Guest Work • Mar 14, 2018 •
David Blair, University of Western Australia This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Whenever there’s an announcement of a new discovery of gravitational waves there is usually an accompanying sound, such as this: We have only detected half a dozen signals so far. The first five are black holes whose … Read More
Eric Crampton • Feb 22, 2018 •
Seventh anniversary of the Christchurch earthquakes. GNS figures there’s about a 1/120 annual risk of something of similar size hitting Wellington: 0.833%. Recovery here will be much harder than in Christchurch. There are few local options for firms to relocate to while downtown is torn down and possibly rebuilt. There are few transit routes in and out. The airport could … Read More
Guest Work • Dec 20, 2017 •
In January and February several NIWA scientists focused on finding out more about what happened to marine environment off Kaikoura following the November 2016 earthquake. Marine geologist Dr Josh Mountjoy led an investigation to map offshore faults ruptured by the earthquake and to investigate changes at the head of the Kaikoura Canyon. Data revealed huge mudslides had occurred sending … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 09, 2017 •
In this guest post University of Auckland Geologist Dr Julie Rowland reflects on the 14 November M7.8 Kaikoura earthquake. Let’s be clear – it was huge. When you see houses shunted sideways 10 m or lifted up by 8, you know you are dealing with a big one. The drone imagery and photographs that have been doing the media rounds paint … Read More
Guest Work • Nov 23, 2016 •
By James Goff, UNSW Australia Parts of Japan were on tsunami alert yesterday following a magnitude 6.9 earthquake off the east coast of the country. This was the first real test for Japan since the 2011 earthquake which led to a deadly tsunami. The destruction led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Paul … Read More
John Kerr • Nov 20, 2016 •
The tsunami generated by last week’s 7.8 earthquake was not expected as the quake was initially centered on land, not offfshore. In the week since the quake there has been a lot of public debate over the efficacy of New Zealand’s national and local tsunami warning systems. The Science Media Centre has collated much of the coverage here. A key point … Read More
Guest Work • Nov 17, 2016 •
Karen Nimmo Earthquakes. Aftershocks. Floods, slips, torn-up roads, wrecked houses and businesses: how much more natural disaster can we take? New Zealand has been struck hard this week by nature’s forces. Sadly lives were lost, but we were shaken by the realisation that, had the magnitude 7.8 Quake hit … Read More
Guest Work • Nov 15, 2016 •
By Jane Cunneen, Curtin University The tsunami warnings from the latest New Zealand earthquake show how important it is for people to be prepared for such an event. The early messages from New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) on its Twitter account @NZcivildefence said it was “assessing whether there is any tsunami threat”, … Read More
Guest Work • Nov 15, 2016 •
Brendan Duffy, University of Melbourne and Mark Quigley, University of Melbourne At least two people have died in the magnitide 7.5 earthquake that struck New Zealand’s South Island early on Monday, local time. Preliminary modelling suggests that the earthquake was caused by a rupture of a northeast-striking fault that projects to the surface … Read More
John Kerr • Nov 14, 2016 •
In the aftermath of this morning’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake there has been a solid effort by researchers and authorities to provide timely information to an understandably worried New Zealand public. The most up-to-date source of information on the situation is GeoNet, which is providing updates on aftershock sequences and likelihood estimates of future scenarios. In the most recent news update on the GeoNet … Read More