News

The 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake has shown that more than 100 million dumptrucks of mud and sand flow through the Kaikōura Canyon every 140 years, scientists say.

When NIWA fisheries scientist Richard O’Driscoll went to sea earlier this year, he and his team measured so many fish that laid end to end, they would have stretched for 31km.

Despite a sub-tropical storm and two ex-tropical cyclones, this summer is about to become the hottest in history.

North Island hotspots continue to be found across much of Gisborne, northern Hawke’s Bay, and Tararua west to Horowhenua and Kapiti Coast. A small hotspot has also emerged across the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. The only hotspot in the South Island continues to be located in Southland, but it has decreased significantly in size and strength due to the recent heavy rainfall.

Current North Island hotspots are found in coastal Gisborne, interior Wairoa, as well as small portions of Kapiti Coast, Horowhenua, and Tararua. The only hotspot in the South Island continues to be a sizeable one which covers much of southern and interior Otago and nearly all of Southland.

Beachgoers are being asked to look out for leopard seals over summer and report sightings as soon as possible.

A weekly update describing soil moisture across the country to help assess whether severely to extremely dry conditions are occurring or imminent. Regions experiencing these soil moisture deficits are deemed “hotspots”. Persistent hotspot regions have the potential to develop into drought.

A group of volunteers who love the Hutt River are helping to care for it over summer.

Every year NIWA carries out numerous marine surveillance missions, surveys at ports and harbours around the country. Their divers are looking for the pests that have hitched a ride to New Zealand waters and are capable of destroying our unique ecosystems and shellfish industry.