Scott Nodder is a principal scientist in marine geology. He has been involved in previous NIWA voyages to the Kaikōura canyons both pre- and post- November 2016 earthquake. He is interested in the effects that the earthquake ground-shaking and submarine mass failures have on the sediments and animal communities in the canyon and downstream in the Hikurangi Channel. Interestingly, the flows from the earthquake disturbance have been tracked at least almost 700 km away to the north.
On this voyage, I will be one of the watch leaders, liaising with our voyage leader Joshu Mountjoy to ensure all the deck operations go smoothly. I also have responsibilities in terms of the sediment sampling and instrument deployments, and will be looking after the sediment traps on the benthic landers and the longer-term near-bed moorings that we will be deploying on the seafloor.