Environmental information research projects

Many projects across NIWA's national centres have an environmental information focus.

NIWA provides a multitude of monitoring and information services underpinning New Zealand’s science and environmental management: sky-to-sea, sensor-to-service, data-to-knowledge.

Freshwater monitoring and reporting

NIWA's research on freshwater monitoring and reporting is one of three research areas within the 'Values, Monitoring and Outcomes' (VMO) programme led by Landcare Research.

Generating synthetic wind data

NIWA has recently created synthetic, multi-year, 10-minute wind datasets at 15 wind farm sites across New Zealand. These will be used by the Electricity Commission to model the impact of wind farms on the national grid.

Mapping marine biodiversity in Bay of Islands

Building a publicly-available database from the results of a marine mapping survey of the Bay of Islands provides us with a stocktake of the local aquatic resource, in turn giving us valuable information on what areas we can better manage for the future.

Total Carbon Column Observing Network

NIWA participates in the Total Carbon Column Observing Network, a ground-based observing network dedicated to making precise and accurate measurements of greenhouse gas concentrations in different parts of the atmosphere.

Valuing New Zealand's marine environment

This unique project is the first systematic attempt to quantify and map environmental values of New Zealand's coastal marine ecosystem.

Fish resources assessment survey of the Arabian Sea coast of Oman

A primary aim of the Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Fisheries Wealth is to ensure that fisheries are developed and managed for the advantage of the people of Oman in a manner that is sustainable and maintains biodiversity.

Remote sensing of phytoplankton biomass and productivity

Satellite images can be used to measure phytoplankton biomass in the ocean around New Zealand in order to understand ocean ecosystems, fish populations and greenhouse gas absorbtion.

Forecasting weather systems

NIWA’s research into forecasting weather systems aims to increase the resilience of New Zealand communities to weather-related hazards.