On 1 July 2025, NIWA merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand.

Atmospheric analysis

NIWA has been using advanced scientific instruments to measure atmospheric trace gases and isotopes for over 50 years.

  • Water sensitive Urban Design 26 April 2018

  • Satellite tracking of blue whales

    Research Project
    The aim of this voyage was to examine the movement and habitat utilization of pygmy blue whales in New Zealand waters.
  • Beyond the Horizon

  • Silicon power

    Feature story
    Massive increases in computing power are allowing NIWA scientists to not only analyse more data, faster, but also to envisage completely new experiments.
  • Solutions: Regional climate change

    Feature story
    As climate change takes hold, regional council planning, sustainability and hazard managers are looking to NIWA.
  • Water count

    Feature story
    Ruth Beran discovers that public interest in the state of fresh waterways has driven a dramatic change in the tools used by scientists.
  • Drones watch quake aftermath

    Feature story
    NIWA scientists like Leigh Tait were saddened by the human impact of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, but he also says that it provided a “massive natural history experiment”.
  • A humpback whale spyhopping out of the water.

    Tangaroa Marine Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2018

    RV Tangaroa carried out a six-week voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean between 9 February and 21 March 2018.
  • Improved climate information for Vanuatu

    NIWA and Vanuatu's Meteorology and Geohazards Department have installed a network of fully automatic weather stations across Vanuatu.
  • Science Working for NZ

  • Citizen science: Monitoring the Maitai

    Feature story
    The first Wednesday of the month finds Philippa Eberlein and her Friends of the Maitai colleagues collecting samples from the Maitai River in Nelson.
  • Drone survey of Kaikoura uplifted rockpools