Oceans

NIWA aims to provide the knowledge needed for the sound environmental management of our marine resources.

  • Retired scientist completes four-decade-long bibliographic work

    Media release
    After 40 years of work, retired NIWA fisheries scientist Larry Paul has just published a 793-page bibliography of references to New Zealand marine fishes. Everything known and ichthyological that appears in our waters is referenced in the voluminous tome.
  • Fabulous Fiordland

    An interactive guide to the marine biota of the Fiordland (Te Moana o Atawhenua) Marine Area.
  • Hauraki Integrated Land-Water Modelling

    Research Project
    The Inner Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana ecosystem is facing proliferations of algae, de-oxygenation, reduced pH (acidification), reduced water clarity, and muddier sediments arising from historical and future land-derived contaminant inputs.
  • Surveying scallops populations with artificial intelligence

  • The fine art of forecasting

    Feature story
    Susan Pepperell looks at how high-resolution forecasting is driving sharper decision making – from deep in the back country to the finish line of the America’s Cup.
  • Investing in our data

    Feature story
    NIWA Chief Executive John Morgan looks at the growing role data technology plays in environmental research.
  • Supercharging the view from above

    Feature story
    From the rocky shores of Wellington’s South Coast to the icy waters of Antarctica, NIWA scientists are combining drone technology with advanced computer skills to map, measure and analyse the natural environment as never before. Campbell Gardiner explains.
  • The largest flood flow ever measured

    Media release
    Flood flows on the Buller River this month were the largest of any river in Aotearoa New Zealand in almost 100 years, NIWA measurements show.
  • Powering diversity in the Ross Sea

    Studying the mesopelagic in the Ross sea
  • Study discovers microplastics in New Zealand’s seabed

    Media release
    A pilot study carried out by NIWA and the University of Auckland has found microplastics in samples collected from the seafloor in the Marlborough Sounds.
  • Tsunami generated by underwater volcanoes

    Research Project
    Marsden-funded research investigating how erupting volcanoes can cause deadly and damaging tsunamis.
  • New biodiversity memoir on the primnoid corals of New Zealand

    Feature story
    A group of gorgonian octocorals that provide shelter for fish and invertebrates in the deep sea is the subject of NIWA’s latest Biodiversity Memoir.