Videos
See NIWA scientists talking about their work, along with fascinating animations and underwater footage.
NIWA climate scientist Dr James Renwick explains what changes are occurring in the Antarctic in response to climate change and what's likely to happen in the future.
Most of the Southern Ocean outside of the narrow Antarctic continental shelf is more than 3000 m deep. This poses a real challenge for scientists studying the assemblages of animals living on the seabed.
The oceans are an important sink for atmospheric CO2, but as they take up increasing amounts of CO2 they are becoming more acidic.
Populations of rockhopper penguins, elephant seals, and grey-headed albatrosses in the subantarctic have declined quite markedly in recent decades.
NIWA biological oceanographer Dr Matt Pinkerton discusses the complexities of Antarctic marine food webs, the uniqueness of many of Antarctica's marine animals and the extreme adaptations they display.
Our Far South is an expedition that aims to raise New Zealanders' awareness of the area south of Stewart Island. Gareth Morgan, Te Radar, scientists and 50 everyday Kiwis are onboard to learn and then share their experience. This is the first video produced by them, showing some of the highlights of the trip so far.
NIWA fisheries scientist Dr Stuart Hanchet describes the guiding principles that CCAMLR (the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Life) applies to the Antarctic toothfish fishery.
NIWA fisheries scientist Dr Stuart Hanchet explains what makes the Antarctic toothfish fishery one of the best managed fisheries in the world.
Antarctic toothfish are fished using longlines in southern Antarctic waters. NIWA fisheries scientist Alistair Dunn describes the history of the fishery and how it has been monitored.
Iron dissolved in the ocean is an important trace nutrient for phytoplankton – the microscopic plants that support marine food webs.
Phytoplankton – microscopic plants that drift in the sunlit waters of the world's oceans – are the engine that drives all of Antarctica's marine food webs.
NIWA biological oceanographer Dr Philip Boyd explains how the Southern Ocean plays a key role in controlling the world's climate, by drawing large amounts of CO2 from Earth's atmosphere into the ocean depths.
NIWA physical oceanographer Dr Mike Williams talks about the world's largest current – the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) – and its influence on the 'oceanography' (ocean characteristics) south of New Zealand.
The New Zealand archipelago, particularly its subantarctic islands, is a global seabird hotspot. It's home to 25 per cent of the world's breeding seabird populations and a very diverse array of penguin, albatross, petrel and shearwater species.
Dr Vonda Cummings, benthic ecologist at NIWA, explains the special characteristics of seafloor communities living in Antarctica's coastal waters and the importance of understanding what makes them tick.
It's a common myth that the oceans surrounding Antarctica hold the most diverse array of animals on earth, but they are home to a collection of species found nowhere else.
NIWA biological oceanographer Dr Philip Boyd explains the iron hypothesis: what it is, its history, and some recent experiments in the Southern Ocean.
The sea ice that forms around Antarctica in winter effectively doubles the size of the continent, and its extent has increased over recent years.
NIWA climate scientist Dr James Renwick explains what's unique about the Antarctic/Southern Ocean climate system, the forces that influence it, and how it's changing.
The Earth's oceans – particularly the Southern Ocean – play an important role in absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases from the atmosphere.