Research

The seaweed known colloquially as nori in Japanese - used for making sushi - or karengo in Maori has been reclassified by an international team of scientists including NIWA's Dr Wendy Nelson.

New Zealand's geographic isolation and relatively recent colonization provide the opportunity for a unique genetic analysis of plant movement patterns to be explored.

Estuaries in New Zealand are experiencing sedimentation at higher rates than before humans arrived here: this represents a loss both for land and estuary productivity. We need to better understand what has been happening so that we can predict the future and fight these losses.

A significant threat to the biosecurity of New Zealand's freshwater habitats comes from plants that have been intentionally introduced.

River plumes form one of the primary connectors between river-estuary systems and the coastal ocean.

The Ocean Survey 20/20 (OS 20/20) programme aims to provide NZ with better knowledge of its ocean territory.

A Ministry for Primary Industries-funded study has shown that grass carp, in enclosures, can be used as an effective means of controlling invasive plant species in our waterways.

Understanding how material released into the ocean spreads is very important in the case of oil spills, sediment transport and the release of invasive species. 

How do marine micro-organisms influence the earth's atmosphere and climate?

Many of New Zealand's aquatic ecosystems, and their services, are in a degraded and often worsening state. NIWA is involved in research and consultation' aimed at improving the health of our freshwater systems.

This research project focusses on modelling atmospheric chemistry and climate from the surface to the top of the stratosphere, using sophisticated chemistry-climate models.

In September 2010 and February 2011, two devastating earthquakes (M7.1 and M6.3 respectively) hit the Canterbury region