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.

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    Rainfall Deciles (RD)

    If you list all the historic rainfall totals for a particular month and for a specific location, rank these from lowest to highest, then divide the list into ten equal parts, you have identified the ten rainfall deciles for that month and for that location.
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    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

    Education Resource
    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is charged with assessing the most up to date scientific, technical and socio-economic research on climate change.
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    Sediment and agriculture

    How may agricultural activities increase sediments in waterways?
  • Stepping into the river

    Feature story
    NIWA discusses, in depth, this year's most asked question—what is happening to our fresh waterways?
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    Tuna - solutions: upstream passage for elvers at large barriers

    The need to provide upstream passage facilities for ensuring the long term sustainability of migratory freshwater fish populations is now well recognised.
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    Stormwater - an introduction

    Stormwater poses risks to NZ’s urban streams & coastal waters, affecting ecological health & the cultural, social, & economic value of these environments.
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    Our management

    NIWA is managed by an Executive Team reporting to the Chief Executive Officer. Science and operational matters are handled by two sub-groups.
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    Banded kōkopu

    Banded kōkopu juveniles are very good climbers and will try to escape from buckets by clinging to and wriggling up the sides.
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    Mining activities

    A range of different mining techniques have been developed to obtain these valuable resources
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    Summer Series 6: Nippy creatures that share your swim

    News article
  • Fire in the ocean

    Annual reports

    Digital copies of all our annual reports published since 2011.
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    Using trigonometric functions to model climate

    Education Resource
    Your task is to create a model of the data to predict the times during the year that a location would be pleasant to visit