Voyages

NIWA leads many ocean research voyages from the tropical waters of the Pacific to Antarctica, on our world-class environmental monitoring and research vessels.

  • Bounty trough-comp-image

    Ocean Census – Bounty Trough research voyage

    Voyage
    A team of scientists spent 21 days investigating the unexplored Bounty Trough
  • Bounty Trough - voyage update #2

    Greetings from the Bounty Trough!
  • Cyclone impacts on fisheries and seabed ecosystems - KAH 2303 & 2306

    Voyage
    Kaharoa Voyages KAH 2303 & 2306
  • Twenty thousand leagues under the sea: Uncovering mysteries of the deep ocean

    Media release
    Scientists have returned from a 14-day expedition to one of the most unexplored parts of the ocean.
  • 2023 - Antarctic voyage TAN2302

    Voyage
    In 2023, RV Tangaroa undertook a 45-day voyage to the Southern Ocean and Ross Sea (TAN2301) between January 11 and February 24, 2023.
  • Record low sea ice levels mixed bag for Antarctic voyage

    Media release
    Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have returned from a six-week voyage to Antarctica.
  • Colonial ascidians (grapes), crinoids (feather stars) and primnoid corals (orange) make up part of the Ross Sea ecosystem

    TAN2302 Voyage update 1

    One of our main tasks for this voyage is to better understand the geographic distribution - biogeography - of Antarctic organisms in the western Ross Sea, from the frozen coast out onto the continental shelf at 500m deep.
  • Researchers to unveil Antarctic secrets

    Media release
    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.
  • Chinese and New Zealand Scientists dive to one of the ocean's deepest regions

    Media release
    Scholl Deep is the deepest known point of the Kermadec Trench, which lies to the north of New Zealand.
  • 2022 - Tonga post-eruption

    NIWA is leading a voyage (TAN2206), between 9th April and 6th May 2022 to Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha’apai (HT-HH) volcano within the Kingdom of Tonga.
  • 2022 - Tasman Sea tsunami

    Voyage
    You’ll be blown away by what these women in science are doing onboard RV Tangaroa in the Tasman sea!
  • NIWA-Nippon Seabed Mapping Project a “rare opportunity” to study effects of Tonga eruption

    Media release
    NIWA and The Nippon Foundation are undertaking a mission to discover the undersea impacts of the recent Tongan volcanic eruption.