Overview

The MANA network has been set up as part of Work Package 3 of the University of Otago’s Solar Tsunami project. The overarching goal of the Solar Tsunami project is to prepare the critical energy infrastructure of Aotearoa New Zealand for future extreme space weather events. This is a multi-faceted project with collaboration from many internation and industry partners, with the ultimate goal of providing Aotearoa New Zealand’s energy providers with both the information necessary to predict the occurrence of extreme space weather events, and the mitigation techniques necessary to prevent catastrophic damage to our energy infrastructure.

The part that WP3 has to play in this project is to better understand, and ultimately predict, the morphology of storm-time geomagnetic fields across Aotearoa New Zealand. The MANA network will provide the real-world data backbone that will inform the modelling efforts necessary to obtain accurate predictions of storm-time magnetic field fluctuations.

Goals and Progress

Our intention for the MANA network is to have a total of five variometers installed across the country. The measurements from these magnetometers, along with from some non-MANA magnetometers, will allow us to investigate not just the temporal variation of the field, but the spatial variation across the country. As of March 2023, all of the planned magnetometers have been installed – no further installations are planned. The lifetime of the network is currently guaranteed until the end of 2025, however this may be extended depending on funding. For more information on these sites, see the Site Information page.