Oct 16 2009 - September roundup

Last month's progress and news within the GeoNet project.

Operations

A technician abseiling down the cable to the GeoNet tsunami gauge sensors at Castlepoint.

A new tsunami gauge was commissioned at Castlepoint (CPIT).
Two continuous GPS sites at Ongahoro (RGON) and Waikite Valley Road (RGWV), and a communications hub, were commissioned in the Rotorua area, near Ngakuru.

Tsunami

A tsunami warning for New Zealand was issued by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management in response to the magnitude 8.0 earthquake near the Samoa Islands. GeoNet tsunami gauges detected waves of up to one metre at Raoul Island and Chatham Island, and slightly less at various locations on the New Zealand mainland.

Earthquakes

The most significant earthquake of the month occurred on September 22, magnitude 5.1, 140 km west of Tuatapere, 5 km deep. It was another aftershock of the July 15 magnitude 7.8 Dusky Sound earthquake.
The preliminary locations of August's earthquakes are shown below.

Reported Landslides

Monday September 28

Russell Road (coastal route between Whangarei and Bay of Islands) near Helena Bay blocked by a slip caused by torrential rain. A diversion via Kaiikanui Road was put in place. The slip is just south of a slip that closed the road in 2007 for several months.

Felt earthquakes of
August 2009.

Shallow earthquakes of
August 2009.