Science Media Centre

The country’s capital will have warmer autumns and rainier winters by 2090, according to a new Niwa climate report. The report, prepared for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, projected an increase in the annual number of ‘hot days’ (over 25°C) in Wellington, from six per year now, to 26 per year by 2090. In the […]

Commuters heading north out of the capital face major delays getting home as a result of this afternoon’s landslip, which is still blocking a number of lanes in both directions. Geotechnical engineers have been surveying the area as the effort to clear the rock and debris continues. The slip in the Ngauranga Gorge follows a […]

The Government will put up $3 million to strengthen unreinforced masonry on earthquake-prone buildings in Wellington, Lower Hutt and Marlborough following the November 14 Kaikoura earthquake. Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith announced the fund on Wednesday, which would force the owners of about 300 buildings to strengthen unreinforced facades and parapets within 12 months. At […]

Despite Wellington not being at the epicentre of Monday morning’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake, it suffered extensive damage to buildings – particularly the Statistics NZ building on the waterfront in which a floor tipped on an angle. Engineers commented on the damage and why some buildings were more affected than others. Professor John Tookey, Head of […]

After the recent publication of Wellington City Council’s Sea Level Rise Options Analysis report, The Dominion Post’s Olivia Wannan looks at how Wellington might prepare for a more watery future. An excerpt (read in full here): …Several levels of ocean-level rise were modelled in the report, and heights of 0.6m and 1.5m were used as examples to […]

IPENZ: The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) has today released an Engineering Snapshot – key points and lessons learnt from Monday’s 6.5 earthquake to help the public and building owners better prepare for the “big one”. IPENZ chief executive Andrew Cleland said Monday’s tremor was not the “big one”, but building owners and […]

Forty kilometres below Wellington two tectonic plates are grinding against each other in an almost imperceptible slow-motion earthquake. The Kapiti “slow slip” quake has received a great deal of public attention after it was highlighted this week in a GeoNet blog post from Operations Scientist Caroline Little. Her post, dauntingly titled M7 slow release earthquake […]

An announcement from the Wellington City Council  that it will be examining the city’s earthquake resilience has received wide media coverage just days before the anniversary of the February 22nd Christchurch quake. In press statement released today, the Wellington council announced that a report to be considered by  the  Strategy and Policy Committee next week […]

Last night, Wellington was rattled by a magnitude 4.5 earthquake just after 10pm at night. It was focused 20km northwest of the city, at a depth of 40km: no reports of damage were submitted. An excerpt: (read in full here) “GNS Science seismologist Dr John Ristau says the quake has no links to what Canterbury […]

New Zealand Herald Australian correspondent Greg Ansley looks at claims from an Australian scientist that an eruption on the Australian mainland was an inevitability and should be planned for. An excerpt: (read in full here) “There are only two active volcanoes on Australian territory: “Big Ben” on Heard Island in the depths of the Southern […]