FAQ
New Zealand is fortunate to have a lot of ocean with a lot of fish around it, but the population of different species can easily be damaged by over fishing. Scientific monitoring is important in order to make sure we don’t damage our valuable resource.
Contact the National Centre which covers the science you want to hear about. They are committed to public outreach, communicating science to people who can use it. Our scientists are busy, and often away on field work, but they make time to speak to many groups, such as professional societies, Rotary, Probus, rural women, schools and so on.
No. NIWA is not a regulatory body. We provide research and expert environmental science services for customers.
Call 0800 RING NIWA
See who to contact in our media centre.
Yes, and it is a very serious problem. Find out about the international scientific consensus
No. NIWA is a Crown Research Institute(CRI), a Crown-owned company established to undertake scientific research and related activities. See Our Company for more details.
NIWA is developing an environmental forecasting service, EcoConnect, which provides subscribers with continually updated forecasts of weather-driven hazards such as flooding, suitable for port companies, regional councils, energy companies, and other customers.
NIWA are experts in environmental science. We have about 750 staff at 15 sites around New Zealand and in Perth, Australia. We conduct scientific research and provide applied science services. We work in environments from the bottom of the seafloor to the top of the atmosphere.
NIWA has diverse range of scientists and labs across New Zealand. Our national centres co-ordinate them to work on research and consulting projects, and are your doorway into our science. Each centre often collaborates with other scientific organisations within New Zealand and overseas.
2007 saw a surprise record low in summer sea ice in the arctic, much sooner than anyone was expecting.
See this page in our National Climate Centre.
A lot of different customers, including central and local government. See our partners and funders for more information.
General
The example used here is for Murawai Beach, 11km north of Anawhata.
This is a common question. The Metservice tide forecast is based on LINZ tide forecast, which uses known tide times at standard ports and then applies an offset for 'secondary ports' - for example, Muriwai Beach. These offset values are often approximate.
The NIWA tide forecast is predicted by a purpose built tide model designed to calculate the tide at any location of open coast (not harbours) around New Zealand. The NIWA tide model has a stated accuracy of +/- 10 mins.
Atmosphere
Climate
Freshwater and Estuaries
Glass eels are juvenile forms of eel that begin life in the ocean trenches of the Pacific and migrate hundreds of kilometres to New Zealand.
There might be values missing from your data, or it contains figures that deviate widely from the mean. In order to compile accurate water quality models, you need data that draws on comprehensive information about water quality.
The NIWA-operated National Rivers Water Quality Network (NRWQN) is New Zealand's only national water quality monitoring tool.
Water quality levels are indicated by how well light transmits through water.
Whitebait are the juveniles of five species of galaxiidae, a family of fish confined to the Southern Hemisphere.
A mixing zone is a designated area of a stream or river into which wastewater is permitted to empty.
Reasonable mixing is the amount of pollutant that can be discharged into a mixing zone.
Natural Hazards
Coasts and Oceans
Multibeam echo sounders emit a fan of sound beams to the seafloor to scan a wide swath of the seabed in great detail.
Styela clava at Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.
Much of NIWA's science uses an instrument known as a mass spectrometer. But what is a mass spectrometer, and how to they work?