"It's amazing work and we are doing educational walks through here as well to show kids what we are doing.
"We decided in September last year to become involved in that side of things because it's important the community get a better understanding of the geothermal, the air pollution and the waste side of things."
The project is also aimed at indigenous innovation, improving health and social well-being and exploring indigenous knowledge and science and innovation.
It involves a team of eight from GNS Science and Whakarewarewa under the leadership of Andreas Markwitz.
Dr Markwitz said GNS and the Whakarewarewa Village Charitable Trust were working towards bringing together scientific information and the people of the village to better understand air pollution issues in Rotorua.
"This project builds on present realities of natural hazards and the co-existence between residents and their environment.
"The research will have mutual benefits, providing insights into Maori understanding of earth science, corroboration of historical volcanic events, identifying new research opportunities and to extend Maori appreciation of earth science," Dr Markwitz said.
It also aimed to understand the effect air pollution has on humans when exposed to extreme environmental conditions, including catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions.
"Volcanic eruptions, such as Tarawera 1886, would have had immediate impacts with acute health effects caused by emissions of toxic and corrosive gases (carbon monoxide, acidic sulphur oxides, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide) and emissions of volcanic ash particles leading to choking and suffocation.
"Over time, chronic health effects would occur due to the size of particles, which can directly enter the blood stream through the lungs, bypassing natural defence systems and accumulating in vital organs."
Another factor was the composition of volcanic ash particles, which included silica and toxic trace elements such as arsenic and mercury, he said.
"This will provide a base for raising indigenous knowledge in hazard assessment and management through community awareness, underpinning community monitoring, and informing future planning, supporting geothermal and Maori tourism and guiding scientific investigation."
Dr Markwitz said air pollution research was significantly under-represented around the world.
"In New Zealand in 2014 more people died of air pollution than they did in car accidents - more than 2000. We don't do enough to reduce the number of people dying from air pollution.
"It's interesting and important to sample air at Whaka. Not only does it have local issues, but a lot of the particulate issues come from other places - such as large bush fires in Australia will be detected here. With our technology we can identify them and find out where they have come from."
He said particulates in the air can travel very long distances and the way they travelled was not well understood.
"So we are building up a huge database so we can share that information. We do not know at all how geothermal emissions alter the composition of particles in the air and if they make the particles more dangerous or more safe for people in Rotorua. There are very few other places in the world we can actually do these sorts of studies where people are sharing the environment with these particles."
