Atmospheric analysis

From 8 Jan - 27 Feb 2019, RV Tangaroa undertook a six-week research voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

17 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

The previous hotspot in the Far North has expanded in size during the past week, now encompassing much of the eastern Far North and the Aupouri Peninsula. A hotspot remains in place across Nelson and nearby portions of Tasman, but no other South Island hotspots are in effect at this time.

To give insights to sea surface temperatures, NIWA scientists have combined predictions from 8 climate models from institutes around the world.

It may be rubbish to everyone else, but to Amanda Valois each little scrap of plastic on a river bank or in a waterway tells a valuable story.

13 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

The Ross Sea Region Research and Monitoring Programme (Ross-RAMP) is a five-year research programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and run by NIWA to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area.

If you think science and art have nothing in common, think again. At environmental science institute NIWA, it’s all about one inspiring the other.

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.

Phytoplankton: tiny cells with a big job

During the voyage, we collected planktonic protist cells for which DNA will be sequenced for taxonomic identification, but also to understand their physiology through the daily diurnal vertical migration (diel) cycle.

As a young child growing up on an Irish farm, one of Eimear Egan’s chores was to regularly clean out the well from where her family drew its drinking water. In the well lived a large eel that, no matter how many times it was shifted, just kept coming back.