NIWA

Antarctica

Latest news

Record low sea ice levels mixed bag for Antarctic voyage

23 February 2023

Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have returned from a six-week voyage to Antarctica.

Researchers to unveil Antarctic secrets

Media Release

11 January 2023

As New Zealanders search for the summer sun, 38 researchers and crew will board RV Tangaroa tomorrow for a six-week science voyage deep into the waters of Antarctica.

Studying a fragile and alien icy world

Feature story

23 December 2021

NIWA scientists are doing what no others have done before. In a mysterious world just below the Antarctic ice, a delicate web of ice crystals forms a habitat that’s unique and largely unknown. Until now…

NIWA establishes first Antarctic GRUAN site

Feature story

27 May 2021

A NIWA-led collaboration is seeing atmospheric measurements taken from Antarctica’s Ross Island added to a highly respected international climate data reference network.

Latest videos

Plankton in the Ross Sea

Plankton are the base of the oceans food web and are vital to our survival. But as our world changes will they be able to continue to play this essential role? Join us as we follow a group of NIWA scientists investigating various aspects of this question in the ocean around Antarctica.

Antarctic science onboard NIWA’s RV Tangaroa

Examining biodiversity and ocean dynamics in the world’s largest marine protected area

Researchers are working their way through a wealth of new Antarctic marine data after RV Tangaroa successfully completed its five week scientific voyage to the Ross Sea. Voyage leader and principal fisheries scientist Dr Richard O’Driscoll outlines the team’s busy research schedule examining biodiversity and ocean dynamics in the world’s largest marine protected area.

Check out more stories from the 2021 Antarctic voyage

Powering diversity in the Ross Sea

Fisheries scientist Dr Pablo Escobar-Flores delves into Antarctic mesopelagic science with a look at the small animals and organisms that help power the amazing diversity of life in the Ross Sea.

Eavesdropping on sperm whales in Antarctica

Whale researchers such as NIWA Marine Mammal Acoustician Dr Giacomo Giorli are eagerly awaiting the return of RV Tangaroa after its five-week Antarctic voyage.

The moorings team is bringing back precious data from long-term underwater listening devices which the researchers are using to search for signs that sperm whales are finally returning in numbers to the Ross Sea.

Sperm whales were targeted by the whaling industry in the 19th and 20th centuries and more than 70 per cent of their population wiped out. Scientists are now trying to establish if the sperm whale population is making a comeback.

Ambitious NIWA-led Antarctic Ocean project gets go-ahead

Media Release

18 June 2019

Understanding how the Antarctic oceans work is vital to predicting the world’s future climate and the implications of climate change for humankind and the planet.

Setting new baselines in the southern seas

Feature story

14 June 2019

While most New Zealanders were settling into their summer break, some scientists were double-checking their survival gear before heading to work deep in the Southern Ocean.

Antarctic ‘dumbo’ octopus

NIWA scientists are using octopus beaks recovered from Antarctic toothfish stomachs by scientific observers to obtain new information on the octopus species eaten by toothfish and their distribution in the Ross Sea.

Scientists discover solar heat drives rapid melting of Ross Ice Shelf

Media Release

30 April 2019

Part of the world’s largest ice shelf is melting 10 times faster than the overall average and solar-heated waters beneath the ice shelf are to blame, NIWA research has found.

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.

Voyage Update 5: sampling rattails and exploring vulnerable coral habitats in the MPA

3 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 2: Cape Adare

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

Voyage Update 1: first iceberg spotted at 60° South.

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

Research and Monitoring

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

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).

Marine protected area

The Ross Sea region is vital to the future of the Antarctic ecosystem.

Volunteers needed to unlock historic weather secrets 30 October 2018

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.

Scientists studying Weddell seal behaviour in Antarctica

Media Release

29 October 2018

Scientists will be trying to understand how Antarctic-based Weddell seals see the world when they head to the ice next week.

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.

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