NIWA will start monitoring the seabed off the Kaikoura coastline to determine the impact of the November 2016 earthquake.
A team of scientists and technicians from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research will embark on a two week-long trip on the research vessel Tangaroa.
November’s earthquake caused huge underwater mudslides that have devastated the sea life in the area.
They would be taking core samples and using underwater cameras to collect data from the seafloor.
This would be the third research voyage NIWA had conducted at the canyon since the quake, and it planned to monitor the area for decades.
The Kaikōura canyon is one of around 660 such submarine canyons.
During earlier research by NIWA and a team from the US, scientists found the canyon had one of the highest volumes of seabed organisms anywhere in the world. Before the earthquake, the seabed was covered with burrows, tracks, and pits.
