Antarctica

Latest news

Scientists return from Antarctic voyage

Media Release
14 February 2019
After travelling almost 12,000km in the past six weeks, a group of scientists returns to Wellington at the weekend with new knowledge about life in the Ross Sea of Antarctica.

Māori carvers head to Antarctica

Media Release
30 January 2019
Two Māori carvers head to Antarctica next week to complete and install a traditional carving at Scott Base, New Zealand’s headquarters on the ice.

Scientists voyage into the Antarctic unknown

Media Release
7 January 2019
A group of intrepid scientists leaves Wellington for Antarctica this week on board NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa for what their leader calls “a voyage of discovery”.

Ross Sea Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2019

Volunteers needed to unlock historic weather secrets

Media Release
30 October 2018
NIWA climate scientists are calling for volunteers to unearth weather secrets from the past – including those recorded by members of Captain Robert Scott’s doomed trip to the South Pole in 1912.
 

Our work

Ocean acidification and warming

Acidification of the world’s oceans from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reduces the availability of carbonate required by some marine organisms to build shells and skeletons, and potentially affects their ability to maintain existing structures.

Antarctic fisheries research

NIWA’s Antarctic fisheries research is allowing us to investigate possible effects of the longline Antarctic toothfish fishery on the toothfish population and on the local ecosystem.

Chemistry-climate modelling

This research project focusses on modelling atmospheric chemistry and climate from the surface to the top of the stratosphere, using sophisticated chemistry-climate models.

Surveying fish species on the Ross Sea slope

We don’t clearly understand the ecological effects of commerical toothfish fishing in the Ross Sea region. To improve our knowledge, we conducted a survey of demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish species on the Ross Sea slope - particularly grenadiers and icefish - during the 2015 Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage.
 

Latest videos

2018 - Antarctic Voyage Update #3

2018 - Antarctic Voyage Update #3

2018 - Antarctic Voyage Update #3
2018 - Antarctic Voyage Update #1

2018 - Antarctic Voyage Update #1

TAN 1802 - Antarctic voyage leader Dave Bowden on the phone from the Southern Ocean.
Dolphins farewell RV Tangaroa - 9 February 2018

Dolphins farewell RV Tangaroa - 9 February 2018

RV Tangaroa is farewelled by a pod of dolphins as it heads off on its 12th voyage to the white continent. Footage courtesy of Kareen Schnabelke.
Researching NIWA's Antarctic sea ice

Researching NIWA’s Antarctic sea ice

NIWA marine physics technician Brett Grant gives a tour of our Antarctic field camp and explains how we are conducting research into sea ice in the coldest place on the planet.

 

Antarctica in photos

NIWA scientists have worked for many years in Antarctica. These photographs illustrate some of our work in this amazing and scientifically significant place. 

Voyage Update 7: Heading home

13 February 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Scientists return from Antarctic voyage

Media Release
14 February 2019
After travelling almost 12,000km in the past six weeks, a group of scientists returns to Wellington at the weekend with new knowledge about life in the Ross Sea of Antarctica.

Voyage Update 6: Sea ice, sampling fish and where they gyre

9 February 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Māori carvers head to Antarctica

Media Release
30 January 2019
Two Māori carvers head to Antarctica next week to complete and install a traditional carving at Scott Base, New Zealand’s headquarters on the ice.

Voyage Update 4: Toothfish habitat in and out of the MPA

29 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Voyage Update 3: Phytoplankton producers powering the world

23 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Voyage update: Cape Adare

17 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Voyage Update: first iceberg spotted at 60° South.

13 January 2019. By Voyage Leader Dr Richard O'Driscoll.

Ross Sea Region Research and Monitoring Programme

The Ross Sea Region Research and Monitoring Programme (Ross-RAMP) is a five-year research programme funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and run by NIWA to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area.

Scientists voyage into the Antarctic unknown

Media Release
7 January 2019
A group of intrepid scientists leaves Wellington for Antarctica this week on board NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa for what their leader calls “a voyage of discovery”.

Ross Sea Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2019

Ross Sea Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2019

From 8 Jan - 27 Feb 2019 RV Tangaroa is undertaking a six-week research voyage to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. On board scientists, supported by 19 crew members, will be studying ocean, atmosphere and ecosystem processes with the focus on establishing monitoring programmes for the newly created Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (MPA).

Ross Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA)

The Ross Sea region of Antarctica is one of the most untouched environments in the world. The region is teeming with unique marine life and unbroken food chains that are vital to the future of the Antarctic ecosystem.

Volunteers needed to unlock historic weather secrets

Media Release
30 October 2018
NIWA climate scientists are calling for volunteers to unearth weather secrets from the past – including those recorded by members of Captain Robert Scott’s doomed trip to the South Pole in 1912.

Busy season for NIWA scientists in Antarctica

Media Release
24 September 2018
The new science season at Antarctica is just a few days away from opening and NIWA researchers are busy packing containers and shipping them to the ice where they will be reunited with them in the coming months.

Emperor penguin foraging behaviour revealed

Media Release
20 April 2018
An unavoidable delay in a research ship’s voyage to Antarctica resulted in some surprising and important findings about the behaviour of emperor penguins.

NIWA ship returns from Antarctica with ‘pieces of a puzzle’

Media Release
21 March 2018

The absence of sea ice near Antarctica over the past six weeks has astonished scientists undertaking research aboard NIWA’s flagship research vessel Tangaroa.

Tangaroa Marine Environment and Ecosystem Voyage 2018

Blog: Passive acoustic mooring - 15 March

15 March 2018

A couple of days ago we deployed the last of three long-term passive acoustic monitoring moorings, as a collaboration between the Ross-RAMP MBIE Endeavour project and The Australian Antarctic Division.

Blog: Time to head home - 17 March

17 March 2018

Today we left the area south of 60°S and have started the five-day return journey to New Zealand.

Blog: The inhabitants of the twilight zone of the open-ocean - 15 March

15 March 2018

Think about a futuristic world where at night time, people use different kind of self-propelled vehicles to hover across cities, illuminating the skies with different colours and shapes, while transiting around them.

Blog: Zooplankton, the pelagic food-web, and carbon cycling - 14 March

14 March 2018 

We have been conducting daily net tows to get an integrated picture of the macro-zooplankton dynamics in the area.

Blog: Plankton blooms and clouds - what's the link? - 11 March

11 March 2018

Today we found NIWA’s Andrew Marriner hard at work in the Ocean-Atmosphere Container Lab and asked him to explain his work onboard.

Blog: Radially Aligned Linear Photosynthetron - 9 March

9 March 2018

In the back of Karl Safi’s lab, where we found him working in the semi-dark, is a very futuristic looking piece of kit called the Radially Aligned Linear Photosynthetron (RALPH).

Blog - specimens collected by epibenthic sled - 10 March

10 March 2018

To verify the identities of animals we see on the DTIS camera, we use an epibenthic sled to collect physical samples of animals from the seafloor.

Blog: Long Ridge seamount communities - 7, 8 March

8 March 2018

The Benthic team have been observing and identifying animals living on the seabed at Long Ridge, north of the Ross Sea.

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All staff working on this subject

Dr Malcolm Clark

Principal Scientist - Fisheries
Phone: +64-4-386-0523
Email Dr Malcolm Clark
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Dr Pablo Escobar-Flores

Fisheries Scientist
Phone: +64-4-382-1610
Email Dr Pablo Escobar-Flores
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Dr Denise Fernandez

Physical Oceanographer
Phone: +64-4-386-0348
Email Dr Denise Fernandez

Dr Giacomo Giorli

Marine Mammal Acoustician
Phone: +64-4-386-0538
Email Dr Giacomo Giorli
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Dr Richard Gorman

Coastal and Estuarine Physical Processes Scientist
Phone: +64-7-856-1736
Email Dr Richard Gorman
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Dr Michelle Kelly

Marine Biologist
Phone: +64-9-375-2037
Email Dr Michelle Kelly
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Dr Yoann Ladroit

Fisheries Acoustics Scientist
Phone: +64-4-386-0906
Email Dr Yoann Ladroit
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Dr Drew Lohrer

Principal Scientist - Marine Ecology
Phone: +64-7-859-1803
Email Dr Drew Lohrer

Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher

Atmosphere-Ocean Scientist
Phone: +64-4-386-0924
Email Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher

Dr Olaf Morgenstern

Principal Scientist - Atmosphere and Climate
Phone: +64-4-386-0928
Email Dr Olaf Morgenstern

Dr Richard O'Driscoll

Principal Scientist - Fisheries
Phone: +64-4-386-0876
Email Dr Richard O'Driscoll
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Dr Richard Querel

Atmospheric Scientist
Phone: +64-3-440-0400
Email Dr Richard Querel
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Dr Graham Rickard

Marine Physics Modeller
Phone: +64-4-386-0311
Email Dr Graham Rickard

Dr Hinrich schaefer

Atmospheric Scientist
Phone: +64-4-386-0399
Email Dr Hinrich schaefer
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Dr Amy Whitehead

Freshwater Ecologist
Phone: +64-3-343-7854
Email Dr Amy Whitehead
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