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

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Great white sharks are taking tropical winter holidays too!

31 March 2010

A New Zealand great white shark has set a world record for the deepest ever known dive of 1200 metres.

Scientists count ‘tagged’ whitebait species – a case of catch me if you can!

29 March 2010

Scientists returned to the Nukumea Stream in Orewa last week, to investigate the trial release of giant kōkopu. This is the first controlled trial in New Zealand to test whether the native fish, giant kōkopu, can be successfully stocked into a stream.

Last week NIWA scientists carried out electric fishing and night time spotlight surveys, in the stream; capturing and measuring the fish and recording the locations that they were found in.

Antarctic Whale Expedition Returns

15 March 2010

The world’s largest, non-lethal whale research expedition has returned from Antarctic waters with a range of new information that will help inform future marine mammal conservation.

New carnivorous sponge gives its prey the kiss of death

9 March 2010

A carnivorous sponge with ‘lip-shaped’ spicules has been identified from the dark depths of the ocean.

It’s pretty in pink and it doesn’t stink!

8 March 2010

NIWA scientists are in the pink! They’re studying the deep candy pink or purple coralline algae, abundant around the New Zealand shoreline and throughout the world, which play a vital role in marine ecosystems.

Like waves in a bathtub – the Chile tsunami reverberated around and around bays in New Zealand

5 March 2010

The results from 19 sea-level gauges around New Zealand reveal that six locations had peak wave heights of over one metre generated by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile on 27 February.

Bluff oyster beds are growing back despite killer disease, says NIWA

1 March 2010

NIWA and the Bluff Oyster Management Company have just completed a pre-season survey of the oyster beds in Foveaux Strait.

Antarctic Whale Expedition at half-way mark

26 February 2010

The joint Australia-New Zealand Antarctic Whale Expedition is underway on-board NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa. The Australian Antarctic Division have released this progress report.

Tropical cyclone outlook update: normal

15 February 2010

Climate and weather organisations across the Pacific are still predicting near normal tropical cyclone activity across the southwest Pacific for the rest of the season through to April. On average, nine tropical cyclones occur in the region each cyclone season (Nov-Apr).

20th Chatham Rise fish survey a success

4 February 2010

NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa has successfully completed its first voyage since its recent $20 million dollar upgrade, surveying for hoki and other commercially important species on the Chatham Rise.

New Zealand’s deep-sea research boosted by new partnership

4 February 2010

Two New Zealand research organisations will work closely with one of the world’s leading ocean research and engineering organisations to accelerate research and exploration in a wide range of oceanographic topics in the southwest Pacific region.

Pōhatuiri Marae

29 January 2010

Back in April 2007, the  Pōhatuiri Marae Trust decided to rebuild there marae near Waitomo. The trust approached NIWA about renewable energy solutions for providing electricity. We asked “electricity for what?”, and so began an interesting learning process. A particularly relevant observation was the older (and often more self reliant) solutions to energy, waste management and water, should not be over-looked.

NIWA stands by its statement on methane rise

23 December 2009

The statement made by NIWA Principal Scientist, Dr Keith Lassey in a TV3 news story about methane (22 Dec 2009) is correct.

Valiant crew of NIWA’s Kaharoa set to spend Christmas in wild waters

23 December 2009

NIWA’s 28-metre research vessel Kaharoa will spend Christmas at sea. Kaharoa will be in the midst of the Indian Ocean, on an epic journey deploying over 100 ocean-profiling ‘Argo’ floats.

From odour mitigation to energy system

22 December 2009

In recent years, the New Zealand pig industry has been seeking solutions to odour emissions from open waste stabilisation ponds. One of the solutions is to integrate anaerobic digestion with biogas recovery into the effluent management system. A recent example is Taranaki pig farmer Steve Lepper.  
Steve wanted to reduce the odour emissions from the waste management system of his 450 sow farrow-to-finish piggery.
Odour minimisation was achieved by installing a custom designed covered anaerobic pond up front of the existing open waste stabilisation ponds.

Electricity generation with biogas

22 December 2009

"It’s not rocket science, says Niwa’s Rupert Craggs.  Recently he and a few others demonstrated how easy it is to produce electricity from the biogas that comes off farm effluent ponds, using a converted generator.
“We plugged in two fan heaters, three spotlights and a 3 phase motor – and they ran for over two hours.  At full throttle it generates 13kW, we were running it at nine or ten.”
Such technology is not novel, he says.  “Most large domestic wastewater treatment plants capture biogas.  For example, they do it here in Hamilton and

NIWA says greenhouse gas methane is on the rise again

22 December 2009

The concentration of methane in the atmosphere is rising, according to measurements made by NIWA.

NIWA has today released measurements from its globally significant Baring Head station showing that southern hemisphere atmospheric methane increased by 0.7% over the two-year period 2007–08. While this increase may not sound like much, it is about 35 times more than all the methane produced by New Zealand livestock each year.

NZ in the 2000s: warmest on record

9 December 2009

NIWA is predicting the decade of the 2000s will be the warmest on record for New Zealand.

Catch me if you can! Scientists play tag with whitebait species

8 December 2009

New Zealand’s iconic whitebait species are disappearing from our waterways, but help could soon be at hand for the threatened giant kōkopu.

NZ scientists learn lessons from Samoa tsunami

4 December 2009

A team of NZ scientists say the results of their field work after the Samoa Tsunami are of interest internationally and here in New Zealand.

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