New Zealand scientists have increased the alert level for a huge volcano - which was the source of the Earth's largest eruption in the past 5,000 years.
Geological agency GeoNet said it had detected almost 700 small earthquakes below Lake Taupo, the caldera created by Taupo Volcano and New Zealand's biggest lake.
It said in a statement that it had raised the volcanic alert level to 1 from 0.
The volcanic alert system is based on six escalating levels of unrest, but Geonet notes that eruptions may occur at any level, and levels may not move in sequence as activity can change rapidly.
The Taupo volcano last exploded around 1,800 years ago, when it spewed more than 100 cubic kilometres of material into the atmosphere around 200 BCE.
The eruption devastated a large area of New Zealand's central North Island in a period before human habitation.
Geonet says the eruption was the largest on the planet in the past 5,000 years.
Alert level raised on New Zealand's giant Taupo volcano - source of Earth's largest eruption in past 5,000 years | World News | Sky News