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A lahar running down the face of Mount Ruapehu after it erupted in 2007. - Source: Getty Images -
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A locally-developed warning system aimed at saving lives if one of New Zealand's largest active volcanoes erupts, is being tested on Mt Ruapehu.
The science team at Massey University has helped develop a world-class satellite, which is set to be fully operational by the time the mountain opens for the busy ski season.
The satellite has a 1.2m diameter radar dish that focuses its narrow beam over the crater lake to detect any explosive bursts.
Professor Shane Cronin from Massey University said the high-tech satellite is aimed to give people some warning of the next big eruption.
"That's the big danger when you have 10,000 people on the ski field, or people at this time of the year tramping on the mountain, things can happen almost instantaneously and the amount of warning we get may be minutes or even less."
But Cronin said the radar will become an important addition to the existing range of warning instruments installed at Mt Ruapehu.
"What we're able to do is calculate how many of them there are, how quickly they're erupting out. Just to tell us when a lahar's happening, how quickly it's travelling, and how quickly we'd expect it, say, at Tangiwai," he said.
Mike Smith, Mt Ruapehu marketing Manager, said the warning system will help predict activity on the mountain.
"Obviously we all work, live and play on an active volcano...and just to have those active warning systems are really good for everyone involved," he said.
The satellite is the first of its kind in New Zealand and makes Mt Ruapehu one of only a handful of volcanoes around the world watched around the clock by a radar.
The announcement follows GNS scientists' warnings last week of high temperatures in the crater lake and increased seismic activity, warning airlines against flying overhead the mountain.
It has only been four years since Mt Ruapehu last erupted without warning.
In 2007, the eruption lasted for seven minutes and caused two lahars, one of which spilled over onto the Whakapapa Skifield.
But university volcanologist Dr Gert Lube said the new technology will provide eruption warnings to predict its strength and size, even when the summit cannot be seen my the naked eye.
"The radar beam spans the entire width of the crater lake, but will also be able to measure the speed of volcanic surges and snow-slurry lahars that travel over the Whakapapa Skifield, like those in 1995 and 2007," he said.
The Massey University team said they are taking the technology to another volcano in Italy and hope the technology will go global.
