Monitoring Cliffs and Rockfalls: A PhD Journey Across Aotearoa New Zealand

One of the PhD students from our CRISiSlab team, Alfredo Jaramillo Velez, is currently working on implementing cliffs and rockfall monitoring stations around Aotearoa, New Zealand, as part of his PhD project. The supervision panel of this project comprised A. Professor Raj Prasanna, Dr Marion Tan, and A. Professor Carol Stewart from Massey University and two leading scientists from GNS Science, Dr Sam McColl and Dr Sasika de Vilder and Associate.

Alfredo has implemented his first CoastSnap station at Cape Kidnappers, an extraordinary sandstone headland to the east of Hastings in Hawke's Bay. This station was established near Clifton Motor Camp, with collaboration from Infinitek (Home - Infinitek) company. Alfredo and the team are planning to implement other stations in two separate locations, namely Urenui and Onaero in North Taranaki, and in the heart of New Zealand, Auckland City, with the exact location yet to be determined.

Alfredo's project's main goal is to inform and welcome visitors to these places to the station, take snapshots, and share them through the QR codes presented at the station. Public contributions will allow Alfredo and the team to improve the monitoring of the cliffs and the rockfall risk. Stay tuned for more interesting work from our lab team.