Tsunamis

Latest news

A New Zealand-led team has completed the fullest investigation to date into January’s eruption of the underwater Tongan volcano.
Stacy Mohan looks at how the shockwaves from a remote Tongan island rippled through NIWA’s research community.
New findings from the record-breaking Tongan volcanic eruption are “surprising and unexpected”, say scientists from New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
Innovative experiments are giving natural hazard researchers and PhD students a close look at how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.

Latest videos

Tonga eruption and tsunami shock the world

Tsunamis and shockwaves hit continents on the other side of the Pacific. The Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai (HT-HH) volcano was like a massive shotgun blast from the deep, generating the biggest atmospheric explosion recorded on Earth in more than 100 years. Funded by The Nippon Foundation, NIWA and SEA-KIT surveyed over 22,000km2 surrounding the volcano, including mapping 14,000km2 of previously unmapped seafloor as part of The Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 project. Find out more: https://niwa.co.nz/news/tonga-eruption-confirmed-as-largest-ever-recorded

Mapping the Tongan volcano eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai

This important scientific voyage represents a significant opportunity to map the changes in the seafloor and collect samples to understand how the geology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem health has been impacted. Up until the eruption on 15th January, the volcano caldera sat approximately 150 m below sea level and part of the volcano connected the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai. Following the eruption, the islands are smaller and no longer joined together. The scientists are surveying thousands of square kilometres of the seafloor and collecting video images of the eruption’s impact, and using SEA-KIT International’s Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer to conduct further mapping. The NIWA-Nippon Foundation Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project (TESMaP) is funded by The Nippon Foundation and also supported by The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed2030 Project which aims to map the world’s ocean floor by 2030. Follow the voyage here: https://niwa.co.nz/our-science/voyages/2022-tonga-post-eruption

Hazards in the Tasman Sea

Landslides happen in the ocean just like they happen on land and this multi-disciplinary research expedition is looking at what that may mean for the waters off the Taranaki Coast.

Six large-scale slope collapse units (up to 4,000 km3) have been mapped offshore Taranaki-Waikato using 3D seismic data. However, we know very little about these complex processes, which substantially reduces reliability of hazard assessments and thus our preparedness. 

Acquisition of new marine geophysical and sedimentological data is critical to address this knowledge gap and help include submarine landslide-generated tsunami in future New Zealand tsunami hazard assessments.

This project is a collaboration between NIWA, GNS, University of Auckland and University of Newcastle. For more information: https://niwa.co.nz/our-science/voyages/2022-tasman-sea-tsunami

Tracing tsunamis through history

Weaving whakapapa and science together to trace tsunami through history.

NIWA works with Ngati Kuia and Ngati Koata to research oral traditions and physical evidence of past tsunamis on Rangitoto/ D’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

Tonga eruption and tsunami shock the world

Tsunamis and shockwaves hit continents on the other side of the Pacific. The Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai (HT-HH) volcano was like a massive shotgun blast from the deep, generating the biggest atmospheric explosion recorded on Earth in more than 100 years. Funded by The Nippon Foundation, NIWA and SEA-KIT surveyed over 22,000km2 surrounding the volcano, including mapping 14,000km2 of previously unmapped seafloor as part of The Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 project. Find out more: https://niwa.co.nz/news/tonga-eruption-confirmed-as-largest-ever-recorded

A New Zealand-led team has completed the fullest investigation to date into January’s eruption of the underwater Tongan volcano.
Stacy Mohan looks at how the shockwaves from a remote Tongan island rippled through NIWA’s research community.
New findings from the record-breaking Tongan volcanic eruption are “surprising and unexpected”, say scientists from New Zealand’s National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
Mapping the Tongan volcano eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai

This important scientific voyage represents a significant opportunity to map the changes in the seafloor and collect samples to understand how the geology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem health has been impacted. Up until the eruption on 15th January, the volcano caldera sat approximately 150 m below sea level and part of the volcano connected the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai. Following the eruption, the islands are smaller and no longer joined together. The scientists are surveying thousands of square kilometres of the seafloor and collecting video images of the eruption’s impact, and using SEA-KIT International’s Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer to conduct further mapping. The NIWA-Nippon Foundation Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project (TESMaP) is funded by The Nippon Foundation and also supported by The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed2030 Project which aims to map the world’s ocean floor by 2030. Follow the voyage here: https://niwa.co.nz/our-science/voyages/2022-tonga-post-eruption

Hazards in the Tasman Sea

Landslides happen in the ocean just like they happen on land and this multi-disciplinary research expedition is looking at what that may mean for the waters off the Taranaki Coast.

Six large-scale slope collapse units (up to 4,000 km3) have been mapped offshore Taranaki-Waikato using 3D seismic data. However, we know very little about these complex processes, which substantially reduces reliability of hazard assessments and thus our preparedness. 

Acquisition of new marine geophysical and sedimentological data is critical to address this knowledge gap and help include submarine landslide-generated tsunami in future New Zealand tsunami hazard assessments.

This project is a collaboration between NIWA, GNS, University of Auckland and University of Newcastle. For more information: https://niwa.co.nz/our-science/voyages/2022-tasman-sea-tsunami

You’ll be blown away by what these women in science are doing onboard RV Tangaroa in the Tasman sea!
The three-year PARTneR–2 project aims to help countries in the Pacific become more resilient to the impacts of climate-related hazards.
Marsden-funded research investigating how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.
Innovative experiments are giving natural hazard researchers and PhD students a close look at how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.
New Zealanders and Pacific Island communities are on their way to having the most advanced tsunami monitoring system in the world.
A six-metre long orange underwater robot is flying through the Kaikōura Canyon for the next month collecting information on how the canyon has changed since the 2016 earthquake.
A network of state-of-the-art tsunami buoys is being deployed from New Zealand up into the Pacific to keep communities safer.
NIWA scientists have completed the first national assessment of people and buildings at risk in New Zealand’s tsunami evacuation zones.
An ambitious international scientific project to study New Zealand’s largest earthquake fault is now enabling scientists to learn more about slow slip earthquakes happening in subduction zones around the world.
New information about landslides that occur on the seafloor off New Zealand’s east coast will help scientists better understand why and where they happen, and the types of threats they pose.
A chance discovery off the Gisborne coast five years ago is prompting a NIWA scientist to find out more about the link between a field of methane seeps bubbling out of the sea floor and submarine landslides.
EQC, GNS Science and NIWA have joined forces to further develop world-leading natural hazards risk modelling for New Zealand.
NIWA is leading a New Zealand partnership to map the South and West Pacific Ocean's seabed as part of a worldwide initiative to map the entire globe’s seafloor.
NIWA researchers are out on Lake Whakatipu for the next week mapping the lake floor for the first time.
Tracing tsunamis through history

Weaving whakapapa and science together to trace tsunami through history.

NIWA works with Ngati Kuia and Ngati Koata to research oral traditions and physical evidence of past tsunamis on Rangitoto/ D’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

Research conducted after the 2016, 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura earthquake has provided scientists with an extremely rare opportunity to understand the processes that shape submarine canyons.
The Tangaroa assisted in New Zealand’s largest ever deployment of seafloor earthquake recording instruments in a bid to learn more about the earthquake behaviour of the tectonic plates beneath the east coast of the North Island.
A tsunami reporting station situated in the Pacific Ocean that is currently off line is to be upgraded in a joint operation involving New Zealand and United States government agencies.
Imagine if you could foresee what would happen to your home in a severe flood or tsunami, and then work out how to prevent or reduce the impact before any such event occurred.

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Hazard and Risk Analyst
Principal Scientist - Natural Hazards and Hydrodynamics
Strategy Manager - Oceans
Coastal and Estuarine Physical Processes Scientist
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Marine Physics Modeller
Principal Scientist - Natural Hazards and Hydrodynamics
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