News

We've got hot temperatures, we've got cold temperatures, freezing temperatures, ice, snow, hail, rain - and even a few rays of sunshine. And one very confused weather pattern.

On the bottom of New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs is an underwater garden of vivid green, pinks and inky blues.

Pupils at a Central Otago primary school are helping NIWA air quality scientists learn more about pollution in their town in a four-month project that will track where smoke comes from and where it goes over winter.

One of the most challenging scientific underwater experiments ever attempted by NIWA is taking place this month on the Chatham Rise.

Two yet-to-be identified species of beaked whales have been detected in the Cook Strait region. Identifying which species they are is important for understanding the status of marine mammal populations in New Zealand waters.

Being prepared to give anything a go and thinking outside the box to get a job done – often in incredibly challenging conditions – is something Bob takes great personal and professional pride in.

Less than a week before the official end of summer on 28 February, temperatures dropped and a cool breeze made a whistle-stop tour of the country.

Efforts to create interest in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and maths) have led to a 40 per cent increase in tertiary students taking the subjects this year.

How long would it take to count all the grains of sand in the world? About 5000 seconds – a little over an hour and 20 minutes – if you had a Cray XC50. NIWA has just installed one at the High Performance Computing Facility in Wellington.

Massive increases in computing power are allowing NIWA scientists to not only analyse more data, faster, but also to envisage completely new experiments.

As climate change takes hold, regional council planning, sustainability and hazard managers are looking to NIWA for help to understand how their communities will be affected.

Ruth Beran discovers that public interest in the state of fresh waterways has driven a dramatic change in the tools used by scientists.