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Read about the important science being undertaken at NIWA, and how it affects New Zealanders. 

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NIWA Oceanographer Dr Craig Stevens has returned, with stunning images and data, from a successful month-long research trip in Antarctica, where he led a team of international and New Zealand scientists.

Lauder celebrates 50 years of atmospheric research.

NIWA marine scientists will use baited-underwater-video (BUV) to assess blue cod stocks in Fiordland this week. It's the first time this unique way of monitoring fish stocks has been used in the fiords.

New research about how the configuration of beaches and climate cycles affect rip currents will help improve the accuracy of forecasts of when and where dangerous rips occur on New Zealand beaches, potentially saving lives.

During late March and April, NIWA fisheries scientists will be tagging hundreds of juvenile tarakihi in Tasman and Golden Bays, in an effort to learn more about their nursery habits and habitat.

NIWA’s weather prediction model simulated the intense rainfall which fell just north of the capital, and flooded parts of Porirua, on Sunday 27 March. Thirty nine millimetres of rain fell in less than an hour, around 1.00pm.

New data from NIWA shows waves generated by last Friday’s magnitude 9.0 Japan earthquake reached all coasts of New Zealand, as predicted, and even registered on a sea-level gauge at Scott Base, in Antarctica.

NIWA’s research vessel Kaharoa set sail from Wellington today, destined for Lyttelton and equipped with seismic survey gear to survey an area of southern Pegasus Bay.

NIWA’s Chief Executive, John Morgan says that action taken now to align NIWA’s capability with the country’s science needs means that the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) will be better prepared for the future.

Preliminary results from the first comprehensive survey of the Cook Strait Canyon seabed have begun to reveal tantalising scientific secrets about New Zealand's largest underwater canyon.

NIWA studies reveal that different movement and behaviours exist within snapper stock – some snapper stay at home, while some range for hundreds of kilometres. Our studies also show that marine reserves may well be affecting the behaviour of fish that inhabit them.

More than 30 international experts in climate science will meet in Queenstown this week to discuss implementing a new a state-of-the-art global network to improve the quality of measurements of upper air climate variables.

We all know it can get pretty windy in New Zealand.

Over the past decade, predicting the weather, and understanding the changes in climate, has emerged as one of the most important and topical areas of scientific endeavour.

It looks like a slimy worm –- but it lives in the sea! The common sea cucumber is a sluggish creature, brown and blotchy, designed to blend in with its habitat: rocky reefs and sandy bottoms.

It is sub tidal and can be found at depths up to 100 metres, all around the coast of New Zealand.

"They look like a worm crossed with a sausage, and the adults can grow to 20 cm and live for five years," says NIWA aquaculture scientist Jeanie Stenton-Dozey.

Seagrass meadows – vital nursery grounds for young fish – are vanishing at an alarming rate worldwide.

The rig shark can be found all around New Zealand at this time of year, from spring to summer. It is found in coastal waters, estuaries and inlets, down to a depth of 200 metres.

NIWA scientists leave for Brisbane this Friday 28 January.

A shy, slimy, ancient fish, that looks like an eel but isn't. It has a circular sucker for a mouth, and feeds by rasping a hole in its victim's fishy-flesh.

Scientists are playing catch with rig sharks this week, in Porirua and Pauatahanui Inlets. They hope to trap and catch upwards of thirty sharks. This fisheries assessment work, funded by the Ministry of Fisheries, will help develop the best methods for a planned nationwide rig nursery-ground survey.

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