The Need for GeoNet
New Zealanders live on the edge. Depending on their location, it might be the edge of the Australian Plate or
it might be the edge of the Pacific Plate. The active Pacific-Australian Plate boundary passes through New Zealand
producing earthquakes, volcanoes, steep terrain and active deformation. In places the active boundary between the
interacting plates is quite narrow, for example the Alpine Fault and Southern Alps in the central South Island. In
other regions, such as most of the central and eastern North Island, it is a broad zone of deformation.
Nowhere in New Zealand is immune from the possibilities of damaging earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions could
distribute ash anywhere over the North Island. A major event almost anywhere in the country would affect the
whole society and economy because of the small size of the country and the interdependencies of infrastructure,
logistics and business.
When GeoNet was conceived, New Zealand had not suffered major social disruption or serious economic setback
due to geological hazards since the 1930s and early 1940s, a period in which large shallow earthquakes struck
repeatedly. However, historical evidence and scientific research convincingly showed that risk to the population
and economy from geological hazards was significantly greater than the experience of those 'quiet' years would
indicate. When the first of the Canterbury earthquakes struck in September 2010, GeoNet was ready. It provides
information to people and data to researchers to help us all live in this active land.
How it all began
Five years of equipment trials and formal reviews by GNS Science culminated in a plan presented in 2000 that
would provide high quality and timely data and information for emergency management and research. A further
12 months of deliberation by Toka Tū Ake EQC (now Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake) and other agencies included an international technical review, a science policy review, a financial review, and consultation with end-user groups and two parliamentary select committees (Education and Science, and Finance and Expenditure).
In March 2001 Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake announced it would provide NZ$5 million a year for 10 years, sufficient
to launch the GeoNet project and meet 60% of the required long term funding. The major focus of the first three
years was the upgrading of the old national earthquake monitoring system for strong and weak-motion recording,
the addition of data communication links, the modernising of data management practices and the introduction of
new initiatives for volcano surveillance, landslide response and earth deformation monitoring. Formal reviews by
international panels of experts would regularly set the direction for the project thereafter.
Funding levels were increased in 2005, and a further 10 year contract from July 2010 commenced, one year before
the end of the previous agreement.
What we do now
Monitor geohazards
The GeoNet equipment networks and specialist computer applications support three geohazards duty teams,
with each providing an on-call person for one week at a time. The three specialist areas are: earthquake/tsunami,
volcano and landslide.
Public information
Queries, news and education are handled through website features and social media.
The Data Centre
The GeoNet Data Centre supports both monitoring and research. It is responsible for the capture of all
geophysical data streams from our field instruments or third party sources, the basic processing of raw data
and the maintenance of secure archives. Its services are supported by an application support duty team 24/7.
The website
The GeoNet website provides public access to hazards information, including earthquake reports and Volcanic
Activity Bulletins. It also allows the retrieval of fundamental data sets, such as GPS Rinex files, earthquake
hypocentres and instrument waveform data. These data are made freely available to the research community.
Additionally, feedback is sought on the effects of felt earthquakes through our mobile apps and a web application.
