Cyclone Gabrielle response
Assessing the risk of resuspended dust after major flooding events.
When cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand, it brought significant flooding to many areas in the North Island, particularly in Hawke’s Bay. In the aftermath of the cyclone, many areas were covered in silt that when it dried up, was resuspended by the wind creating significant dust bowls with the potential to adversely affect people’s health.
A NIWA-wide response was setup and my group’s contribution was around the deployment of low-cost air quality sensors (Clarity) and meteorological masts to characterise the airflow in the area and estimate the potential risk to the population of increased resuspended dust concentrations.
My role in this project was to manage the data pipeline from raw data captured by the sensors to the automatic weekly reports and to develop the data analysis scripts that generate those reports.
I also was tasked with managing the data from the SHAQS to support the quantification of the impact of the dust events in indoor air quality of the residents in the area.
