New Delhi (CNN) India's only live volcano is active again, say Indian scientists who witnessed the mountain spewing lava and billowing clouds of black smoke.

The Barren Island volcano, on a remote uninhabited island off the country's eastern coast, had been lying dormant for more than 150 years until it saw a major eruption in 1991. Since then it has shown intermittent activity, including eruptions in 1995 and 2005.

The volcano erupting on January 23.

Over eight hours of observation on January 23 and January 26, the scientists saw ash clouds during the daytime and fountains of red lava spewing from the volcano's mouth and streaming down its slopes after sundown, said India's National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in a statement Monday.

The volcano erupted in bursts of cloud and smoke lasting about five to 10 minutes.

"It was a small eruption compared to the last major eruptions in 1991 and 1995," Dr. Abhay Mudholkar, chief scientist at the Goa-based NIO, told CNN.

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