Tides

A little can mean a lot – especially when it comes to the relationship between sea level rise and coastal flooding.

Two reports released today by NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge reveal new information about how many New Zealanders, how many buildings and how much infrastructure could be affected by extreme river and coastal flooding from storms and sea-level rise.

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.

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.

Coastal communities around New Zealand are getting a say on how to respond to sea-level rise, and NIWA is helping them.

Dog Island levels

Whitianga Wharf sea levels

Inanga are the predominant species in the modern whitebait fishery.

The waters around New Zealand have some of the highest waves in the world, due to Southern Ocean swell and storms in the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean.