Oceans

Temperatures around Aotearoa New Zealand are increasing, and not just on land. Amid a changing climate, significant marine heatwaves have impacted Aotearoa over the past decade and are expected to become more frequent and intense.

Since the early 2000s, NIWA has been part of the international Argo programme, which is deploying floats to measure temperature and salinity throughout the world's oceans.

NIWA is leading a New Zealand partnership to map the South and West Pacific Ocean's seabed as part of a worldwide initiative to map the entire globe’s seafloor.

Earth Sciences New Zealand are creating an AI-driven national forecasting system to effectively manage marine heatwaves.

Assessing sediment effects on seafloor primary production via satellite .

A programme to accelerate efficient and accurate assessments of the impacts of proposed offshore developments on New Zealand’s unique marine fauna and habitats.

This Endeavour Fund programme will examine the potential and risks of three marine carbon dioxide removal techniques by studying their natural equivalents in New Zealand coastal and open-ocean waters.

How Internal wave MIXing is altered by climate change and what are the consequences for ecosystems?

The Inner Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana ecosystem is facing proliferations of algae, de-oxygenation, reduced pH (acidification), reduced water clarity, and muddier sediments arising from historical and future land-derived contaminant inputs.

Marsden-funded research investigating how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.

Clouds over the ocean, and how they trap or emit radiation from the sun, are partly influenced by the biology, biogeochemistry and physics of the surface ocean below.

This programme looks at the impacts of sediment plumes created by disturbance to the seafloor and the discharge of processed waters.