Category: Fieldwork

Johnny and Xinhu have installed a new magnetometer for the MANA magnetometer array. They travelled to the top of the South Island to the Quartz Range mountains, a section of the Kahurangi national park, in Golden Bay between 7 – 9 April 2026. The site is near-perfect for a magnetometer as it is located deep…

Dr Hannah Kessenich and Dr James Brundell travelled to Scott Base on 9 February 2026. They made up Space Physics Expedition 17 to Antarctica. This year they went south in a USAF MAC C-17 Globemaster III. This was James’ 16th trip to Antarctica, and Hannah’s first.

Above: James Brundell and Xinhu Feng with solar panels. In 2024-25, Johnny Malone-Leigh has made a number of trips to different MANA sites to work on the MANA network magnetometers. Over two field trips in November and December 2024, he was joined by James Brundell, PhD student Xinhu Feng, and summer student James Elford, in…

For more detailed background information about the Solar Tsunamis Injection Campaigns, please see the post about our first Injection Campaign, conducted in January 2023. The second injection campaign took place in early January 2025 using the High Voltage DC link (HVDC) and the substation earth grid at Haywards, Wellington. The team members present included Andrew…

Swampy Summit Trip – 21st March 2024 James and Johnny went up to Swampy Summit to diagnose and fix issues with the magnetometer, VLF antenna and riometer. The magnetometer was picking up vibrations from wind, which they suspected was due to a flax plant growing out of the side of the chamber. Since the magnetometer…