Enhanced Geohazards Monitoring
The Government is investing $19.5 million over 4 years in enhancing GeoNet to enable faster, more accurate and available science advice and warnings for major geological events.
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What is GeoNet
GeoNet is a collaboration between the Earthquake Commission (EQC) GNS Science and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), to analyse geological risks to New Zealand. GeoNet also provides monitoring and warning advice to the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM), and to the public through social media and the GeoNet app.
The Government is investing via the Strategic Science Investment Fund to enhance GeoNet’s capability to monitor and warn about geological hazards.
National Geohazard Monitoring Centre
The first phase of enhancement has involved establishing the National Geohazards Monitoring Centre Te Puna Mōrearea i te Rū at GNS Science’s Avalon campus. The launch of the National Geohzards Centre (NGMC) on 12 December 2018 was the commencement of continuous awake monitoring on a 24/7 basis (with personnel on active duty at the Centre rather than on-call from home). The Centre is designed to provide monitoring and alerting services for the “four perils” - tsunami, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. The NGMC will have a back-up facility at GNS’s Wairakei site, near Taupo, which can be activated in a range of scenarios, including a major event in Wellington.
Further enhancements to the speed and accuracy of detecting and evaluating geological hazards will be made progressively through the development of monitoring and evaluation tools and refinement of processes.