Hi all I owe Marcia a big hug and a kiss. She has outdone herself for which I am eternally grateful. Rob

Hear! Hear! k, Rob, let's hear all about your neck of the woods!

It's about time. I wish I had suggested it earlier. Shall I post your Krakatoa paper or shall you? It is just one of the wondeful things Rob wrote which should be preserved for all time on the internet of knowledge. *HUGS* YOU are now world famous!

Hi all Okay I will give some geographical statistics about New Zealand for you. We are a nation of about 270,000 square kilometres in size. Our longest river is the Waikato 425km and the biggest (by volume of flow)is the Clutha - average is 650 cubic metres per second. Our highest mountain is Mount Cook and is 12,300 feet above sea level in the Mount Cook National Park. The highest volcano is Mount Ruapehu 9,175 feet with a lake in the crater. Our two largest lakes are Lake Taupo 616 square kilometres in size and Lake Te Anau 322 square kilometres in size. The former is in the Taupo volcano caldera and the latter is a large lake carved out by glaciers. If Marcia could post the NZ map in here I can use it to explain the layout of the country and so on as well as go over some of the more niggly things. Rob

Since I cannot ftp this map I will borrow it for Rob:

Hi all I am giving you this link to the flag of New Zealand as it should appear. This is not the same one that is flown sometimes with a red backdrop. That particular flag is The New Zealand Red Ensign. For the Flag of New Zealand go here: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/n/nz.gif And the defacto flag as seen at all big sports events and tipped by some to be the new New Zealand flag should the present one be replaced: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/n/nz!sfern.gif Rob

Hi all This is a full account of Robs trip down the West Coast of the South Island, January 26-February 1. NOTE: Every second paragraph will explain where on the map we went. Because most of the places we stayed at on the map are left out I need to indicate them. I left home with Mum on Saturday January 26 to go to Omarama on the first leg of a trip covering 2000km and 4 provinces of New Zealand - Canterbury, Otago, Southland and Westland. It was in cloudy conditions that we left home heading southwest. Stops were had at Geraldine in rural Canterbury, where gentle rolling hill country dominates, and at Tekapo, a town in the McKenzie Basin on the shores of Lake Tekapo. We drove past Ohau A powerstation where a fault is displacing the generator hall and offsetting the four generators. At Omarama we overnighted and the following day we continued on to Te Anau where we were scheduled to meet Dad and Craig, who were walking the Kepler Track in Fiordland National Park. On the map we left Christchurch heading southwest and turned inland near Ashburton (road not marked). We headed inland to Geraldine where the road going inland from Timaru and the one also going inland from south of Ashburton meet. Omarama is further inland at the intersection of the road heading southeast to Oamaru and the one going toward Queenstown. The second day's travelling was south to Queenstown, then around the shore of Lake Wakatipu and onto the road intersection northwest of Gore. You can see Te Anau on the shores of the big lake that actually goes by the same name. We met Dad and Craig and had dinner watching the New Zealanders confront South Africa in a cricket One Day International on television - cool. We lost that game by the way. The following day, Craig drove home to Christchurch and Mum, Dad and I set off for Wanaka (road to West Coast runs between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea)where we would stay the night and stopped at Cardrona Hotel (originally founded in 1860s for a beer which quite surprisingly (middle of Otago)supplied Canterbury Draught. Even more surprising and hilarious was a fence line of bras with sign on a post behind the fence saying "In support of Roys last stand". The road from Wanaka to Haast goes between the two lakes and Haast is near the coast on the West Coast side of the Southern Alps. Northeast of Haast is Fox and Franz Josef and they are almost due north of Mount Cook (the road to Mount Cook is the near straight one going straight into the mountains and stopping abruptly). The Fault tour began in earnest on January 29, the day we crossed into Westland. Our first port of call was the Alpine Fault at Snapshot Creek near Haast where the road and the creek cross the fault in about the same place. It was not visible though and only shown on the geology map of the area that Dad brought with him. Further south in the Jacksons River valley the fault dominates the geology and controls the valley, meaning the fault is responsible for the physical layout. We drove to Franz Josef where we would spend two nights and the Motor Camp/is ON the fault. Although not visible on the surface, except from the air, I recalled the geology map of the area at University showing that a large fault ran STRAIGHT THROUGH THE MOTOR CAMP. The town of Franz Josef is in the most unenviable position possible sitting literally on top of the fault (runs through the service station forecourt), and across the river in the general vicinity of a nice old church on the banks of the Waiho River. On January 30 we took a flight over the glaciers and the township which showed a fault clearly crossing the foot of the Southern Alps in the vicinity of both Fox and Franz Josef. That night I took photographs of a couple places within the camping ground where I thought the fault ran. The following day we drove to Punakaiki on the coast and away from the faultline, into an area of marine geology where sedimentary rocks from under the sea were being raised. On February 1, while on the way home to Christchurch we drove to Inangahua, ground zero for a magnitude 7.0 event in 1968. A fault trace was clearly visible after the earthquake but 33 years of erosion and human activity had hidden any sign of it's existence. Further on we stopped one last time atop the Alpine Fault in a field near Springs Junction where a concrete slab wall had been built to monitor offset on the fault. Nothing has changed because the fault has a near vertical plane and the rocks under the surface are therefore locked in place. Only a big earthquake will unlock hem. Finally east of the Southern Alps we followed the Hope Fault down the Waiau River valley to the Hanmer Springs turn-off. All in all a great trip. Rob

What a fabulous trip, Rob! Thanks for sharing it with us. Flying geology lessons seem to be the most memorable. Yours definitly was! When you can manage to scan some photos I'd be delighted to ftp them to Spring so you can post them! NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR SCIENCES LTD. The following earthquake has been recorded by the Institute Reference number: 1844277/G Universal Time: 2002 February 10 0200 NZ Daylight Time: 2002 February 10 3.00 p.m. Latitude, Longitude: 38.87�S 175.63�E Location: 20 km north-west of Turangi Focal depth: 5 km Richter magnitude: 4.0 Likely to have been felt along the western shore of Lake Taupo.

Very nice and interesting trip Rob. It reminds me similar explorations when I was younger. I wondered for what is under our foot and how it was formed. It reminds me also, the recent geological activity in the area of the Thessaly lowland. Suddenly on 1991, big faults became visible on the surface and they continue until today to southwest direction. They are included in a triangle with about 80 km per each side. They became also uplifts and down lifts inside the triangle. I go along the faults and I measure the radioactivity background when I can. It is very interesting to me even if I have not studied someone of the earth sciences. Greek geologists and seismologists says that this phenomenon is result of the over pumping water in this area. But I think that it is the extension of the Anatolian fault through central Greece to Ionian Sea fault. I emphasize the seismic quietness since 1953 in this area when we had a 7.2R EQ in the west border of the triangle. John

Over punping of water does not cause such large deformations of the land, usually. In California there is both pumping and injecting of water into faults whihc result in series of small (very small) earthquakes from time to time. Never has there been such upthursting as you suggest in Thessaly. I wish there were more studies of Greece and her geology. The Anatolian fault stands to take many thousands of lives in the future as it has done in the past. I have not studied with my own eyes metamorphic rock faults. I went to college in Pennsylvania where a vast inland sea created limestone and dolomite deposits with abondant fossils. There is nothing there even close to a fault unless it is deep under the remnants of this inland sea. Then I came to Hawaii where igneous rock is the only kind we have (with occasional xenoliths of the mantle.) Our faults are so different as to be inapplicable to your marble and granite bedrock. I will look into it. Rob, what is the rock of which New Zealand is made? I know you have volcanoes. Are your faults so much more dangerous than ours just from the difference in composition of the magma involved? I suspect that is part of the difference!

(I'd repost that with spellcheck on another program, but my dyslexia is not new to anyone, and I think it is still understandable. If not, I will correct it and repost the comments. Please let me know!)

marcia, i always understand your posts!!

Rob, on another topic I'd asked Marcia about indigenous Hawaiian mammals. She noted that there were no mammals living in Hawaii until the arrival of people, who of course are mammals and they also brought other mammals with them. I then added that I'd read that there are no mammals native to New Zealand. There was once a giant flightless bird native to New Zealand called the moa, but it seems to have been hunted to extinction shortly after the arrival of the Maori. Marcia, suggested that I ask you about this at your own topic. Lastly, did the Maori bring small dogs and pigs with them, as well, when they settled what is now New Zealand?

maybe they hunted the bird to extinction because it was the only dinner in town. good question, cheryl.

Rob also has a ship beached on rocks near Gisbourne (spelling?) - and ecological disaster in the making. Where IS he?

Hi all No, I do not know why the Moa became extinct. Maori did bring dogs with them of Polynesian origin but these "Kuri" were extinct within a few years of European settlement, but no pigs arrived, because the Maori either did not bring them or they did not survive the trip. New Zealand, with the possible exemption of Northland would have been a lot cooler than what Maori settlers would have been used to and the new climate would have been alien to many animals they had brought over as well. Rabbits and European animals were introduced in the 1800s to help the English settlers feel a little closer to home since Canterbury and Otago would have been vast barren open areas and European plants were also introduced so that there would be some shelter from the wind. Northwesterlies used to blast across the Canterbury plains with such power that a freshly painted coach might leave Christchurch in perfect condition but having lost its entire coat of paint by the time it reached somewhere like say Darfield or Springfield. Nature was rough on the settlers in other ways too. The Waimakariri River, now partially tamed, used to invade Christchurch on a regular basis and flow down what is now Worcester Boulevard to the Avon River. Notable earthquakes in 1848, 1855 and 1888 ensured that Nelson, Wellington and Canterbury had a head start on earthquake preparedness. Nelson and Marlborough were rocked by a severe earthquake in 1848 of about magnitude 7.1-7.3 that damaged all buildings in the area and exposed the Awatere Fault. Seven years later, an even bigger earthquake rocked Wellington and measured 8.2. It demolished Wellington which fortunately was just a small town then, and seiches slopped backwards and forwards across the lakes, rivers and harbours for weeks. Some of the aftershocks approached 6.5. Rob

New Zealanders must be a determined bunch! Wind strong enough to blast paint off of a carriage?! Floods of Biblical Proportions? Great Earthquakes?! I think Australia might have looked a whole lot better after all that. I can understand why so many of you have Scots surnames. I'll look around in my Polynesian books and see if I can find any information on extinctions or population additions to the native fauna.

Interesting about the earthquakes in the mid-ninteenth century, Rob. You mentioned that the residents of Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury all got a head start on earthquake preparedness. As Wellington was subjected to a massive earthquake in about 1855; has it resulted in present day building codes for the city being very stringent? Are they comparable to cities like Tokyo or San Francisco?

Hi all Indeed they are Cheryl. New Zealand has some of the toughest building standards in the Western world if not the world. So much so that some people who like historic buildings say it is used as an excuse to modernise the skyline. Well, the truth is a lot of effort goes into finding an owner for the buildings before the wreckers ball is called, but the cost of modernising some buildings is just too high. The only alternative would be to tear down the building and rebuild it in an 19th Century style, though the costs would be higher. We have invented a couple pieces of technology that improve the safety of buildings and bridges considerably. Giant piston like devices acting as shock absorbers are being installed under key bridges, buildings and other infrastructure in earthquake prone areas that can absorb most of the shaking a severe earthquake will generate. In addition thanks to a very graphic advert that was run in the 1980s and early 1990s about earthquakes, a fund for providing assistance after a bad eve t has been set up. But, my friends, one day maybe not in your lifetime but probably in mine, a severe earthquake WILL strike New Zealand. It will register somewhere in the vicinity of magnitude 7.5-8.3 and will be centred on one of the following faults: Wellington, Wairarapa, Alpine. In addition there are at least 4 faults in the South Island and several more in the North Island capable of producing a magnitude 7.0-7.4. They are: Hope, Kakapo, Ostler, Clarence, Awatere, Porters Pass, Ohariu. The chance of a bad earthquake hitting on any given day is quite low, but still existent nonetheless. It is the price we pay for such a beautiful yet dynamic country. New Zealanders are considered hardy because the country we live in is so geographically isolated. Our nearest neighbour is at least 2000km away, and even within New Zealand parts of the country are isolated, like the West Coast. Milford Sound is particularly isolated with only one road in and 120km from Te Anau to Milford one way via a road prone to snow avalanches in winter and slips from heavy rain in spring and summer. Rob

There are virtues to living in Paradise in the middle of the Pacific Plate. Our 7.2 EQ shook down a few small walls and old chimneys but nothing other than pickle jars were broken in stores plus a few token plate glass windows. My house rode around in circle on the 20 feet of fill saving my 9 large windows. New Zealand is on a Zone of Subduction. Just don't get sucked under. San Francisco has also had the problems of overhanging ornamental building fixtures to replace or tear down. Usually the latter. Now, how ready is your emergency stash of food and water? Where on earth are you storing the one away from the usual pantry? I cannot imagine where to put mine other than in the car! Does the ground open up, swallow cows and people (or sheep in your case) then slam shut again? That happened in the 1800's here. Whenever we have a strong EQ, I watch the ground VERY carefully.

*test*

Hi all I want to introduce you to the volcanoes of New Zealand: Types of Magma: Basaltic - fluid, runny lava, low viscosity, explosions unlikely Andesite - moderately fluid, some stiffness, moderate viscosity, explosions possible Rhyolite - low fluidity, stiff, high viscosity, explosions likely Ruapehu - Andesite, last erupted 1995-1996, lahar in 1953 destroyed rail bridge just before a train crossed the Whangaehu, killing 151 people. Dormant. Ngauruhoe - Andesite, last erupted 1975, explosive eruptions in 1975 heard over 80km (50mi)away. Dormant. Tongariro - Andesite, last erupted 1896, shares same magma reservoir as Ngauruhoe. Dormant. Taranaki - Andesite, last erupted 1755, known for major slope failures and lahars. NZ Rainier? Dormant. Tarawera - Rhyolite, last erupted 1886, destroyed Pink and White Terraces and 3 villages killing 153 people. Dormant. Okataina - Rhyolite, last erupted ??, Caldera volcano known for large eruptions. Dormant. White Is - Andesite, last erupted 2000, Sulphur mined prior to crater wall collapse in 1914 blocking vent triggering an explosion and lahar. 11 people died when the sulphur works was destroyed. Continuously active Auckland - Basalt, last erupted 1200, 48 volcanoes identified in volcanic which is currently dormant. Taupo - Rhyolite, last erupted 186, Caldera volcano with reputation for extreme explosive eruptions. Dormant. Rob

Are there any extinct volcanoes? Surely there are, but visible to look at and see the late stages of eruptions? They usually differ completely from the rest of the volcano. Mauna Kea is in late stages but dormant for centuries.

Hi all The 48 volcanoes of the Auckland volcanic field were one shot events. With the possible exception of Rangitoto (the big island in the Hauraki Gulf)none of them will erupt again. The volcanic field responsible for this collection of explosion craters, cones, and an island is however, dormant. I live next to three extinct volcanoes called Lyttelton, Herbert, and Akaroa. These were active 10-5 million years ago and are essentially massive basaltic, strato shields. They are too steep to be called shields, but not steep enough to be strato volcanoes, like Taranaki and Ngauruhoe. Rob

Truly extincet? As in the erosion has progressed below the original bottom of the magma chamber? We have only one on this island thus far discovered, the Kohala Mountains at the far north of the isalnd. There are remnants of the proto-volcano beneath Mauna Loa (it is still a bit of a theory and varies from time to time according to what the latest volcanologist has published) and I like to think of the Ninoole Cones as being part of that. Imagine a volcano UNDER the world's most massive volcano!!! I'd like the reassurance that your volcanoes are extinct. I see many little quakes lately in the Wairakei area. Is this a new stirring going on, or is it the normal process of the area? The vast geothermal area must be like our Yellowstone. Was there a huge eruption in the past? (I do know but please share it with us here.) The following has interesting comments on ground movements in the Wairakei area. http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/rgws/Unesco/PDF-Chapters/Chapter9-9.pdf

I just found a terrific resource page for New Zealand Volcanoes http://www.gns.cri.nz/earthact/volcanoes/index.html

Hi all I think Lyttelton, Herbert, and Akaroa, are truly extinct, because the vents were 5000ft above sea level at the height of their life span and the sea has breached the crater wall. It has hollowed so much of the Lyttelton and Akaroa volcanoes, that aside from Quail Island in Lyttelton Harbour and maybe Onawe Peninsula in Akaroa Harbour, one would not know where to start looking for a magma chamber. Since Lyttelton and Akaroa are extinct there is no magma supply of any description for Mt Herbert which is a volcano on top of two large strato shields. Rob

Me again Note Mount Herbert is the highest peak on the peninsula and is about 2000 ft lower than what geologists think the the summit would have been during the eruptive phase. The volcanoes you see today are the result of eruptive activity 10-6 million years ago and 5 million years of unchallenged erosion. Rob

i didn't know they actually died out--i thought they only went dormant but not quite all the way gone. interesting stuff!

They become "Extinct" when volcanoes erode down below the bottom of the original magma chamber. Yes, sea breaching a once-5000M high volcano could well qualify it for extinct classification. Kilauea's magma chamber is about 18 miles (50 M) beneath the caldera.

What is 18 miles in metric? My calculator will only convert miles into KM. (Yes, I could divide but can anyone help? Surely not 50 meters!)

so they have to pull all the way back into the earth where they were born to become extinct?

Erosion works wonders when you are surrounded by sea. The original Hawaiian Island was Kure. It is now an atoll - a fringing wreath of coral with a lagoon inside and the deep sea around it. The actual volcano may be many thousands of feet under the sea by now.

18 Miles (statute) equals 28,968.2 Meters http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/EASYlength.html

Hi all The metric system is what is used in New Zealand. So a centimetre is 10 millimetres, a metre is 100 centimetres, a kilometre is 1000 metres, while a gram is 1/1000th of a kilogram which is 1/1000 of a ton. Still with me? If not here is a summary of what the above is all about: 1 milligram = 1/1,000th of a gram 1 gram = 1/1,000th of a kilogram 1 kilogram = 1/1,000th of a ton 1 millimetre = 1/10th of a centimetre 1 centimetre = 1/100th of a metre 1 metre = 1/1,000 of a kilometre 1 cubic centimetre = 1/1,000,000th of a cubic metre 1 cubic metre = 1/1,000,000,000th of 1 cubic kilometre So in Marcia's case 28 kilometres is 28,000 metres. To get the kilometres figure from 1 mile remember this: 1 MILE is 1.6 KILOMETRES. Thus 100 MILES is 160 KILOMETRES. Rob

Hi all Following on from all this metric are some stunning facts about volcanic eruptions around the world and in New Zealand. The figure given for size is in cubic kilometres (cu. km). Taupo/Oruanui 26,500 years ago = 1,200 cu. km Krakatoa 1883AD = 18 cu. km Pinatubo 1991AD = 5 cu. km Mount St Helens 1980AD = 3 cu. km Tarawera 1886AD = 1 cu. km Taupo 186AD = 100 cu. km Novarupta 1912 = 32 cu. km Long Valley 760,000BC = 600 cu. km And the grandest of them all: Yellowstone 600,000BC = 2000 cu. km Rob

I should probably have a topic for Kilauea or Hawaiian Volcanoes: Kilauea's output in 1998: The volume of lava measured flowing through the tubes varied from 1.5 cubic meters per second (17.5 cubic ft/sec) to 11.0 cubic meters per second (130 cubic ft/sec). The average volume was about 4.5 cubic meters per second (53 cubic ft/sec). This converts to a daily average volume of 400,000 cubic meters (4,700,000 cubic feet). http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/1998/98_12_31.html

Rob posted this in his World Volcanology club at Yahoo. I obtained his permission to post it here. KRAKATOA - rob glennie Krakatoa - the opening salvo [Yahoo! Clubs: World Volcanism] Early in the morning of May 19, 1883 strange vibrations were being picked up by the wealth of birdlife on the East Indies (Indonesia prior to independence from the Dutch)island of Krakatoa. Two days before snakes had been behaving lamely and would be prey was surviving to live another day. It was hot and sticky so close to the equator and the sun bet down on the tropical rainforest that covered the island in a lush green. As night fell later that day stranger things were afoot. Earthquakes had scared the locals on nearby islands despite the East Indies being an area of the Pacific notorious for earthquakes and volcanoes. Another chapter in the colourful geological history of the East Indies was about to unravel. It was a sunny morning in the Sunda Straits as the local people on the islands of Java and Sumatra went calmly about their business like they would on any other day. May 20, 1883 seemed like every other day before it. At 2.30 P.M local time a powerful boom rocked the islands of the straits and a big billowing cloud of ash and rocks punched 20km skyward. Further explosions preceded by earthquakes sent residents running for cover. A westerly wind blew the ash eastward towards Djakarta on the island of Java as panicky residents recoiled in shock. Krakatoa volcano had awoken from it's slumber. The spectacular opening salvo however was not followed up immediately by a period of eruptive activity as many expected would happen. Instead the volcano seemed after only a couple weeks to be settling back down into a state of calm. On the surface this appeared to be the case and residents soon resumed normal activities as if nothing had happened. They however could not see that the newly opened vent was becoming blocked and no one knew what a cryptodome was. They did not know that in 10 weeks time the volcano would spring the noisiest known surprise in the short history of mankind on the planet. No one knew that as the people on the surface went about their daily lives, a slumbering giant filled with a terrible resolve, was awakening slowly from a 1000 year period of dormancy. So for an 8 week period a relative calm descended on the Sunda straits and the hundreds of villages that dotted the islands in the straits and on either side of it. It would end on August 12 and the two weeks following that fateful date would change the face of the Sunda straits for eternity in the eyes of man. Following in Part 2: Krakatoa - the tiger that roared. Rob Thu, 30 Aug 2001 22:41:41 PDT To: kilauea83@yahoo.com From: robvolc1980 Reply-to: clubs-mail@yahoo-inc.com Subject: Krakatoa - the tiger that roared [Yahoo! Clubs: World Volcanism] Hi all A TIGER GROWLS: August 12-21 In the early hours of August 12 an earthquake sent residents of the coastal villages running for cover. It was followed almost immediately by a loud boom that rattled windows in many colonial Dutch buildings, with lightning and thunder punctuating the ash cloud that climbed skywards from the island of Krakatoa. Ash fell briefly on the main islands and left behind a sulphurous smell that would becoming more and more prevalent over the next two weeks. People on the other islands in the Sunda straits watched the fireworks display with one eye on the ground before them and the other on the volcano. The next day a Dutch scientist from Djakarta was injured when bits of pumice rained down on him and a research party that had gone to inspect the volcano, earthquakes were moderate and a strong smell of sulphur dioxide filled the air above the vent. On August 18, Krakatoa upped the ante, sending bombs and blocks flying from the crater with sonic booms reverberating through the air. Earthquakes were frequent and the worst sign of things still to come was a sudden change in gas emissions. As the gas emissions plummeted a phase of uneasy calm began to overtake the villages. Minimal damage had been done to date, but what no one could see was that the cryptodome had succeeded in shutting of the vent just as a big magma blob, easily the biggest yet to part from the reservoir, began to force it's way upward. On August 20 it made contact with the cryptodome below sealevel and the magma started seeking cracks in the plumbing to force it's way into. Krakatoa now began to deform as millions of tons of gas filled magma thrust itself into the cracks. The entire island was slowing changing shape and introduced to a science still in it's infancy, a new phenomena - ground deformation. On the surface, nothing much had changed to the untrained eye and despite the increasing seismicity, the increasingly violent explosions of ash and rocks, life continued for MOST, as it had for the duration of civilization's time in the archipelago. But there was a problem, that would soon explode over the Sunda straits with a violence possibly unparalleled in volcanic activity, since a caldera in New Zealand had made the sky glow red in China and ancient Rome. THE TIGER ROARS: The Earth shudders - August 22-27 Lunch had just been served on August 22, 1883 when an explosion rattled windows in Djakarta and knocked ornaments of shelves. A huge cauliflower shaped cloud towered above the city on the western horizon. Almost immediately ash began to fall across the city and surrounding country side. Further explosions accompanied by earthquakes shut schools and sent the first civilians from the coastal villages fleeing for their lives. Underneath the volcano, magma continued to enter the cracks in the volcano internal plumbing and the cryptodome continued to hold despite occasional explosions. This activity continued off and on for the next three days unabated as the mayors of the many villages nearby got together to discuss crisis management, in the event Krakatoa decided to blow up. Unbeknownst to all concerned that was PRECISELY what Krakatoa was going to do except that when it did blow, no one would be able run, no one would be able to hide, and the world would feel the lash of the tsunami waves that did the globe. Part 2 CONT NEXT MESSAGE

Krakatoa - the tiger that roared 2 [Yahoo! Clubs: World Volcanism] Explosions continued all through the night on August 25-26 with occasional thunderstorms driven by the electrically disturbed atmosphere adding to the percussion of the explosions and the now nearly continuous earthquakes. Everyone in all the villages was very scared. In all their lives the elders had never seen anything quite like it and when the activity took a new turn it was always for the worse. Only the kids thought it was cool, but even they were starting to have second thoughts. Schools had been shut for two days after ash had collapsed roofs in some cases, giving children an unexpected holiday. But few would have time for playing with their mates as the activity took a final decisive turn for the worse on the afternoon of August 26. Explosions reached fever pitch with individual events being heard over 100km from the vent. That night many families began evacuating from the villages on islands in the straits and from the coastal zones. Lightning and thunder cracked through the clouds and ash fell continuously mixed with bits of pumice. No one was laughing any longer, no one played outside anymore. Dawn came with a huge column of ash rising from the vent of Krakatoa and anyone who had a boat or some other form of transport now began making evacuation plans. At 0902 hours came the first colossal explosion amid a continuous swarm of earthquakes. The cryptodome had failed. At 0922 another huge explosion ripped through the sky and the ground. The magma chamber was now exposed to the sea. 1000 hours rolls around as one of dozens of earthquakes in progress gets under way. Two minutes later, a explosion logged as the LOUDEST NATURAL EXPLOSION man has ever heard and easily one of the most powerful man has ever seen rents the sky, the ground and the sea. 15km3 of material goes skyward while another 3km3 promptly falls into the seething, boiling cauldron, followed immediately by an enormous volume of seawater. The fourth of four huge explosions that noisy August morning, triggers a tsunami that sweeps all and sundry from the straits - or drowns them under 50 feet of water. No one can run, no one can hide, but 36417 people are drowned in the carnage of THAT tsunami - the deadliest sea wave known to man. In the shocking aftermath, ships were found as much as 3km inland, dumped where the waves had left them. At least a hundred villages had vanished. Some have never been rebuilt. But the most incredible thing to have occurred on August 27 was the demise of 2/3 the island of Krakatoa and a huge pumice raft that plugged parts the straits for weeks following the titanic events. Today a new island has arisen in the place of Krakatoa, and it has been called Anak Krakatoa - Child of Krakatoa. Born in 1927 it seems to have picked up a few of it's elders traits - violence, temper tantrums and yes - a determination to pick up where Grandpa left off. Rob

Hi all A magnitude 5.8 earthquake 50km southwest of Haast rocked the lower South Island on Sunday evening. It struck at 7.37PM local time and had a depth of 12km. This was in the zone southwest of the Alpine Fault. The zone southwest of the Alpine Fault is very active. It is because in part the Australian plate is subducting under the Pacific Plate. The role is reversed at the other end of the fault with a well established Benioff Zone operating. Northeast of the Alpine Fault, the Pacific Plate is subducting under the Australian Plate and the full range of symptoms of subduction are clearly visible in the North Island. They include, faults, volcanoes (dome, caldera, stratocone), geothermal areas with mudpools, hot springs and occasional hydrothermal events (ground in Rotorua sometimes blows leaving behind a boiling crater of hot water). Rob

I posted this Haast EQ but did not follow up. Damage? Injuries? or just business as ususal on the Alpine Fault?

Hi all Marcia, remember me saying the fault was strike slip? Well it is strike slip and it has a vertical dip that means the rocks are not grinding past each other. They are locked. What I mean is that they will be most likely to break in a big earthquake. There are almost no deep earthquake events along the Alpine Fault and within the immediate vicinity of the fault very few shallow events. The events shown on maps are near the fault but have nothing to do that is directly related to the fault. Rob

You did mention about the Alpine fault. Deep quakes have been strong and blocks of land have been lowered as a result, but if you want REAL damage to the surroundings, just let it be a whole lot shallower. That tears down walls, breaks windows and opens your kitchen drawers dropping broken glass from cabinets above into them.

Download archival video footage of White Island's volcanic activity. http://www.gns.cri.nz/earthact/volcanoes/wiphot.htm A new vacancy has just been announced on our site for a Receptionist. http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/vacancies/index.html HazardWatch, online now: http://www.hazardwatch.co.nz

Hi all I imagine from a high cliff or aircraft you could get a view of the tsunami quite safely and see how it forms and also how the water retreats before the individual waves. It would be interesting to watch from a vantage point above the waves height, and I would not actually mind seeing one from the scientific curiosity point of view. Rob

Did you see that movie Point Break?

http://www.spring.net/movies/LEGEND.WAV and http://www.spring.net/movies/50YEAR.WAV

And this one's for you Rob: http://www.spring.net/movies/NEWZEAL.WAV http://personal.vineyard.net/bond007/vortex/pb/pb.htm

Rob, I'd post it at your Yahoo groups but I can't get in to do it! **************************** NZ volcano videos, photos **************************** From: Jeff Lyall New content - Volcanic video download Download archival video footage of White Island's volcanic activity. http://www.gns.cri.nz/earthact/volcanoes/wiphot.htm HazardWatch, online now: http://www.hazardwatch.co.nz ********************* ENVISAT launch ********************* From: obenholzner ENVISAT is in orbit! Please check: www.esa.int best wishes JH Obenholzner

NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR SCIENCES LTD. The following earthquake has been recorded by the Institute Reference number: 1852518/G Universal Time: 2002 March 9 2024 NZ Daylight Time: 2002 March 10 9.24 a.m. Latitude, Longitude: 44.86�S 170.78�E Location: 30 km north-west of Oamaru Focal depth: 34 km Richter magnitude: 3.4 felt inland from Oamaru

INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR SCIENCES LTD. The following earthquake has been recorded by the Institute Reference number: 1852929/G Universal Time: 2002 March 11 1728 NZ Daylight Time: 2002 March 12 6.28 a.m. Latitude, Longitude: 40.39�S 176.29�E Location: 30 km south-east of Dannevirke Focal depth: 13 km Richter magnitude: 3.4 Possibly felt in the Weber region.

The latest HazardWatch is now online: http://www.hazardwatch.co.nz We have a new vacancy in Marketing for a person with Petroleum Industry experience. http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/vacancies/index.html Details on our 6th Annual Volcanoes and Society Short Course are now online: http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/conferences/volc6th.html

Hi all No Terry. I have not seen Point Break. Mount Ruapehu is having moderate tremor again, but nothing else appears to be happening so the volcano remains at alert level 1 (BACKGROUND ACTIVITY). Here is the NZ volcano alert level system: Alert Level 0: Dormant, Quiscent. Alert Level 1: Initial signs of unrest. No threat. Alert Level 2: Confirmation of unrest. Eruption threat. Alert Level 3: Minor eruptions commenced. Real possibility of hazardous eruptions. Alert Level 4: Hazardous local eruption in progress. Large scale hazardous eruption now possible. Alert Level 5: Large scale hazard eruption in progress. Rob

Hi all A thunderstorm passed Purau Bay where I went for a day with some relatives. My Dad's brother has property in the area and is selling his holiday home so we went to see them at their current property one last time before they move to Diamond Harbour where a half built holiday home and possible place to retire to awaits them. Very nice place on an ancient lava flow. The whole area is in a breach volcanic crater which has been opened to the sea and has a population I am guessing of 6-7000 people and the Port of Lyttelton which serves Christchurch. This storm was the opening volley of a cold front sweeping up the South Island from the Antarctic. Such changeable weather is not surprising for late March as we move into the Autumn phase of the Four Seasons. This southerly blast is expected to contain rain, hail and possible heavy thundery showers. Snow may follow later. Rob

Diamond Harbour sounds like Hanauma Bay on Oahu, also a breached volcanic crater. It sounds lovely, and how wonderful to have relatives around you. Living on an island can be very lonely when your family is thousands of wet miles away.

Hi all Northerly here and very pleasant outside. 20.C high cloud and little wind. I think it is raining in the mountains which is not a very comforting thought considering 30 odd University of Canterbury geography students are near Cass at the moment doing assignment work which is for GEOG 201. I will be in Cass from April 9-12 and I will be doing assignment work on glacial moraine and landslide deposit up there. Should be a great trip, despite the time of year that we are doing it in. Rob

Please tell us about it when you return. Perhaps the weather is getting the rain over with so you can have glorious sunshine. Nothing is worse than camping for a week in cold wet clothes. Been there and done that!

Hi all No, we will be staying in the University of Canterbury field station there. It might be a dingy building according to the staff leading the trip but it is in a fantastic spot. Rob

Rob, there is something about field station dinge that adds to the ambience of the whole adventure. Ours are not much better. In fact, anyone who has stayed in Magma House (for the extended field camps of student volcanologists and interns), it is part of the whole experience. I just love the name of the place. All it has for creature comforts is stacked bunks on which you place your bedrolls or sleeping bags. It is not luxurious, but it sure beats the conditions of field camp out at the eruptions. I'll dig up the ones of my son at Pu'u O'o when it was actively founting and was the main vent on the current flank eruption.

New Zealand Historic Places Trust - 2002-03-19 New Zealanders\' understanding and appreciation of their heritage places took a huge step today when the on-line version of the statutory Register of Historic Places, the only official record of New Zealand\'s heritage, was launched by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. For more information, please refer to: http://www.historic.org.nz/news/media_releases/2002_03_19.htm

Hi all I am back from my great trip to Cass, where I studied Glacial Moraine and Landslide deposit from a geographical perspective to understand the environment of the Cass Basin. I was part of a larger group of five who decided to collaborate on tackling this project as part of the Geog 201 assessment programme. Full details following shortly. Rob

Pictures too? I can hardly wait! Welcome home, Rob. *Hugs* We missed you!

Hi all This is a full report on the my four day sojourn to Cass from April 9 to April 12 for Geography 201 (Physical Geography). All dates mentioned are in NZST (NZ standard time). It dates back to the start of the University year and the introduction to the course. On the last Monday of February in A3 lecture theatre 120 odd students gathered for their first taste of Geography 201 and the world of physical geography. Some of us were doubtlessly apprehensive having heard stories from friends who had done it in 2001 about the field work at Cass, the one day exercise at Orton Bradley and the introductory whirlwind tour around Christchurch. Our lecturer and course co-ordinator, Wendy Lawson (a moderately built England born New Zealander)began speaking. It soon became obvious that something big was afoot, for she told us that the nature of the course would be a rapid fire programme with 3 fieldtrips increasing in length and importance. It would culminate in a four day field trip to Cass. On Saturday March 16 with a northwester blowing over the rim of the Lyttelton volcano's hollowed out crater with 5 million years of unchallenged erosion, we all hit Orton Bradley Park on the south side of the crater in what was described as a military style operation. We had three tasks. Measure the stream flow in the stream that ran through the park. The second one was take wind, relative humidity, and temperature measurements from set locations on the slopes. And the third was learning to use what I think was a geodimeter to do slope and distance readings. The idea was to make sure that we could hit the ground running at Cass. In the past they had thrown us all in at the deep end and taught us to operate the equipment as we went. Well, learning a geodimeter takes time and understanding how to use it from the outset made it easier to handle in the field at Cass where we would be spending two days in the field collecting data and making observations. Earlier that week the projects had been finalised. I chose to do "a comparative analysis of glacial moraine and landslide deposits". I learnt that Burn Hockey who had lectured Dad many moons ago was supervising the project and that Rachel Spronken-Smith, a climatologist lecturer would be the bottom line of the law on our field trip, the third of three to be going to Cass. Wendy "Julia Rockinghorse" Lawson was leading the first, Ian "grumpy" Owens the second and Rachel the third. Initially it looked like I would be the only one doing that particular project which was a worry because for safety reasons a minimum of two had to be in the project. But then Carolyn Woods appeared, followed in short order by Olivia Hyatt, Stefan Hatfield, and Leigh Skerten. All of a sudden things looked considerably brighter. With only two weeks to go until the first people went to Cass, the focus changed from organisation to logistics. We were introduced to the assisting staff on the field trip who as time went along also became good friends and part of the 201 family. Jana Newman, a masters student doing research on a glacier on the Hut Point peninsula in Antarctica was the first. Mat Bartholemew who is doing research on the mass balance of the Ross ice shelf, Antarctica was introduced next, followed by Bree Ferrick. On the day before we were due to break for Easter and the term holidays the final group assembly took place. It was agreed that Olivia and I would briefly look at our geology notes from last year and brief everyone on the bus going up to Cass. And so the scene was set for April 9, 2002. PART TWO: Fieldwork at Cass When we boarded the bus to Cass on April 9, no one really knew what we were getting into. Few had had a chance to speak with the "Trip A" group who went from April 3-6 and no one had had a chance to speak with "Trip B", who would be going home on the bus that brought us up. Olivia and I never got around to briefing the others because of our dispersion around the bus. We arrived in brilliant sunshine at about 10.50AM and by 11.20 were on a walk up to some native bush behind the field station. From there we tracked south across some large scree fans and onto a glacial moraine (not the one that we eventually studied). We learnt about the processes and were told we would have to do a brief presentation that night to the others. And so the reputation of C4: Glacial Moraine/Landslide group for comedy was born. When we got back we relaxed in the warm sunshine and had a welcome afternoon tea before getting ready for dinner. After dinner we had presentations devised over a twenty minute period in which Stefan decided we would do some skits to illustrate the processes. I did the human processes. I pretended to be digging, and stood and said "Man digging this is hard work". Other skits dealt with fluvial, aeolian, and mass movement processes. There were six categories on which our presen ation was graded: C4 appeared in 5 of the 6 and were judged overall winners. None of the others appeared in more than 1 or 2. For the remainder of the evening we played cards and socialised. TO BE CONTINUED...........

I thought I would direct you to the University of Canterbury staff profiles for Wendy Lawson, Ian Owens, Burn Hockey, and Rachel Spronken-Smith who are full time lecturers at the University of Canterbury. http://www.geog.canterbury.ac.nz/ go to staff and click on the above four. Rob

Getting late here. Continue the story of Cass tomorrow. Rob

Hi all Continuing from where I left of last night. We rose the following morning between 7 and 8 AM to a foggy morning with low cloud and mist slung around the mountains. After breakfast we dispersed to get ready for the days work. This was day one of two allocated specifically to data gathering for the projects we were working on. After collecting the geodimeter and the pole with prism we piled into the minivan that was taking our group and another group to our study areas a few kilometres away from Cass field station. When we got there, we walked across a farmers paddock and up a ridge to a glacial moraine running almost N-S. With Jana's help we set the geodimeter up and about half an hour later Stefan and Olivia started logging data. Leigh was holding the pole, while Carolyn and I did sketches of Mount Misery to annotate. After a while Jana swapped with Mat who came up after helping some people doing a pool and riffle assignment get set up. It was a GLORIOUS day, with 30.C temperatures being recorded (as we found out later from people doing surface microclimates)on one side of the valley which was bathed in sun, and 15.C temperatures on a slope that was in the shade for the whole day. I helped out as well by holding the pole while Carolyn logged data for Stefan in Olivia's notebook (Olivia was of trying to get a rock sample together with Leigh - it turned out to be a rock bashing exercise). In a single cross section we got as far as 200 metres away from the geodimeter. Evidently other groups with radioes found it hilarious listening to the person with the pole and the geodimeter operator communicating: Stefan: "Rob go left 10 metres. I can't see you in the sights." Rob: "Okay". 20 seconds later "In position. Can you see the pole because I can't see you." Stefan: "No. Twist the prism back toward me." Rob: "Okay. Can you see me now." Stefan: "Yes". This could be heard by all the groups with radioes turned on within 20km of base. And so it went on until about 4.PM on Wednesday when Burn Hockey radioed us to say transport would be waiting in 20 minutes at the gate to the farmers paddock. I held the pole for Stefan, Carolyn and Leigh, and logged data for the same three as well. Since Olivia was the more senior of the two geologists in the group she was off tending to the rocks. After dinner we were required to give a presentation on the days work and what we would do on Thursday. One group was essentially finished because they skipped dinner and remained in the field until 7.PM logging data with the aid of flashlights. Another one was going to camp out overnight and log data throughout the night (surface microclimates). We had one problem. We had only one landslide that was considered accessible but had two moraines. To restore the balance we ignored the data from one of the moraines and decided to spend the whole day on Thursday dealing with the landslide. With the days debrief over we were left to our own devices until the 11.PM silence law came into effect. Many went to bed immediately knowing full well that no one would be in bed before midnight the following night. More card games, some Southern Draught drunk and music played on Mat's laptop. Thursday morning dawned overcast and drizzly. The drizzle stopped early on but the cloud would hang around most of the day. After breakfast we set off back to the same site to collect more data. The landslide sat partially on top of a scree fan from a mountain stream, now covered in matagouri and tussock. About half way up to the site I realised I was still wearing sneakers and not the tramping boots that I had got a couple years earlier. Too late, so we continued on up the hill. Stefan and Leigh did a transect across the landslide near the base of the scree. Leigh, a small girl with shoulder length blond hair almost completely vanished from sight while tracking across the landslide in a northerly direction. Once we were set up further up the slope for the next one I volunteered to take the pole for the next transect. About 5 measurements into the matagouri I slipped on a rock that came loose under my feet (maybe it was just as well I had sneakers on. I would have pitched forward into the matagouri and prob bly hurt myself more than just slightly banging my knee, and the prism would have been damaged). As it was I came to a halt short of the matagouri. The radio had slipped from my shorts (knocked of - I could hear Stefan calling over the radio, as he had seen the pole go down). I called him to wait while I located the radio and after a minute we were back in business. I continued tracking north across the landslide and finally Stefan lost sight of me with the angle of the slide blocking his view. Upon returning to the others I was labelled a legend for so quickly recovering. We were doing a third cross section for the landslide when the battery went dead on the geodimeter. Stefan pulled it out and fitted a new one. However it must have seen some use because by the time we started the fourth one it was dying too and with no batteries we knew that it could spell the end of the data gathering. Although it was 2.PM we were geared towards spending another 3 or 4 hours (light permitting)getting data. We radioed Jan who was responsible for maintaining the equipment. She said they would need 6-8 hours recharge time. That was it. When that battery died, aside from the photographic reconnaisance (which Carolyn and I had already started)there was nothing to do but return to camp. Stefan and Olivia agreed that ideally we should do another cross section, but when the geodimeter started flashing a continuous warning they knew the game was up. So we returned to camp. Stefan Carolyn and Olivia took off to Castle Hill for a bout of rock climbing while Leigh and I mucked around at camp and started recording the wealth of data into our own notebooks. Mat went to the Bealey pub, which was made famous in 1995 by a moa sighting, to get the alcohol for the party that would follow after debrief and returned at 6.PM with stacks of Canterbury Draught, Speights, Southern Draught, wine, some vodka and god knows what else. After dinner we had our final debrief and some presentations. I gave the groups presentation and the hall rocked with laughter when I mentioned the matagouri. "Oh and ah, by the way, from personal experience matagouri is a bitch to deal with. I slipped on a rock catapulting me onto a small matagouri bush. In the process I lost the radio and could hear Stefan calling over it. They knew something because the pole vanished from view." With debrief over, presentations began. From Rachel we got the award for best presentations and enthusiasm, and finally the ultimate reward was handed back. From the back of the room in a calm voice said "Ah, Rachel, I think I better hand this easter egg back. For doing the best donut, I award you this." A standing ovation and deafening laughter followed. At 7.45PM Rachel said "That is all for today. I will let you get on with partying the rest of the night. Just respect the others and be quiet if most are in bed. That was it. From then until 2.20AM in the morning we partied, drunk alcohol, played beer drinking games, among other things. I talked with most people and participated in a few games, watched more than I could be bothered counting and in a discussion with others on what we would be doing in the long term, I reached a decision. It was in this period that I suddenly realised the utter stupidity of continuing my geology degree when I am conceivably only a year away from getting a Geography degree. Leigh agreed it was a good move to change. The party was virtually over when at 2.20AM Mat, Jana, Burn, Bree, and Rachel came in and shut off the music, cleared everyone out and sent them to bed. It was the best party in ages. At dawn the following day after a quick breakfast we packed up. Before going home I wrote a message in the guest book, as had Rachel and a few others: "Landslide and Glacial moraine deposits are fun, but comedy is better. WATCH THE MATAGOURI!!!". Others included "Wendy Lawson's a.k.a Julia Rockinghorse offer to sign Clints arse (logged at 4.41AM April 6). Out of 20 I would have to rate this field trip a 17 or 18 for sheer brilliance. And so ended one of the best trip I have been on and credit must go to Wendy, Rachel, Burn, Mat, Jana, Bree and the other students for making it what it was. Upon arriving in Christchurch the first comment of Olivia was the weather is atrocious (cloudy overcast with drizzle). Lol. Rob

Rob, Thank you for your thorough report. I almost feel as though I was with you seeing it through our eyes. It is absolutley mandatory to have a sense of humor on trips of this nature, and you seem to have had very good company. I will comment more after I have digested what you have writte. I give you an A+ for your report. Unfortunately, my vote doesn't count! I'll look for Cass on the web and see if I can find a few images to post while yours are being processed. We have the option here of having them digitized and put on a diskette or having the usual prints. If you opt for digitals, that would make life much simpler!

I have heard rumor that you are going into the Matagouri propagation business :p Also noted was that Cass is a big wine producing area of New Zealand. That explains the final night festivities! How was the food? Who cooked? Hardtack and beans and jerked meat?

Hi all A university chief did the cooking and we did the domestic duties plus helped the chef get meals ready. Had vegetables and roasts of various sorts for dinner. For lunch we took meat or vegetarian sandwiches stuffed with fillings into the field along with fruit. Breakfast consisted of porridge, and then toast with baked beans, and sausages. Rob

I am so disappointed. Roasts? Here I was, feeling sorry about your roughing it all week like REAL geologists do. Then, I was worried about how hard the ground would be to sleep on and the severity of the weather. Wrong!!! You slept inside. Now, I wonder if you ever will have a REAL field trip. Or is that the reason you changed majors? Yes, I am just teasing you. Still, I feel a bit cheated. I never had a field camp chef to cook for me!

*********************************** New Zealand submarine volcanoes *********************************** From: Dan Shackelford Thermal activity at submarine volcanoes NE of New Zealand (news article, 1 May 2002) Following is the first paragraph of a news article that may be of some interest. "New Zealand, American, and Japanese scientists will this week begin a two-week voyage to probe seabed thermal activity around 11 newly-mapped submarine volcanoes between the Bay of Plenty and the Kermadec Islands." The entire article is at: http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/release/rare.htm

Scientists find new submarine hotsprings 16/05/2002 http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/release/hotsprings.html New map rich in history as well as technology 16/05/2002 http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/release/edbrooke.html The latest HazardWatch is now online: http://www.hazardwatch.co.nz

Hi all Cass is not a wine producing area. The extremes are too severe at either end of the scale. Far too hot in summer and far too cold in winter. Summer and spring time convection driven storms would drop too much rain. The wine producing areas are Waipara in north Canterbury, Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, and possibly Central Otago. Rob

Hi all Thunderstorms with tornadoes in tow hammered Taranaki for over 24 hours yesterday causing widespread power cuts and damage on several properties. A house caught fire when it took a direct hit from lightning. http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1210938a11,FF.html Rob

Hi all Winter arrived on Thursday night with rain and biting cold southerlies, gusting upto 90kmh (55mph)in exposed places. VERY cold on Friday morning and although the southerly seemed to clear smartly it started to come back in during the afternoon. Another southerly clobbered us this morning with rain and cold winds. Finally as if that is not enough, it snowed in the mountains and southern parts of the South Island overnight. More may be on the way tomorrow when another front roars through. AND I HAVE TO WORK IN THIS JUNK!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rob

Just when the rest of us are stocking up on sun screen and cool clothes, Rob has to fend off wintry blasts and horrible weather. Please stay dry and warm, Rob. Between you in the frigid south and Julie hiking up the slushy Mount St Helens, I will have a worrisome few days sitting in the tropics unable to help either one of you! Please let Greece have seasonable weather!

* Vent systems found off New Zealand * Three new sets of underwater hot springs have been discovered along a little known part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire". Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2010000/2010549.stm

Hi all A southerly blast, the fourth in as many days is working its way up the South Island as a disturbed westerly airflow tends southerly. Hamilton and Auckland are expecting heavy thundery showers with hail, while Christchurch and the lower South Island are bracing for sleet, snow and severe wind chill. The culprit? A low pressure system with a central pressure of 975 HPa (hecta-pascales). Rob

You do not measure in millibars? HPa and I am still not conversant in metric! Please be warm and safe. That sounds like potentially dangerous and slippery weather.

Hi all I think HPa is fairly loosely used in meteorology but I often hear Jim Hickey saying things like "975 HPa - thats a nasty piece of weather". Anyway El Nino apparently means more westerlies and southerlies so I think this winter will be a hard one but the summer will be long and hot. Ah well. Marcia I hope there is good weather inside the Hemming house as well as outside. No falling barometers PLEASE!!!! Rob

It is a calm and way too sunny day in Hawaii. It is back to summer heat and I am currently undergoing meltdown in front of my computer/ Meltdown for Hilo occurs at anything over 28�C and currently it is 30� in my room. Two fans are of some assistance. Might I send you some excess BTUs and you can send me some cold. I'm certain we have far more than our share of photons currently!

Hi all Crowded House wrote this cool song called "Weather with you" that I will get the lyrics to and sing at some favourable occasion. Weather With You Written By N. Finn & T. Finn Walking 'round the room singing Stormy Weather at 57 Mt. Pleasant St. Now it's the same room but everything's different You can fight the sleep but not the dream Things ain't cooking in my kitchen Strange affliction wash over me Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire Couldn't conquer the blue sky There's a small boat made of china Going nowhere on the mantlepiece Do I lie like a loungeroom lizard Or do I sing like a bird released CHORUS Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you Rob

Great words, Rob. I am a bit boggled this morning since I did not get to sleep until after 3 AM this morning. I should know better! I have heard that you sing very well, indeed, but I have not yet heard you! Forget about me. I can't and won't.

Hi all I am just a humble 21 year old with a good personality and a wicked sense of humour. *GRINS* Rob

Hi all The volcano hazard in Auckland is real, lest anyone mistake the following report. The Auckland Regional Council has said that there is a 5% risk of an eruption in the Auckland area in the next 50 years. Considering it took 60,000 years to put the 48 known volcanoes in the Auckland metropolitan area and offshore, in their present places, that is a quite high chance. Auckland is riddled with one-shot volcanoes that have erupted for a few months or years and then gone extinct as the magma supply ran out. The largest of them is the Rangitoto volcano in the Hauraki Gulf which erupted about 700 years ago and whose volume is the combined total of the other 47 volcanoes put together. Rangitoto like the at-least-47 preceeding volcanoes (some volcanoes have been quarried away for roading material, and others were just huge explosion pits that have been filled in)is probably a one shot volcano that has had it's 15 minutes of fame and is now just part of the scenery. http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1220687a11,FF.html Rob

That was a fascinating article and more than a little worrisome. How much preparation has been done on getting the civilians out of Harm's Way should it erupt? Very little. I suspect.

Hi all In the last 6 months there have been a series of earthquakes in south Westland which ranged between magnitude 6.1 on December 7, 2001 to magnitude 4.5. The earthquakes have been puzzling seismologists and geophysicists at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, which says that they could be one of two things: a prolonged aftershock sequence from the December earthquake or foreshocks before a big one..... All the earthquakes have been shallow. None were more than 20km deep. All were in the range I mentioned above and ALL of them have been in the vicinity of the Alpine Fault. Rob

Hi all For those of you not familiar with the Alpine Fault, it is a large fault running across the lower slopes of the Southern Alps in a SW-NE direction. The fault represents the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, across which we lie. This has been the case for most of the 530 million years in which New Zealand has physically existed as a land mass. The country has a well established Benioff zone that is probably best noted under the North Island, where earthquake activity is really high. Our activity is comparable to California in more ways than one. We are both overdue for large earthquakes. We are both on plate boundaries, and we both have the same type of fault. The Alpine Fault here like your San Andreas fault is a dextral strike slip fault. This means that the fault displaces ground mainly horizontally, though some vertical displacement is visible. It also means that if you are on one side of the fault, looking across, the land on the other side is moving to your right. There is also a Benioff zone in the southwest, of the Fiordland coast. Like it's northern counterpart which is under the North Island, this zone has very high earthquake activity consistent with the subduction processes where rock is diving under other rock and generating a lot of friction. It also generates colossal volumes of heat, which melts rock and forms magma. Because of this the majestic volcanoes of the central North Island are in their current location. The magma is formed by various sorts of rocks melting in the lithosphere and changing the magmatic chemistry. This chemistry is responsible for the sorts of volcanoes that appear on the surface. Are you looking at the classic inverted ice-cream cone with a hole for the crater in the top? Are you looking at a shield shaped volcano with many craters and possibly calderas where the summit caved in? Are you looking at an actual caldera volcano, itself? Mount St Helens in Washington was a near perfect cone prior to May 18, 1980 and would definitely be t e inverted ice cream cone I mentioned. These are stratovolcanoes, comprised of alternating layers of ash and lava. In New Zealand, these volcanoes are best shown as Mount Ngauruhoe (Na-ru-ho-e) and Taranaki (Ta-ra-na-ki). Rob

Hi Rob! Great things you are posting and I seem so far from them. I was so much closer in Hawaii. California is not only one a whole different plate, they are on a different PLANET!!! Hi Julie!!

yes indeedy!!

Welcome to the Hotel California, Marci.

Hi all El Nino. What does it mean to people?? To me it means less easterlies and northerlies, but more southerlies and westerlies. Well the latter is very visible to all who know anything about the weather patterns around Christchurch, and Canterbury, because the frequency of the westerlies and their duration have increased markedly. On the West Coast it means rain, rain, and more rain. In Peru and California it means severe storms from the Pacific pounding their coastline with a savagery not often seen. It also means more rain for them and the subsequent flooding. Here it means more water flowing down the big rivers of Canterbury like the Waimakariri, Rangitata, Hurunui Waiau and Rakaia. El Nino brings drought to Canterbury and Otago, because the northwesters here are warm and dry. From the frequency of the westerlies right now I would say that El Nino has arrived or is very close by. Rob

Hi all I want to direct your attention to the Environment Canterbury website which is the webpage of the regional government of Canterbury. It sounds confusing, but basically what the Regional Councils do is plan policies for sustainable use of water, soil, and air resources within their political boundaries. They are responsible for: Transport planning Natural hazards Soil Water Air Environment - pollution - cultural - social - economic These policies are prepared under the framework of a single piece of legislation passed by the Government in 1991, called the Resource Management Act. http://www.ecan.govt.nz To see updated images of the Waimakariri River looking upstream (image A)and downstream (image B)respectively go here: http://www.niwa.cri.nz/services/cam-era/sites/waimaka/ for Waimakariri A http://www.niwa.cri.nz/services/cam-era/sites/waimakb/ for Waimakariri B This is NOT an estuary. This is the Waimakariri River as it appears across much of the Canterbury Plains. It is running high, which is why it is dirty, but in full flood the river will be a uniform brown colour from bank to bank, with no islands of sediment inbetween. Rob

I see you have had some minor EQs and one actually feelable at 4.0. My family expert on such things tells me except for Hawaii where feel magnitude is 4.0, in California has a 3.0 magnitude threshold as does most of the rest of the world. I thought everywhere was like Hawaii. *SIGH* Hotel California is definitely different from the rest of the world.

Your fish are definitely gone for the duration. Does anyone get caught in quicksand there? It looks dangerous!

Hi all Don't know what you are talking about. The uniform brown is water flowing between sediment islands laid down or rearranged during every flood. Quicksand is present, but only along the boundaries of the river bed near the inner bank, and only when the river is low. The Waimakariri is one of the best examples in the world of what a braided river is like, and probably the best would be the Rakaia, which is south of Christchurch. The road bridge over the river is about 1.1 miles long!! The road bridge over the Waimakariri is about 600 metres long. Rob

Braided rivers are different from the estuaries I am used to. I will study their properties just as soon as I get other things done like writing about the eclipse and posting the pictures... and Shasta and Lassen... and I will be flying eastward soon.

Hi all SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christchurch Airport is shut. State Highway 1 south of Dunsandel is closed all the way to Timaru and there is 4000 people without power after a combination of snowfall and lightning brought down powerlines and power poles in inland parts of Canterbury. Those same areas have had 6 inches of snow dumped on them and it is still falling. The snow is not heavy, but it is persistent and FREEZING!!!!!!!!! ---------- In 1992 we had a trio of really severe snowstorms hit Canterbury, that have been put down in part to the eruption of Pinatubo (11th anniversary of eruption was on Saturday)pumping enough dust and aerosols into the atmosphere that there was cooling which led to a cold and severe winter. In July a snowstorm dumped snow deeper than paddock fences in inland Canterbury. About 1,000,000 sheep died in the cold from the windchill, the snow and lack of feed. It was bad enough that the Government sent Iroquois helicopters and a Hercules transport aircraft to move supplies for the farmers in remote areas. But worse was to come... As night fell on August 27, the rain that had been falling from a depression of Banks Peninsula all day began to turn to sleet. I had been of school that day because the heating system failed and the teachers had been told it could not be repaired before the holidays started (August 28 was the last day of term). When I woke the following morning I could not believe my eyes. 5 inches snow lay over everything and more was accumulating all the time. I looked at the clock - it was after 9.AM. So I got dressed and went to find Mum. I found Dad instead. Mum was at work because the patients at St Winifreds hospital for the elderly was understaffed. He tells me the ENTIRE province of Canterbury has shut down. Schools, libraries, universities, malls, shops, entertainment complexes - the lot. Only emergency services and the army, plus Civil Defence were working. About 2.PM the snow turned to rain again and the Avon and Heathcote rivers began to rise. The following day Canterbury had no television. Sugarloaf TV transmitter had gone of the air. The Avon and Heathcote rivers overflowed flooding property in their lower reaches and as the tide came into the estuary, the flooding moved upstream while properties in flash places like Wairarapa Terrace warily watched the water creeping across their river verges toward the houses. The Government began organising a relief effort for Canterbury, once again sending the airforce to help transport supplies, while ordering the army to assist Civil Defence and help the isolated families, on the Port Hills and in inland Canterbury. This time the sheep toll was even worse. 2,500,000 died from exposure and lack of food. The death toll of sheep may have been exacerbated by the lambing season and worsened by the amount of snow that fell. A third storm came in October and killed another 250,000 from memory which was the final act in a long and tortuous winter where farmers had been pitched from one crisis to the next by the punishing forces of nature. ----------- Bugger. It's stopped snowing. Rob

Rob, it CAN'T be snowing! It's 100� F in she shade on a cool day! Make snow angels for me. I was on snow a few days ago - on Lassen peak and we tossed snowballs at eachother. How fun! Be safe, dear. Snow is slippery stuff!

Hi all It did snow because the white stuff is still on the lawn. 6000 people were without power last night in inland areas after the worst storm since 1992 came to town. Winter is here with a vengeance. About 3 degrees celsius at the moment outside, and I am going nowhere today, and possibly tomorrow as well. As the southerly moved north, it caused flooding in Lower Hutt and Wellington. http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,1239581a1700,FF.html The rivers in Canterbury, most notably the Waimakariri River are running high and dirty. Which is causing concern in the Waiau catchment because the river has not much room to play in, and the water is not far from the stop banks. http://www.ecan.govt.nz - go river flows, North Canterbury, table format. Note the high flows of the Hurunui, Waiau (Hope flows into Waiau), and Waimakariri rivers The one conclusion that can be drawn from all this is that winter is here, and it hit with a vengeance. Rob