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.

  • Scientists get boost to combat invasive marine pests

    News article
    Work to protect New Zealand waters from an increasing number of invasive biological pests has received a funding boost to fight their spread.
  • Ross Sea fish surveys

    Research Project
    We don’t clearly understand the ecological effects of commerical toothfish fishing in the Ross Sea region. To improve our knowledge, we conducted a survey of demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish species on the Ross Sea slope - particularly grenadiers and icefish - during the 2015 Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage.
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    Tropical Cyclone Winston Update #3

    News article
    Tropical Cyclone Winston is showing some signs of weakening as of this morning, now located about 600km southeast of Vanuatu’s southernmost islands.
  • Mapping the ecosystem service potential of our coasts

    Research Project
    Estuaries and coasts provide a wide range of benefits to New Zealanders – “ecosystem services”. However, we still don’t know enough about these ecosystem services – a challenge NIWA and other scientists are tackling with a new technique.
  • Tropical Cyclone Winston Update #2

    News article
    NIWA meteorologists continue to monitor the progression of Tropical Cyclone Winston.
  • NIWA's Hotspot Watch

    Hotspot
    Changes in soil moisture levels across the North Island vary when compared to this time last week, with a mixture of both increased and decreased moisture.
  • Rain, Sandflies and Takahē

    Takahē Valley in the Murchison Mountains is home to a successful Takahē recovery project run by the Department of Conservation.
  • Critter of the Week: Tokoprymno and Thouarella

    Despite our growing understanding of the role of Antarctica in driving global climate regimes and regional patterns of marine diversity, the distribution and connectivity among deep-sea species across the Southern Ocean remain poorly known.
  • Researching NIWA’s Antarctic sea ice

  • The laser lady of Lauder

  • GRUAN certification for NIWA

    NIWA’s Lauder Atmospheric Research Station, near Alexandra in Central Otago, is part of a select group of research stations with GRUAN-certified measurement programmes.
  • Ozone research at Lauder