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

Scientific Tools & Data

NIWA offers a diverse range of scientific tools and data to support research, analysis, education and exploration across various fields of science and environmental studies.

  • Ivory Glacier - compact weather station (CWS)

    The Ivory Glacier SIN site is located at 1390 m next to Ivory Lake, west of the main divide of the Southern Alps/ Kā Tiritiri Te Moana.
  • A robot sea craft helps count fish

    A six-metre-long autonomous vessel is equipped with artificial intelligence and a range of data gathering equipment, including a battery powered echosounder that can estimate the size of fish populations.
  • Cutting-edge AI sea craft helping scientists count fish

    Media release
    A robot sea craft is the latest tool NIWA scientists are using to help them count fish.
  • Mapping the oceans through citizen science

    The Seabed 2030 South and West Pacific Ocean Data Center is one of four global Regional Centres, each being responsible for data gathering and mapping in their territory.
  • Seabed 2030

    Did you know NIWA is leading a NZ partnership in a worldwide initiative to map the entire globe’s seafloor? Found out more about the Seabed 2030 initiative.
  • Surveying scallop populations with artificial intelligence

    News article
    Developing a non-invasive automated method of counting and measuring scallops to monitor their populations.
  • 2021 - Macquarie Ridge

    Voyage
    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.
  • Stewart Island gets new electronic weather station

    Media release
    A closer eye is now being kept on Stewart Island’s climate thanks to the installation of a new electronic weather station.
  • Surveying scallops populations with artificial intelligence

    Developing innovative, non-invasive alternatives for surveying scallops and harvesting.
  • The fine art of forecasting

    Feature story
    Susan Pepperell looks at how high-resolution forecasting is driving sharper decision making – from deep in the back country to the finish line of the America’s Cup.
  • Supercharging the view from above

    Feature story
    From the rocky shores of Wellington’s South Coast to the icy waters of Antarctica, NIWA scientists are combining drone technology with advanced computer skills to map, measure and analyse the natural environment as never before. Campbell Gardiner explains.
  • Know your snow

    Feature story
    With the winter snowpack starting to build, who’s keeping an eye out on conditions in the mountains?