On 1 July 2025, NIWA merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand.

Coasts

NIWA aims to provide the knowledge needed for the sound environmental management of our marine resources.

  • Taking the pulse of Antarctica’s ocean ecosystem

    Niwa scientists have anchored an echosounder to the sea floor of Terra Nova Bay that could reveal the mystery of silverfish reproduction under the Antarctic ice.
  • Antarctic Voyage - The Good Bits

    Footage - mostly time lapse - from the New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015...with some random music!
  • Bad weather while returning from Antarctic voyage

    NIWA’s RV Tangaroa encounters bad weather while returning to New Zealand from Antarctica.
  • New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage highlights

    Highlights of the New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015.
  • Little wonder - the ocean’s primary productivity

    News article
    At the base of the ocean’s food chain are algae. Algae feed the krill that feed the whales.
  • Critter of the Week: The mottled brittlestar – Ophionereis fasciata Hutton, 1872

    The mottled brittle star Ophionereis fasciata, known as weki huna in Māori, lives under rocks in the low intertidal or shallow subtidal right around New Zealand.
  • SAFE PASSAGE: Ice Pilot’s critical mission

    Ice pilot Scott Laughlin is on the New Zealand - Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage to guide RV Tangaroa through the Antarctic waters.
  • (no image provided)

    Underwater glider touches down in Wellington

    News article
    A state-of-the-art underwater research glider has been unveiled by NIWA scientists in Wellington.
  • Water, Water Everywhere

    Over the last 50 years the atoll of South Tarawa, in Kiribati has experienced large increases in population.
  • Pod of Orcas visit RV Tangaroa

    NIWA research vessel Tangaroa, down in Antarctic waters, received some welcome visitors yesterday
  • Antarctic trawl nets deep data

    NIWA scientists aboard RV Tangaroa have been trawling the central Ross Sea calculating the abundance of the prey species.
  • Balleny humpback whale research

    The region around the Balleny Islands is a known foraging area for humpback whales. Objective one of the Antarctica voyage aimed to determine why the Islands are such a popular spot for humpback whales.