Water & Atmosphere

A NIWA scientist collects samples from the seabed of the Ross Sea. For more information, see “BioRoss 2004: expanding our knowledge of marine life in the Ross Sea”.

Horse mussels growing on the sea bed. These shellfish are filter feeders and are vulnerable to the effects of suspended sediment in the water. For details of recent modelling work to assess these effects, see “Modelling the effects of muddy waters on shellfish”.

Otaki estuary, north of Wellington, one of a wide variety around New Zealand’s coastline. A major research effort is investigating the efffects of increasing sediment inputs in many estuaries. In this issue “How will habitat change affect intertidal animals in estuaries?” focuses on forecasting long-term effects, and identifying very sensitive areas and habitats.

Stratocumulus clouds over Wellington. What weather did these clouds bring? New methods for predicting the weather mean that the accuracy of weather forecasts is improving. For more details, refer to "How good are New Zealand weather forecasts?".

Lake Vanda in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. This permanently ice-covered lake has been the subject of NIWA research for many years. For more details see “Pond life on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, one of the world’s strangest ecosystems”.

The scleractinian coral Desmophyllum dianthus. This stony coral, known as the cup coral, is commonly attached to other corals and is found in deep-sea waters around New Zealand. Actual size: 3-5cm in diameter. NIWA’s work on corals includes determination of the ages of deep-sea species. For more details see “Chronicles of the deep: ageing deep-sea corals in New Zealand waters”.

The Waitaki River mouth, just north of Oamaru, South Island. Braided, gravel-bed rivers like the Waitaki are common in the South Island and feature in several areas of NIWA research. For example, techniques have been investigated for estimating the amount of gravel moved during floods. For more details see A bird’s eye assessment of gravel movement in large braided rivers .

Kim Thomas, NIWA’s southernmost technician, checking the solar tracker for the infrared spectrometer on the roof of the Arrival Heights laboratory, Antarctica, in October 2002. The infrared spectrometer – which measures a range of trace gases – is one of the instruments used in NIWA’s Antarctic atmospheric measurement programme. The programme includes tracking the progress of the ozone hole which forms in spring each year. See “NIWA’s southernmost technician and the 2002 ozone hole” for more details.

A rockhopper penguin from Campbell Island. Over the past 60 years rockhopper populations in New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands have declined alarmingly. A NIWA study has begun to identify possible reasons for the decline. See “Declining rockhopper penguin populations in New Zealand” for more details.

Soil erosion during heavy rainfall has resulted in the deposition of a thick layer of mud on an intertidal flat in this estuary, smothering much of the shellfish bed shown, and killing the shellfish. This is one example of how human activities in the surrounding catchment can impact on a fragile estuarine ecosystem. NIWA is developing and applying a range of modelling techniques to help understand and predict effects such as this.

A NIWA diver records information on submerged plants during a lake survey. These data are later added to NIWA’s Aquatic Plant Database. For more details on the database and how it is used, refer to Submerged plant data: answering the what, where and why.

It is now widely accepted that the world’s climate is warming rapidly. Research into past climate changes, modern observations and computer modelling are helping scientists to determine and understand the processes, thus improving predictions about the effects of future warming. Aspects of this research, involving New Zealand’s oceans, are covered in the 10 articles in this issue.