25 Aug 2018

Dr Joshu Mountjoy - local voice on new series Drain the Ocean

From Saturday Morning, 10:07 am on 25 August 2018

Joshu Mountjoy is a research scientist at NIWA in Wellington. He focuses on the processes that shape the sea floor and how these affect society, for example through hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The Kaikoura earthquake provided one of the most dramatic examples of dynamic seabed processes ever observed, including a six-metre sea floor uplift and dramatic change to a canyon identified as the world's highest biomass hotspot. Based on data from multiple ocean voyages, Mountjoy led a large team to document sea floor landslides triggered by the earthquake that travelled at least 580km along the deep ocean floor. This work has been made the subject of an episode of the National Geographic TV show Drain the Oceans that explores ocean floor hazards around the Pacific Rim of Fire. It premieres Tuesday September 11, 8.30pm, on National Geographic, SKY Channel 72.