Category: Fieldwork

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…

On 1 November, 2023 James Brundell and Daniel Mac Manus took off from Christchurch heading for Scott Base, Antarctica. James and Daniel make up Otago Space Physics Expedition 15, which was hoped to involve only a short trip to Scott Base. The main goal was to examine noise levels on our VLF electric field antenna near Scott Base, but also to collect…

It can be challenging to measure the real world effects of Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) on the electrical grid, because researchers and engineers have to wait until solar activity causes a significant geomagnetic disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field. Having no control over when these events might happen or how extreme they can be places…

In October 2022, Kristin Pratscher, Wiebke Heise and Malcolm Ingham installed the first 8 LEMI instruments in Northland and the remote reference site in the Kaingaroa forest. They also scouted some sites for the next fieldtrip scheduled in mid-November 2022 and found a place to store some equipment in Auckland (a friend of Malcolm Ingham).…

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…

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…