Mount Cook rock avalanche 1991. Lloyd Homer, GNS Science On 14th December 1991 a massive rock avalanche occurred from the East Face of Aoraki /Mount Cook, sending an estimated 14 million cubic metres of rock in a 1.5 kilometre wide cascade across the grand plateau and down onto the Tasman Glacier. It is thought that […]
The Changing Height of Mount Cook Read More »
Dougal Townsend of GNS Science was part of a team that flew over Marlborough to assess the impact of the recent earthquakes on the landscape and infrastructure. Although relatively minor compared to those that impacted the Christchurch area in 2010 and 2011, there were nonetheless some isolated, but significant effects. All these photos were taken
Earthquake impacts in Marlborough seen from the air Read More »
Following the earthquakes in southern cook straight, the GeoNet rapid response team left immediately to place seismometers around the area, to allow more detailed monitoring and get better information with which to model the fault ruptures. This meant that when the Mag 6.6 occurred, the enhanced array of seismometers was already in place. Here is
Lake Grassmere Quakes Read More »
This is a screen shot of the Wellington seismometer from very early on Monday morning 22 July Following the earthquakes in Cook Strait over the weekend, it was impressive to arrive at work on Monday morning, and watch how the GeoNet team, many of whom had been busy right through the weekend, were in full
Earthquakes in Southern Cook Strait Read More »
If you had to work out the daily quantities of different gases coming out of a volcano and spreading across the sky in a huge, mostly invisible plume, where would you begin? This video gives a brief introduction to how New Zealand’s GeoNet scientists go about it: The information is combined with other evidence such
Volcano Gas Flights Video Read More »
My next experience of a GeoNet gas monitoring flight was over Tongariro and Ruapehu. This time Karen Britten and I were joined by Fiona Atkinson (left in photo) who is part of the GeoNet volcano monitoring team. As we approached the volcanoes from over Lake Taupo, the small gas plume from Te Maari was visible.
Flight over Tongariro and Ruapehu Read More »
Yesterday I joined Karen Britten on a GeoNet gas monitoring flight over White Island. This was to check the flux of volcanic gas emissions following an ash eruption a few days ago.Check this GeoTrip page if you are interested to visit White Island / Whakaari yourself: www.geotrips.org.nz/trip.html?id=541 ) The plane is modified to allow the
White Island Gas Flight Read More »
GNS Science is very proud to support the NZ ShakeOut earthquake drill on September 26th. Watch the video if you don’t already realise why being aware and prepared for an earthquake is a good idea. The event, which will run right across the country at 9.26am, will prompt all of us to check our plans
NZ ShakeOut – why all New Zealanders should participate Read More »
How to Respond to an Earthquake in New Zealand This article has been compiled by Karen Hayes at GNS Science with the help of experts including Julia Becker and David Johnston from the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University, and Adrian Prowse from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (now the National Emergency
“Drop, cover and hold on” is the best advice… Read More »
We have a new GNS Science video today that explains how scientists locate the source of an earthquake and then calculate the magnitude. John Ristau, from GNS Science’s GeoNet programme talks through the steps of the process… And in case you missed this earlier video, here is Matt Gerstenberger, describing how earthquake forecasts are made
Where was that earthquake and how big was it? Read More »