Atmospheric analysis

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

  • Adorable Anemones

    An interactive guide to the shallow water anemones of New Zealand. Version 2.0 (2022) is available for download now!
  • NIWA's Hotspot Watch for 6 March 2019

    Hotspot
    A weekly update describing soil moisture across the country to help assess whether severely to extremely dry conditions are occurring or imminent. Regions experiencing these soil moisture deficits are deemed “hotspots”. Persistent hotspot regions have the potential to develop into drought.
  • International climate experts gather in Wellington

    Media release
    Weather and climate experts from around the world are meeting in Wellington next week to discuss the critical need for accurate forecasting to cope with a changing climate.
  • NIWA's Hotspot Watch for 28 February 2019

    Hotspot
    A weekly update describing soil moisture across the country to help assess whether severely to extremely dry conditions are occurring or imminent. Regions experiencing these soil moisture deficits are deemed “hotspots”. Persistent hotspot regions have the potential to develop into drought.
  • Sedimentation effects

    Research Project
    A combination of field surveys and on-site observations are being used along with laboratory-based experiments to determine the effects of seabed disturbance on benthic life.
  • Plastic pollution processes in rivers

    Research Project
    Most of the plastic in the ocean originates on land, being carried to the estuaries and coasts by rivers. Managing this plastic on land before it reaches the river could be the key to stemming the tide of marine-bound plastics. The aim of this project is to understand the sources and fate of plastic pollution carried by urban rivers using the Kaiwharawhara Stream as a case study.
  • NIWA's Hotspot Watch for 20 February 2019

    Hotspot
    Areas deemed hotspots now encompass large portions of the entire North Island. Hotspots remain entrenched across the northern tier of the South Island, including across northern Tasman, Nelson, and much of Marlborough.
  • Voyage Update 7: Heading home

    13 February 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.
  • Ocean acidification—what is it?

    The on-going rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is not only changing our climate—it is also changing our oceans. 
  • Scientists return from Antarctic voyage

    Media release
    After travelling almost 12,000km in the past six weeks, a group of scientists returns to Wellington at the weekend with new knowledge about life in the Ross Sea of Antarctica.
  • NIWA's Hotspot Watch for 13 February 2019

    Hotspot
    Across the North Island, soil moisture levels continued to decrease nearly everywhere during the past week. Across the South Island, soil moisture levels decreased nearly everywhere during the past week with little rainfall in the north, south and east.
  • Voyage Update 6: Sea ice, sampling fish and where they gyre

    9 February 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.