ECLIPSE

Eruption or Catastrophe: Learning to Implement Preparedness for future Supervolcano Eruptions

Nau mai, Welcome! The ECLIPSE Programme aims to understand New Zealand's largest volcanoes

New Zealand has the world’s most frequently active supervolcano system!

The central Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ) has two recently active volcanic centres, Taupō and Okataina. Every few decades the TVZ experiences unrest and every few hundred years it erupts. These eruptions can be very small and short lived, or more rarely, enormous on a global scale.

Deciding if unrest will lead to an eruption, estimating the timing and impacts of any future eruptions (of whatever size), and isolating the probability of another supereruption remains one of our biggest challenges.

The ECLIPSE Programme aims to reduce the uncertainty around future TVZ supervolcano unrest episodes and eruptions with this MBIE funded Endeavour Research Programme. It brings together many New Zealand and overseas experts.

What are the warning signs of an impending eruption (or not!)

Supervolcano unrest under Lake Taupō

ECLIPSE co-lead Graham Leonard shares the history of eruptions and rumbles under the lake and what the unrest means for people living near Taupō. Radio NZ (27 May 2023)

ECLIPSE student research in the news!

Read about PhD student Stephen Piva's latest research explaining how ice cores and pollen tell us about past supereruptions. NZ Herald (22 May 2023)

VolcanoFest!

An outreach and public facing event that was held over 3 days during the IAVCEI international conference in Rotorua in February NZ Herald (4 Feb 2023)

Taupō oxygen isotope paper published

Rooyakkers et al 2022, Tracking magma-crust-fluid interactions at high temporal resolution: Oxygen isotopes in young silicic magmas of the Taupō Volcanic Zone. G-cubed (16 Dec 2022)

A decade of Taupō earthquakes paper published

Illsley-Kemp et al 2022, A Decade of Earthquake Activity at Taupō Volcano, New Zealand. Volcanica (27 Oct 2022)

PDC runout paper published

Brosch et al 2022, Characteristics and controls of the runout behaviour of non-Boussinesq particle-laden gravity currents – A large-scale experimental investigation of dilute pyroclastic density currents. JVGR (17 Oct 2022)

2001 Taupō seismicity paper published

McGregor et al 2022, The 2001 Taupō Fault Belt seismicity as evidence of magma-tectonic interaction at Taupō volcano. G-cubed (10 Oct 2022)

Bayesian event tree paper published

Scott et al 2022, Development of a Bayesian Event Tree for Short-term Eruption Onset Forecasting at Taupō Volcano. JVGR (30 Sept 2022)

Taupo sulfur and halogen paper published

Sharpe et al 2022, A sulfur and halogen budget for the large magmatic system beneath Taupō volcano. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (24 Aug 2022)

Taupō Volcano-Tectonic interaction paper published

Muirhead et al 2022, Stretching, Shaking, Inflating: Volcanic-Tectonic Interactions at a Rifting Silicic Caldera. Frontiers in Earth Science (28 Feb 2022)

Manawahe fault paper published

Villamor et al 2022, Fault ruptures triggered by large rhyolitic eruptions at the boundary between tectonic and magmatic rift segments: The Manawahe Fault, Taupō Rift, New Zealand. JVGR (23 Jan 2022)

Research and Education paper published

Saha et al 2021, Towards ethical curriculum development: Perspectives from the interface of mātauranga Māori and Western science. SET Research Information for Teachers (Dec 2021)

Researchers win edX Prize for online volcano course

Ben Kennedy, Jonathan Davidson, Sylvia & Kelvin Tapuke and team won the international edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning for their course: Exploring volcanoes in New Zealand and Iceland ahead of other finalists such as Harvard and MIT (15 Dec 2021)

In only its 1st year offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), the University of Canterbury has won an international prize for an exceptional volcanic online course

Paper published in Nature Communications

Brosch et al 2021, Destructiveness of pyroclastic surges controlled by turbulent fluctuations'. Check out the news articles in Science News & Phys Org (15 Dec 2021)

Lateral view of an advancing experimental pyroclastic surge at the eruption simulator PELE (top). Schematic sketch of the internal flow structure (bottom). From Brosch et al. 2021

El Mestel awarded 2021 Jim Ansell Prize

El’s PhD research involves detailed characterisation of local seismicity and ambient noise tomography to investigate the current state of the magma system and volcano-tectonic interactions at Taupō. She is designing, deploying, and managing a regional network of 13 broadband seismometers (Dec 2021)

Finn Illsley-Kemp wins Mai i te Iho ki te Pae – Special Commendation Award

This award is in recognition of Finn's engagement with Mātauranga Māori and Māori communities (Dec 2021)

Finn Illsley-Kemp (left) with the team deploying seismometers in schools around New Zealand

Marsden Standard success!

Dr Simon Barker was awarded a Marsden Standard grant for his research: 'Climatic and environmental impacts of the largest explosive volcanic eruptions on Earth' Read more it in this NZ Herald article (3 Nov 2021)

Marsden Fast-Start success!

Dr Finn Illsley-Kemp was awarded a Marsden Fast-Start grant for his research: 'The Silent Trigger: Do slow-slip earthquakes trigger volcanic unrest in the Taupō Volcanic Zone?' Read more about it in this NZ Herald article (3 Nov 2021)

New supervolcano review paper now out!

Wilson et al 2021, No single model for supersized eruptions and their magma bodies. Nature Reviews, Earth & Environment (free link) (27 July 2021)

ECLIPSE researcher Dr Finn Illsley-Kemp wins the 2021 Geological Society of London President's Award

The President's Award is awarded to early career geoscientists who show significant early promise and are judged to have potential to be future leaders in their fields. Congratulations Finn! (July 2021)

2019 unrest at Taupō volcano - research published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

In 2019, Taupō volcano underwent an unrest period, represented by an increased number of earthquakes and ground deformation within the caldera. Read the published article here, and with links to various news articles here (22 June 2021)

Animation showing locations of earthquakes under Taupō volcano during the 2019 unrest period. Video by Kristian Hansen using Unreal Engine. Read more about it here.

Animation of the formation of Lake Taupō ~ 25,500 years ago in the Oruanui supereruption

The Oruanui eruption spat out so much magma that the ground collapsed and left a caldera in its wake. Head to Te Papa and check out Te Taiao | Nature exhibit to watch it on their wall-sized screen! Read more about it here (13 April 2021)

Prof Martha Savage wins the Marsden Medal:

The Marsden Medal is awarded for a lifetime of outstanding service to science (28 Apr 2021)

Pioneering researcher Prof Martha Savage has worked tirelessly on improving our knowledge of seismic activity, plate tectonics, and volcanology.

IAVCEI 2023 in Rotorua, New Zealand:

The IAVCEI Scientific Assembly originally scheduled for 2021, has been further postponed until 30 Jan - 3 Feb, 2023 (Mar 2021)

ECLIPSE research published in Frontiers in Earth Science:

Benson et al 2021, Earthquake Analysis Suggests Dyke Intrusion in 2019 Near Tarawera Volcano, New Zealand (14 Jan 2021)

Authors interpret the cause to be a vertical dyke of magma 8-10 km deep. Likely a common occurrence throughout the TVZ, with no apparent threat of eruption.

Seismometer deployment in Bay of Plenty Schools

Four RaspberryShake seismometers were deployed in Bay of Plenty Schools as part of a nation-wide Seismometers in Schools Initiative, supported by ECLIPSE, QuakeCoRE, and the Resilience to Natures Challenges National Science Challenge. Click here to read more! (Mar 2021)

Left to Right: Finn Illsley-Kemp, El Mestel, Lucy Kaiser, Annemarie Hyde (Deputy VP of Mokoia Intermediate School), Marion Tan, Raj Prasanna & Kelvin Tapuke.

Understanding rates of tectonic-magmatic deformation

In December a team of ECLIPSE scientists examining faults and displaced paleo-shorelines at Lake Taupō and the Taupō-Reporoa Basin. Click here to read more! (Dec 2020)