Funding to study earthquakes in the Auckland Volcanic Field using Auckland’s fibre network

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has just announced it will be funding exciting research utilizing Auckland’s fibre network to understand earthquakes in the Auckland Volcanic Field. Dr Calum Chamberlain and his team, working in conjunction with DEVORA, will use a special type of fibre-optic technology called Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) to detect earthquakes with magnitudes less than 1. These earthquakes should provide important insights into volcanic unrest and active fault systems in the Auckland region. Dr Chamberlain states that “Background knowledge of smaller earthquakes will allow us to better understand active faults beneath the AVF and what level of activity is normal, and also possibly identify and map new faults not yet discovered.”