An eruption has occured on Whakaari / White Island in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, sending a huge plume of smoke and ash into the sky.

The ash cloud rising from White Island today. Photo: GeoNet

GNS Science says the eruption occured at 2.10pm.

Follow the latest developments with RNZ's live blog:

There's has been moderate volcanic unrest on the island for the past few weeks, prompting GNS to say it appeared the volcano was possibly entering a period where eruptive activity is more likely than normal.

Ash particles are similar enough in size to rain that we can see the White Island eruption on our radar. ^AJ pic.twitter.com/1IkGMLzQm7

— MetService (@MetService) December 9, 2019

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