Wednesday 11 September, 5.30pm–8.00pm, Eastern Institute of Technology, Gloucester Street, Taradale, Napier

Victoria University of Wellington invites you to a free public lecture by Professor Tim Stern from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences and Professor Lionel Carter from the Antarctic Research Centre.

Exploration, earthquakes and resources of Zealandia

Over the past few years, we have experienced severe earthquakes in Canterbury and, most recently, in the Cook Strait region. Meanwhile, the Gisborne area has been subjected to a different type of ‘slow earthquake’—earthquakes that take minutes or hours to occur, rather than the few seconds normally associated with regular quakes. Amongst all this upheaval, earthquakes create warps and structures in the earth that trap resources such as geothermal steam, oil, gas and valuable minerals. In this talk, Professor Tim Stern will present results from some of the exploration programmes he has been involved in, to investigate both earthquakes and the related resource potential of New Zealand.

An island in a changing ocean—how New Zealand’s ocean is responding to modern climate change

New Zealand sits between the South Pole and the Equator, so it’s not surprising that our climate and ocean are strongly affected by natural forces coming from Antarctica and the tropical Pacific Ocean. The eastern North Island, for example, has flooded under subtropical cyclones and has chilled under southerly storms that extend from the Ross Sea. Professor Lionel Carter will examine how these  great north and south weather machines are behaving under modern climate change and what may occur in the future. This is not a ‘doom and gloom’ story, but a discussion of actual observations that will contribute to the nation being better prepared for the challenges ahead.