Coasts - News

Science Centres: Coasts

NIWA scientist studies the mixing of river and sea and asks: Where do river sediments go?

5 March 2012

Flying above the New Zealand coastline on cloudless days, you can sometimes see plumes of material-laden river water, much of it containing sediment from land runoff. Understanding where this material ends up will help assess the land use impacts on our vulnerable coastal ecosystems, and guide mitigation measures to reduce those impacts.

Summer Series 8: The forces behind beach ‘foam’

14 February 2012

Ever wondered what that brownish foam is that you sometimes see clinging to sandy beaches? It's easy to think the foam is a sign of pollution, but in fact it's a natural phenomenon associated with certain kinds of beaches, and the tiny organisms that live there.

Planning on a sea-level rise of X?

4 November 2011

"Planning on a sea-level rise of X?" is the title of NIWA principal scientist Dr Rob Bell's paper at the New Zealand Coastal Society Annual Conference in Nelson this week. Dr Bell is a key-note speaker at the event. "It's a play on words," he says. "There is no single number to plan for."

NIWA provides weather and sea conditions for the Rena oil spill

12 October 2011

NIWA is using forecast models to show us the offshore conditions around the grounded Rena, and the likely path of the oil plume, as fuel oil washes up on Bay of Plenty beaches.

OECD report on NZ water– not as clean as you’d like

22 September 2011

A recent OECD report describes New Zealand's water quality as 'good' relative to most OECD countries but says that it is deteriorating. This deterioration is due, in large part, to diffuse pollution from agriculture, says Dr Kevin Parris of the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD in Paris, France. Dr Parris is a plenary speaker at the DIPCON conference, in Rotorua.

New Zealand surrounded by the biggest waves on the planet

1 June 2011

New Zealand is bang in the middle of the biggest and wildest waters on the planet: the Southern Ocean. Many of New Zealand’s coasts and coastal communities are already facing the impact of rising sea levels. Will the future see even bigger storms and waves, putting our increasingly intensive development of coastal areas dramatically at risk?

New research improves predictions of dangerous rip currents

1 April 2011

New research about how the configuration of beaches and climate cycles affect rip currents will help improve the accuracy of forecasts of when and where dangerous rips occur on New Zealand beaches, potentially saving lives.

Upgraded research vessel

12 December 2010

The return of the upgraded RV Tangaroa represents a huge advancement for New Zealand science and exploration

NIWA thanks Whitianga community for their views

23 November 2010

NIWA’s coastal scientists met with members of the Whitianga community last week, and thanked them for their input into a NIWA research project, Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change.

Scientists probe beneath Antarctic ice shelves

22 November 2010

NIWA looks below Antarctic ice shelves to investigate the polar ocean system with a new high-tech probe.

New web portal opens window to vast storehouse of information about Bay of Islands coast

14 October 2010

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and National Institute of Water & Atmosphere (NIWA) today launched a new web portal providing free public access to data gathered by the Bay of Islands Ocean Survey 20/20 project.

NIWA finds new ways of seeing past earthquakes – under the sea

13 October 2010

NIWA scientists are working at the cutting edge of earthquake research, developing new ways to interpret the history of undersea earthquakes occurring on major faultlines around New Zealand. This work will help scientists determine the likelihood of damaging earthquakes from underwater faults close to the coast.