Hazards

Research conducted after the 2016, 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura earthquake has provided scientists with an extremely rare opportunity to understand the processes that shape submarine canyons.

NIWA has completed a project that aims to help build community resilience against flooding in the Bumbu River and contribute to improving Papua New Guinea’s disaster preparedness in the face of increasing climate-related disasters.

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

Te Huringa ki te Rangi is a decision-making model to support indigenous and coastal communities.

A senior NIWA scientist is concerned many councils are having difficulty “getting off the starting blocks” when it comes to planning for coastal climate change.

A pilot project has provided the most advanced mapping of a New Zealand lake ever and highlights the hazard to lakeside towns of tsunamis caused by landslides.

NIWA is encouraging farmers to plan for climate change so they can maximise their abilities to adapt and thrive as significant change begins to take place.

NIWA scientists like Leigh Tait were saddened by the human impact of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, but he also says that it provided a “massive natural history experiment”.

How a regional climate history helped save a farm and cure depression

The RV Tangaroa is assisting in New Zealand’s largest ever deployment of seafloor earthquake recording instruments in a bid to learn more about the earthquake behaviour of the tectonic plates beneath the east coast of the North Island.

The 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake has shown that more than 100 million dumptrucks of mud and sand flow through the Kaikōura Canyon every 140 years, scientists say.