-
Visit to Firstgas
Project members from around New Zealand travelled to New Plymouth recently to meet with Firstgas. As part of the Solar Tsunami Endeavour Fund, research is being undertaken to help Firstgas understand what risks are posed to gas pipelines by GIC. Unlike power transmission lines, gas pipelines are not at risk of sudden catastrophic damage due…
-
GNS Southland LEMI Deployment
At the end of September 2021 Ted Bertrand and Wiebke Heise installed the first 8 LEMI instruments for this season in the Queenstown area. In November that year Malcolm Ingham and Wiebke Heise picked up the 8 instruments and installed them at 8 new locations in Otago, Southland and Fiordland. One site that was picked…
-
Second annual project meeting
The second annual Solar Tsunamis project meeting took place in Dunedin and online this year. 40 project members attended over 3 days to discuss the work completed over the last year, and ideas for future work. 15 people have joined the project since our inaugural meeting in February 2021, though sadly many New Zealand project…
-
Summer fieldwork season begins
The Solar Tsunamis 2021/2022 summer fieldwork season has begun, with Wiebke Heise, Ted Bertrand and Malcolm Ingham from VUW and GNS undertaking magnetotelluric testing in Fiordland and the Southern Lakes via helicopter in November and December. 40 of the testing sites have been completed, with the current 8 to be removed in early 2022. The…
-
Fiery experiments demostrate solar tsunamis
Toni Hoeta and Jessa Barder of Tūhura Otago Museum visited Te Wharekura O Arowhenua pupils in Invercargill in mid-November to debut demonstrations to explain the science of solar tsunamis and how solar storms could affect Earth and the electricity grid. Kyra Batchelor-Tata, pictured above, assisted Toni in simulating hydrogen fusion generates energy in a star. …
-
Magnetometer deployed at Awarua Satellite Ground Station
The first of a series of magnetometer deloyments took place at Awarua Satellite Ground Station in October. The satellite ground station is owned and operated by Space Operations NZ, who are hosting the Solar Tsunamis magnetometer for the length of the project. Dr Aaron Hendry, from the Otago space physics group, lead the fieldtrip to…
-
Logo design competition winner
Māikel Terekia is the winner of the logo design competition run by Tūhura Otago Museum with kura kaupapa and wharekura around Aotearoa earlier this year. 13 year old Māikel, a student from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Horouta Wānanga in Gisbourne submitting his winning design. As part of his design being chosen, he was flown…
-
Digitising 100 Year Old Scientific Records
New Zealand company NZMS – who specialise in digitising and preserving ephemeral documents – has been digitising GNS’s paper magnetograms from the New Zealand Magnetic Observatory at Eyrewell. Magnetograms have been collected continuously for New Zealand since 1916, and the paper records continue to 1994 after which they became digital, meaning almost 80 years worth…
-
Toni Hoeta Joins Solar Tsunami Project
Toni Hoeta has recently joined the Solar Tsunami team as Science Engagement Co-Ordinator Māori at Tūhura Otago Museum. Toni will be leading the programme’s outreach along with colleagues from Tūhura Otago Museum. Despite being new to the job Toni has already given multiple interviews, which are linked below, and joined fellow scientists and science communicators on…
-
Field Work Begins
As of January 2021 fieldwork to investigate the electrical conductivity of the ground around New Zealand has begun. Project members Wiebke Heise (GNS), Ted Bertrand (GNS), and Malcolm Ingham (VUW) are undertaking a years-long fieldwork campaign to make magnetotelluric measurements in Otago/Southland and Northland, as these have yet to be measured.
-
First Annual Project Meeting
The first annual Solar Tsunami Endeavour Programme meeting was held this week at the University of Otago. New Zealand based members travelled to Dunedin to present on their ongoing involvement in the project, while overseas members attended by Zoom.
