The Hunt for the Pink and White Terraces

Actually having access to the lake is quite difficult. It's just really hard to get in there so that probably puts a few people off. Having access to the right people and the right equipment to do the job — that's the biggest hurdle. So it's kind of who you know a little bit. And then having the right plan, having the right science objectives.

– Dr Cornel de Ronde on what it takes to survey Lake Rotomahana

Techniques they used included high resolution bathymetry, magnetics, measurements of the water column, side-scan sonar, seismic surveys, underwater photography, and surveys of gas plumes and of the amount of heat entering the lake from geothermal systems under the lake floor. The combined power of these techniques enabled them to piece together a definitive narrative about what happened on the day of the eruption and in the weeks and months that followed.

– The Rotorua Daily Post on GNS Science studies of the Pink and White Terraces, August 2018