Antarctica

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Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have returned from a six-week voyage to Antarctica.
As New Zealanders search for the summer sun, 38 researchers and crew will board RV Tangaroa tomorrow for a six-week science voyage deep into the waters of Antarctica.
NIWA scientists are doing what no others have done before. In a mysterious world just below the Antarctic ice, a delicate web of ice crystals forms a habitat that’s unique and largely unknown. Until now…
A NIWA-led collaboration is seeing atmospheric measurements taken from Antarctica’s Ross Island added to a highly respected international climate data reference network.

Latest videos

Dive into the alien world of plankton in the Ross Sea

Plankton are the base of the oceans food web and are vital to our survival. But as our world changes will they be able to continue to play this essential role? Join us as we follow a group of NIWA scientists investigating various aspects of this question in the ocean around Antarctica.

Antarctic science onboard NIWA’s RV Tangaroa

Researchers are working their way through a wealth of new Antarctic marine data after RV Tangaroa successfully completed its five week scientific voyage to the Ross Sea. Voyage leader and principal fisheries scientist Dr Richard O’Driscoll outlines the team’s busy research schedule examining biodiversity and ocean dynamics in the world’s largest marine protected area.

Check out more stories from the 2021 Antarctic voyage

Powering diversity in the Ross Sea

Fisheries scientist Dr Pablo Escobar-Flores delves into Antarctic mesopelagic science with a look at the small animals and organisms that help power the amazing diversity of life in the Ross Sea.

Eavesdropping on sperm whales in Antarctica

Whale researchers such as NIWA Marine Mammal Acoustician Dr Giacomo Giorli are eagerly awaiting the return of RV Tangaroa after its five-week Antarctic voyage.

The moorings team is bringing back precious data from long-term underwater listening devices which the researchers are using to search for signs that sperm whales are finally returning in numbers to the Ross Sea.

Sperm whales were targeted by the whaling industry in the 19th and 20th centuries and more than 70 per cent of their population wiped out. Scientists are now trying to establish if the sperm whale population is making a comeback.
Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division explain the blue whale research they are leading onboard the New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015.
It’s now day 18 on board the RV Tangaroa and spirits are as high as ever. After seven days of amazing weather and a lot of successes with the blue whale work in the northern Ross Sea we have decided to put the last three days allocated to this scientific objective on hold for later in the trip, and to head south to start our third scientific objective which is the demersal trawl survey.
NIWA voyage leader Dr Richard O’Driscoll updates the Tangaroa’s encounter with the planet’s largest living beings – the Antarctic blue whales – and discovers what’s on their menu.
We have now said goodbye to the towering cliffs and vast glaciers of the Balleny Islands and have been heading southeast tracking blue whales by following their low frequency calls. Yesterday we broke into the polynya that is the Ross Sea. The fantastic weather is following us - making it easy to appreciate this surreal part of the world.
The first objective of the New Zealand- Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage was successfully achieved with the completion of the research at the Balleny Islands.
It’s now day 8 at sea and day 3 at the Balleny Islands. The Balleny Islands are a group of volcanic Antarctic Islands situated at 67 degrees south. They are mostly barren rock, with steep cliff faces and covered by massive glaciers, but they are also home to some incredible marine wildlife!
On day five at 9:07 am we all held our breath as we passed 60 degrees south.
Scientists and crew on board Tangaroa are getting their first taste of the deep South’s breath-taking environment as the vessel crosses the 60th parallel, the northern limit of the Southern Ocean.
Voyage leader Richard O'Driscoll reports on voyage progress so far as RV Tangaroa enters the CCAMLR zone.
It’s day three at sea and things are all humming along nicely. We’ve just passed 50 degrees south and any faint sighting of the mainland is long gone. The next time we will see land will probably be the Balleny Islands in a couple of days.
Our 42 day adventure to Antarctica aboard NIWA’s RV Tangaroa is just beginning! My name is Blake Hornblow and I am a 2014 Blake NIWA Science Ambassador.
Being selected as one of the two 2014 Blake NIWA Science ambassadors is the most incredible opportunity ever. I still remember the phone call at uni late into second semester last year.
NIWA photographer, Dave Allen, has captured this time-lapse footage of RV Tangaroa departing Wellington yesterday morning.
New Zealand’s news website Stuff.co.nz has created a stunning interactive feature profiling the New Zealand-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Antarctica New Zealand and the Australian Antarctic Division are undertaking a six-week research initiative in the Southern Ocean on areas of importance to humpback and blue whales and Antarctic toothfish.
Read about the science that will be undertaken during the voyage.
Read details about the aims of the voyage and find information about the scientists and crew on board.
The six-week New Zealand-Antarctic Ecosystem Voyage saw RV Tangaroa travel through the Southern Ocean to the Ross Sea to conduct a range of scientific fieldwork. The voyage was a collaboration between Antarctica New Zealand, NIWA and the Australian Antarctic Division.
This research will investigate whether Antarctic silverfish eggs are spawned elsewhere or whether there is a mass migration of silverfish to their coastal spawning sites each winter.
Commercial toothfish fishing in the Ross Sea has the potential to affect some demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish species in the region through by-catch and ecosystem changes.
This study will complement groundbreaking work undertaken in 2013 to determine the distribution of blue whales in the area and measure the characteristics of their habitats.
This voyage will undertake a range of surveys around the islands to understand the factors influencing abundance and distribution of the whales - including what they eat.
In a small green laboratory perched on the rocky volcanic southern peninsula of Ross Island, Antarctica, there’s a space waiting for a new shiny, hi-tech Christmas present.
NIWA antarctic buoy deployed

A buoy to measure waves in the Southern Ocean is lowered on to sea ice via a helicopter from research vessel, Aurora Australis.

Acidification of the world’s oceans from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reduces the availability of carbonate required by some marine organisms to build shells and skeletons, and potentially affects their ability to maintain existing structures.

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All staff working on this subject

Principal Scientist - Fisheries
Principal Scientist - Marine Ecology
Principal Scientist - Climate
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Marine Biogeochemistry Technician
Fisheries Population Modeller
Strategy Manager - Coasts & Estuaries
Emeritus Researcher – Atmospheric Radiation
Principal Scientist - Carbon Chemistry and Modelling
Principal Scientist - Atmosphere and Climate
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Marine Physics Modeller
Principal Scientist - Marine Physics
Marine Phytoplankton Ecologist
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Atmospheric Technician
Marine Ecology Technician
Principal Technician - Marine Biology
Marine Biologist
Algal Ecologist
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Principal Technician - Atmosphere
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