake on Mt Ruapehu, as a direct result of a small earthquake on Monday evening.

A new research project measuring the lake's temperature and level has allowed GNS scientists for the first time to correlate a small rise with a single tremor.

The magnitude 2 tremor did not cause an eruption or the water temperature to change.

But it did mean an extra 20 million litres, or eight Olympic-sized swimming pools of water, flowed into the lake from the hydrothermal system below, and it has continued to steadily overflow.

GNS hopes its latest data gathering experiment will help identify potential hazards from the crater lake.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/07/14/1245bbe24c85