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.

  • Erica Williams - Where the water is clean

    Feature story
    Erica Williams' story starts with the website of Moerewa School, where pupil Tyra-Lee explains her connection to a very special place in her small Far North town.
  • Raising the bar for swimmable rivers

    Feature story
    The government has released the ‘Clean Water’ package of proposed reforms, aimed at making more of our rivers swimmable. But how is ‘swimmable’ to be measured, and do these measures stack up?
  • Calculated risk

    Feature story
    Imagine if you could foresee what would happen to your home in a severe flood or tsunami, and then work out how to prevent or reduce the impact before any such event occurred.
  • Dairy turns the corner

    Feature story
    NIWA's Freshwater and Estuaries Chief Scientist Dr John Quinn believes the dairy industry has been responsive in the tools it has adopted to reduce its impact on waterways.
  • New Zealand joins global seabed mapping initiative

    News article
    New Zealand joins global seabed mapping initiative
  • NIWA invests $18 million  in New Zealand’s future

    Media release
    NIWA is placing the future of New Zealanders at the heart of its operation by investing in new supercomputers that will significantly enhance scientists’ abilities to solve crucial issues facing the country.
  • Scientists eavesdrop on endangered dolphins

    News article
    The critically endangered Māui dolphin is getting a helping hand from scientists this month who are beginning a year-long research project to listen in on them.
  • New Zealand Palaeotsunami Database

    Software Tool/Resource
    The New Zealand Palaeotsunami Database (Database) brings together all known information about tsunamis that occurred prior to written records.
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    Cloud Imagery

    On this page
    NZ Region Cloud Analysis Australasian Region Infrared Hemispheric Infrared NZ High-res Visible Contact
    All transmissions from GMS-5 are no longer received at NIWA’s satellite reception station in Wellington. We are working on an alternative data feed and will be able to bring back these images later this year. Once we start receiving data again, it will then be calibrated, re-mapped onto standard map projections, and archived.
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    Smelt

    Smelt have a distinctly forked tail and a strong cucumber smell.
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    Tuna - recreational fisheries

    The majority of New Zealanders are able to recall a story about catching eels when they were children.