Natural Hazards - Research Projects

Science Centres: Natural Hazards

Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change

 

NIWA is developing guidelines and advice to help coastal communities adapt to climate change.

Physical Hazards Affecting Coastal Margins and the Continental Shelf

This programme is about providing improved knowledge of the causes and potential consequences of coastal hazards in New Zealand, and how often they might pose a threat.

Wave And Storm-surge Projections (WASP)

NIWA is working on a FRST-funded project to produce a model, validated by 40 years of historic data, to project future wave and storm surges off the coast for two climate change scenarios. This will be at a nationally consistent scale around New Zealand and will help decision makers plan for future hazards. We intend to make the results available in an online tool, and are looking for feedback about what people want from this.

Natural Hazards Centre

NIWA develops systems to monitor and predict hazards generated in the atmosphere and the aquatic environment. In 2002 we teamed up with GNS, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science, to create the Natural Hazards Centre as a national resource for all hazards information and advice. The centre covers earthquakes, tsunami, floods, storms, landslides, coastal flooding and waves, coastal erosion, and volcanoes.