On 1 July 2025, NIWA merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand.

Research

All NIWA research projects

  • Regional modelling of New Zealand climate

    Research Project
    Developing probabilistic scenarios of expected future regional climate changes.
  • Assessment of crop and tree species growing potential using climate, soil and topographic information

    Research Project
    This project demonstrates how to assess high value alternative land-use options by means of a quantitative analysis of the growing potential of selected niche crops and tree species.
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    'Eleven-station' series temperature data

    Research Project
    Temperature trends from 1930s to present day
  • South coast waves

    Wave hazard research

    Research Project
    NIWA collects wave data, develops and verifies wave forecasting systems, and is developing and producing wave projections.
  • Determining the age of fish

    Research Project
    NIWA expends considerable effort on determining the age of commercial fish species. But why age a fish? And how do we do it?
  • Development of sustainable water supply and treatment systems for a coastal Fijian village

    Research Project
    This collaborative NZaid project worked with coastal Fijian villagers at Votua on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu to develop pragmatic water supply and waste treatment solutions to protect public health and reduce contamination of coastal waters.
  • White sharks

    Research Project
    Where and when do white sharks occur in New Zealand waters, and how can fisheries bycatch be reduced?
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    What do we measure?

    Research Project
    A range of physical and chemical variables are measured in the NRWQN.
  • Climate change scenarios for New Zealand

    Research Project
    Projections of how climate change is likely to affect New Zealand.
  • National and regional climate maps

    Research Project
    Maps of average annual rainfall, temperature and other climate variables have been produced for all of New Zealand, based on the period 1981–2010.
  • Modelling vegetation-impacted morphodynamics in braided rivers

    Research Project
    NIWA is developing numerical models for predicting how the morphology of braided rivers responds to flow regulation and invasive exotic woody vegetation.
  • Managing water allocation on the West Coast

    Research Project
    This project investigated the capabilities and utility of NIWA’s Cumulative Hydrological Effects Simulator (CHES) tool for facilitating discussions and decision making associated with setting and applying water quantity limits in the Grey River catchment on the South Island’s West Coast.