Science Centres: Oceans
Wave rider buoy 'very valuable'
Finding sand to feed a growing city
Offshore exploration
Habitat mapping highlight
Habitat mapping highlight
The demonstration on Tangaroa included imaging this wreck of a minesweeper which sank in Wellington Harbour in 1942 after colliding with an inter-island ferry.
Ian Wright (below right), national centre leader, and Kevin Mackay, marine data manager, demonstrating seabed mapping on RV Tangaroa.
Offshore exploration
This shows the modelled mean currents off the east coast of the North Island. The colours show the speed of the currents. The arrows show both direction and speed (the longer the arrow, the faster the current).
The main feature is the East Cape Current which flows down the east coast and turns off eastward near 42° S (south of the Wairarapa coast). Here it joins current from Cook Strait giving the strongest mean currents of over 30 centimetres per second (shown in red).
Finding sand to feed a growing city
Auckland’s construction industry needs large quantities of sand for buildings and roads. Some of this sand is extracted from Kaipara Harbour.
In 1997, the Minister of Conservation issued Mt Rex Shipping and Winstone Aggregates with 20-year consents to dredge sand from the harbour entrance.
Wave rider buoy 'very valuable'
Since 1995, NIWA’s wave rider buoy off Baring Head, near the entrance to Wellington Harbour, has been providing the harbourmaster, Toll NZ (formerly Tranz Rail), and the MetService with accurate measurements of the waves off Wellington’s south coast.
Captain Mike Pryce is the Wellington regional harbourmaster.
