Voyages

NIWA leads many ocean research voyages from the tropical waters of the Pacific to Antarctica. This page highlights some of these voyages.

Cyclone impacts on fisheries and seabed ecosystems - KAH 2303 & 2306

Fisheries New Zealand commissioned NIWA to conduct this research and will use the information to help understand implications of the Cyclone for on local fisheries.

2023 - Antarctic voyage TAN2302

In 2023, RV Tangaroa undertook a 45-day voyage to the Southern Ocean and Ross Sea (TAN2301) between January 11 and February 24, 2023.

2022 - Tonga post-eruption

NIWA is leading a voyage to Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano within the Kingdom of Tonga.

2022 - Tasman Sea tsunami

You’ll be blown away by what these women in science are doing onboard RV Tangaroa in the Tasman sea!

2022 - Chatham Trawl Survey

The NIWA research ship Tangaroa was chartered by the Ministry of Primary Industries to survey the hoki fishery on the Chatham Rise during January 2022.

RV Tangaroa has sailed to the Macquarie Ridge to under charter by Australia’s CSIRO Marine National Facility to recover ocean bottom seismometers and acquire multibeam sonar and sub‐bottom profile data in the Macquarie Island region.

2021 - Kaikōura Canyon

Studying the sediment samples will reveal important information about how the canyon changes the flow of sediment in the deep ocean after big events, such as the Kaikōura earthquake.

Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle helps scientists collect data

2021 - Hikurangi margin

A state-of-the-art underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) called ROPOS is helping a team of New Zealand and US scientists study the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the east coast of the North Island.

Scientists from GNS Science, NIWA and University of Washington are currently onboard NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa on a five-day voyage to the Hikurangi subduction zone.

During the voyage, ROPOS will download the latest data from the two observatories monitoring earthquakes and slow slip earthquakes and retrieve seafloor instruments installed along the Hikurangi subduction zone. Voyage leader Dr. Laura Wallace of GNS Science says scientists cannot wait to see what the data can tell them about the slow slip earthquakes that have occurred over the last few years. “We’re also keen to learn more about last week’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake near East Cape, which was only about 100 km away from the offshore observatories. “We hope this data will help us figure out why these slow slip earthquakes are occurring on the Hikurangi subduction zone and to better understand the processes that occurred in the East Cape earthquake.”The two earthquake observatories were installed beneath the seafloor by the research vessel JOIDES Resolution more than three years ago and have been actively recording changes in the Earth’s crust due to earthquakes and slow slip earthquakes off the coast of Gisborne since then.

This is the first time the Canada-based ROPOS will be operating in New Zealand waters, to download the information from the Hikurangi subduction zone observatories. ROPOS is operated on Tangaroa by a team of eight engineers from the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility. It will take about one to two hours to download the three years’ worth of data from the observatories once the robot plugs itself into the observatory. Scientists are interested in understanding the relationship between earthquakes and slow slip earthquakes. Slow slip earthquakes appear to occur every one to two years off New Zealand’s east coast. Unlike a normal earthquake, which releases built-up stress suddenly, a slow slip event happens over a longer period – anything from days to weeks to months.

ROPOS will also be used to retrieve 16 seafloor instruments, which have been measuring the rate of water flowing out of the seafloor and collecting water for chemical analyses. University of Washington Associate Professor Evan Solomon says the information and samples being collected will help improve understanding of the role that water, deep beneath the seafloor plays, in the timing and occurrence of slow earthquakes along the Hikurangi subduction zone. “Working with international science partners is vital to the success of large science projects like this, as they bring technologies not currently available in New Zealand,” says Dr Wallace.

The voyages are supported by funding from the New Zealand Ministry for Business, Innovation, and Employment, and by the United States National Science Foundation.

2021 - Antarctic voyage

RV Tangaroa is undertaking a 45-day voyage to the Southern Ocean and Ross Sea from early January and returning 17 February 2021. Scientists onboard will be from NIWA and the University of Otago.

2020 - Deep Sea Benthos

Sedimentation effects from human activities are poorly known, but an important concern for environmental sustainability of activities in the deep sea.

2020 - Seamount Communities

Seamounts, knolls, and hills are prominent features of underwater topography in the New Zealand region and are often sites of high biodiversity and productivity.

2020 - Subantarctic survey

This month-long fisheries trawl survey on the RV Tangaroa, aims to estimate the relative abundance of hoki, hake, ling and other middle depth fish species in the Southland and subantarctic areas.

2020 - Kaikōura canyons

The primary objective is to re-map the Kaikōura Canyon and nearby targets using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV RAN operated by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden).

2020 - Argo floats deployment

The crew of NIWA research vessel Kaharoa spent 75 nights at sea.

2020 - Bay of Plenty acoustics

During the TAN2007 voyage NIWA scientists headed to the waters around Whakaari/White Island in the Bay of Plenty to survey changes to the seafloor since the volcanic eruption in December 2019. They surveyed the chemical composition of gases released by the hydrothermal vents on what is known as the Calypso vent field in the Bay of Plenty.

2020 - Campbell Plateau biodiversity

Heading to the Campbell Plateau south of New Zealand, 25 scientists and crew onboard R.V. Tangaroa will carry out a deep sea camera survey of the seabed to better understand the biodiversity of seabed habitats in commercial fishing areas.

2020 - Hoki eggs survey

Hoki is New Zealand's largest finfish fishery. During this voyage, hoki eggs reveal a few secrets that surprise scientists.

2020 - Separation Point nursery

NIWA researchers are heading out from Tasman early next week to survey an area thought to be home to important juvenile fish nurseries.

2020 - Snapper survey

Scientists are conducting snapper research off North Island’s west coast.

2019 - Ross Sea, Antarctica

RV Tangaroa undertook a six-week research voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean to study the ocean, atmosphere and ecosystem processes with the focus on establishing monitoring programmes for the newly created Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (MPA). Link to the voyage report.

2019 - Sub-Antarctic ecosystems

Understanding and modelling the effects of climate variability on ecosystem function in the Sub-Antarctic region, including effects on protected species and on ecologically and economically important fisheries.

2019 - Sub-Antarctic ecosystems voyage

2018-2019 - Voyage summary

A summary of the R/V Tangaroa voyages (from July 2018 to June 2019).

2018 - Antarctica voyage

RV Tangaroa carried out a six-week voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean between 8 February and 21 March 2018 with scientists from NIWA and the University of Auckland.

2018 - Benthic community resilience

This voyage was the first of three surveys designed to determine the effects of sedimentation, and the resilience and potential recovery of impacted benthic communities.

2018 - Campbell Plateau moorings

17 April 2018

The R/V Tangaroa headed to the Campbell Plateau in April 2018, to the southeast of the South Island, to recover moorings and undertake a CTD survey.

2018 - Chatham Rise hoki survey

NIWA research ship Tangaroa has been chartered by the Ministry of Primary Industries to survey the Hoki fishery on the Chatham Rise during January and early February 2018.

2018 - Chatham Rise seabed

The R V Tangaroa headed to the Chatham Rise from 9 May to 7 June 2018 to measure and monitor the effects of seabed disturbance on sealife.

2018 - Hikurangi subduction margin

Deployment and recovery of Ocean Bottom Seismometers occurred on three separate cruises of the RV Tangaroa between September 2017 and April 2018 (ORCSS 1 to 3), as part of a multi-national seismic experiment on the Hikurangi subduction margin off the east coast of the North Island.

2018 - Hikurangi tremor and slip

HOBITSS V was a 12-day (6–18 October 2018) voyage onboard R/V Tangaroa to undertake seafloor geodetic and seismic instrument deployments, recoveries, and surveys offshore the Gisborne, Mahia, and Wairarapa coasts.

2018 - OBS Recovery

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.

2018 - Ocean-column imaging

The aim of the voyage was to enhance our capability to acoustically detect and characterise liquid and gaseous targets in the water column.

2018 - Ocean-column imaging voyage

The aim of the voyage was to enhance our capability to acoustically detect and characterise liquid and gaseous targets in the water column.

2018 - Salp bloom

The RV Tangaroa headed out to the Chatham Rise on 23 October 2018 for a month long voyage that with a focus on the special role sea salps play in carbon cycling, and where they fit in marine food webs off the New Zealand coast.

2017-2018 - Voyage summary

A summary of the R/V Tangaroa voyages (from July 2017 to June 2018).

2017 - Campbell Plateau

The sub-Antarctic ocean around Campbell Plateau is complex with three distinct oceanographic regions comprising of warm and salty subtropical water, cooler and fresher sub-Antarctic water and colder and fresher circumpolar sub-Antarctic water.

2017 - Canterbury plains groundwater

In passive continental margins, topographicallydriven meteoric groundwater is only one of a range of drivers of offshore groundwater flow. Other drivers include seawater recirculation, sediment loading, geothermal convection, and diagenesis.

2017 - Chatham Rise biodiversity

This survey was designed to acquire quantitative data about benthic habitats and fauna across Chatham Rise, using a towed camera system with high-definition digital video and still image cameras and a multicorer.

2017 - Hikurangi seismic experiments

The goals of this Earth science project were: 1) to obtain constraints on the deep structure of the Hikurangi margin, with an emphasis on Raukumara peninsula in the north, and 2) to record seismicity over several months.

2017 - Hikurangi subduction zone

The Tangaroa assisted 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.

2017 - Kaikōura coastal zone

NIWA vessel RV Tangaroa visted Kaikōura in September 2017 to investigate the impacts of the earthquake in the coastal zone, which includes effects on rocky reef habitats and communities, pāua fishery and Hector’s dolphins.

2017 - Kermadec trench biology

This voyage is the first of a series of expeditions exploring selected trenches of the Pacific Ocean, starting with the Kermadec trench. It will investigate carbon and nutrient cycling by microbial communities in trenches exposed to different rates of organic carbon supply.

2017 - NOAA tsunami warning station

A tsunami reporting station situated in the Pacific Ocean that is currently off line is to be upgraded in a joint operation involving New Zealand and United States government agencies.

2017 - OBS Deployment

NIWA research ship Tangaroa has been chartered by GNS Science to continue work in lowering Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) onto the seafloor of the Hikurangi subduction zone.

2016-2017 - Voyage summary

A summary of the R/V Tangaroa voyages (from July 2016 to June 2017).

2016 - Bathymetric of Lake Tekapo

NIWA researchers spent several weeks on board the RV Rangitahi III - keeping a close eye on the bottom of Lake Tekapo to find out what it looks like and what is going on below the lake bed.

2016 - Colville Ridge Geophysics

The main output of this voyage is providing data and fundamental base maps for future regional prospectivity surveys, tectonic plate reconstructions, and general understanding of the architecture of the Kermadec backarc.

2016 - Colville Ridge Geophysics voyage

2016 - Hikurangi subduction and slips

The primary objective of this voyage was to recover sedimentary cores from the continental slope of Hikurangi Trough expected to deliver records of past earthquakes associated of past earthquakes associated with the Hikurangi subduction zone.

2016 - Kermadecs biodiversity

The voyage to the Kermadec region is a collaborative expedition between NIWA, Auckland Museum, Kelly Tarlton’s, Department of Conservation, Auckland and Massey Universities, The PEW Charitable Trusts and Te Papa.

2016 - Oceans’ climate secrets

NIWA’s research vessel Kaharoa has been on a three-week voyage to deploy the first Deep Argo floats to collect data on ocean heat gain at depths of about 5700m. Deployed across the abyssal plains of the South West Pacific the floats are one tool for unlocking key global climate change information in our oceans.

2016 - Otago multibeam

This survey was undertaken in the Great South Basin with the intention of completing a multi-beam echo sounder survey across the head of the Bounty Trough and Otago Canyons. This will act as a baseline dataset for future voyages.

2015 - Antarctic Ecosystems

The six-week New Zealand-Antarctic Ecosystem Voyage saw RV Tangaroa travel through the Southern Ocean to the Ross Sea to conduct a range of scientific fieldwork. The voyage was a collaboration between Antarctica New Zealand, NIWA and the Australian Antarctic Division.

2015 - Kapiti multibeam survey

On board the RV Ikatere, NIWA scientists have used the latest multibeam echo-sounding technology to generate new charts of the seafloor around Kapiti Island.

2014 - Finding right whales

Funded by NIWA and the Department of Conservation (DOC) this month-long voyage investigated whether southern right whales continue to spend their winters at Campbell Island, how many there were, where they came from and what they ate.

2014 - Gas hydrate and methane

This east coast voyage aboard the RV Tangaroa found direct evidence of widespread gas in the sediment and ocean, and indications of large areas of methane hydrate (an ice-like frozen methane) below the seafloor.

2014 - Louisville Seamount Chain

The RV Tangaroa has been on a five-week voyage to the Louisville Seamount Chain in the South Pacific. It will give scientists a better understanding about marine ecosystems vulnerable to commercial fishing in the region.

2013 - Kaikoura tsunami risks

22 March 2013

Surveying work carried out by NIWA scientists this week is helping provide new insights into the tsunami risk from undersea landslides in the Kaikoura Canyon.

2013 - Kermadec Trench

17 January 2013

Scientists set sail on NIWA's research vessel Kaharoa this week to film and explore many aspects of life in deep-sea habitats, and capture fish that are new to science, in the Kermadec Trench, northeast of New Zealand.

2013 - Kaikoura tsunami risks

During a week-long voyage aboard the RV Ikatere, NIWA scientists provide new insights into the significant tsunami risk from an undersea landslide in the Kaikoura Submarine Canyon just off the South Island's east coast.

2013 - Kermadec deep-sea fish

Scientists onboard NIWA's RV Kaharoa explored life in deep-sea habitats in the Kermadec Trench, capturing and filming fish and giant amphipod species that are new to science.

2012 - Our Far South

With a focus on climate change, territorial aspirations of Antarctica, protecting biodiversity, over-fishing, tourism, and mineral exploration, the Our Far South voyage to Antarctica created a unique opportunity to raise public awareness about research happening in the southern ocean and the Antarctic area.