Research

Many New Zealand cities and towns have switched over to modern LED street lighting. The move will save on operational costs, but little is known what impact artificial streetlights have on flying freshwater insects which are integral to our waterway ecosystems. NIWA investigated the likely impact as part of a four-year MBIE-funded Smart Idea project.

University of Canterbury’s Professor Matthew Wilson, one of the Mā te haumaru ō te wai research team, gives us some insight on uncertainty.weather

Nutrients, sediment, and microbial contaminants are mobilized from urban and agricultural landscapes and enter streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries. These contaminants can degrade water quality, ecological health, and cultural values.

A four-year research programme focused on the co-management and restoration of our freshwater taonga species.

The three-year PARTneR–2 project aims to help countries in the Pacific become more resilient to the impacts of climate-related hazards.

NIWA is developing a national river flow forecasting tool for New Zealand that aims to support and strengthen our planning for and response to extreme rainfall events.

CliDEsc is a web-based content management system and product generator library developed by NIWA in consultation with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the Pacific region, and with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The project aim was to harness the filter-feeding capacity of native freshwater mussels on rafts to assist in lake restoration.

Almost half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. This is a much higher proportion than most other countries – globally, agricultural emissions average around 7.5% of a country’s total emissions.

The Inner Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana ecosystem is facing proliferations of algae, de-oxygenation, reduced pH (acidification), reduced water clarity, and muddier sediments arising from historical and future land-derived contaminant inputs.

Marsden-funded research investigating how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.

Clouds over the ocean, and how they trap or emit radiation from the sun, are partly influenced by the biology, biogeochemistry and physics of the surface ocean below.