Sampling the underground under Down Under (Waipuna Cave, New Zealand)

A multi-year cave monitoring programme in New Zealand's Waipuna Cave focusses on developing novel quantitative proxies for palaeoclimatology. We measure drip rate, temperature, EC and many other parameters, and analyse the isotopic and elemental composition of the water and compare our results with the length and origin of recorded rainfall. With our data we hope to better understand the interplay of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation and the Southern Westerlies and the local response to changes in their dynamics. This monitoring is part of the EU Marie Curie RISE Project "QUantitative palaeoEnvironments from SpeleoThems – QUEST’.

Featured in the photo, Ola Kwiecien and Cinthya Nava Fernandez.