Tides

Latest news

New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across Aotearoa New Zealand that could be inundated by extreme coastal flooding.
A robot sea craft is the latest tool NIWA scientists are using to help them count fish.
New NIWA-led research shows increasing flood risk is going to be what leads people to make changes to adapt to sea-level rise.
High waves pounding Wellington’s south coast today are being caused by a deep area of low pressure passing the Chatham Islands, according to NIWA forecaster Ben Noll.

Latest videos

X-craft and NIWA collaborate for fisheries rearch.

The six-metre-long autonomous vessel is equipped with artificial intelligence and a range of data gathering equipment, including a battery powered echosounder that can estimate the size of fish populations.

Called Nemesis, it has been developed by New Zealand robotics company X-craft Enterprises and has just been on its first deep water test run in the Cook Strait.

NIWA fisheries scientist Richard O’Driscoll is hopeful this type of technology will complement the work being done on the larger research ships.

“We’re delighted with how the trials went – there was a lot of tide pushing against the vessel, but it maintained its course perfectly. This new, state-of-the-art sea craft opens up opportunities for us to collect better information on fisheries,” said Richard.

“Hoki are one of the species we research – they have major spawning events, but we are currently only able to collect data on these for a few weeks every two years. With this vessel, we’d like to be able to monitor the entire spawning event, every time it happened.”

The vessel can collect good quality acoustic data in depths of at least 600 metres. It can be programmed to follow a specific track and is equipped with anti-collision technology.

Philip Solaris from X-craft Enterprises highlighted the wider impacts that new technology like this can have.

“With all the impacts of climate change and ecological damage, there has never been a more pressing time to employ all the technological capability at our disposal to monitor the state of our environment."

“With robotic craft we can deploy fleets over a very large area for an extended period. They can gather data remotely, be re-tasked and controlled from anywhere in the world, and are quiet, so have minimal disturbance to animals. They are also really cost effective.”

NIWA hopes to be routinely using the vessel for monitoring fish within the next five years.

The world's most mysterious fish

A video about The world's most mysterious fish. NIWA researchers are working with iwi to try to unlock the secrets of New Zealand tuna—freshwater eels. Every year tiny, glass eels wash in on the tide at river mouths along our coast. But where do they come from and how do they get there?

 

King tides

King tides can change lives. Two out of three New Zealanders live near the coast and rising sea levels mean low lying communities are under even more threat. Use NIWA's charts to find out when your king tides are coming.

Tide forecaster

NIWA's Tide forecaster provides tidal data for any point in New Zealand.

Storm-tide red alerts are the highest high tide (also known as king tides) dates that Emergency Managers and Coastal Hazard Managers should write in their diaries and keep an eye on adverse weather (low barometric pressure, onshore winds), river levels and sea conditions (waves and swell).

The dates below are averaged across New Zealand. See tide forecasts for specific locations.

New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across Aotearoa New Zealand that could be inundated by extreme coastal flooding.
Decisions about how we adapt to sea-level rise need to be based on information about our exposure to coastal flooding, both now and in the future after a period of rising sea levels.
Storm-tide red alerts are the highest high tide (also known as king tides) dates that Emergency Managers and Coastal Hazard Managers should write in their diaries and keep an eye on adverse weather (low barometric pressure, onshore winds), river levels and sea conditions (waves and swell). This page shows the 2023 dates of the highest high-tide "red alert" dates, and the lowest high-tide dates.

Use the Tide Forecaster to forecast high and low tides anywhere in coastal and ocean waters around New Zealand’s EEZ for up to 28 days 1 month. It also predicts historical tides back to 1830.

In this lesson, you will play NIWA’s online serious game, My coastal futures.
X-craft and NIWA collaborate for fisheries rearch.

The six-metre-long autonomous vessel is equipped with artificial intelligence and a range of data gathering equipment, including a battery powered echosounder that can estimate the size of fish populations.

Called Nemesis, it has been developed by New Zealand robotics company X-craft Enterprises and has just been on its first deep water test run in the Cook Strait.

NIWA fisheries scientist Richard O’Driscoll is hopeful this type of technology will complement the work being done on the larger research ships.

“We’re delighted with how the trials went – there was a lot of tide pushing against the vessel, but it maintained its course perfectly. This new, state-of-the-art sea craft opens up opportunities for us to collect better information on fisheries,” said Richard.

“Hoki are one of the species we research – they have major spawning events, but we are currently only able to collect data on these for a few weeks every two years. With this vessel, we’d like to be able to monitor the entire spawning event, every time it happened.”

The vessel can collect good quality acoustic data in depths of at least 600 metres. It can be programmed to follow a specific track and is equipped with anti-collision technology.

Philip Solaris from X-craft Enterprises highlighted the wider impacts that new technology like this can have.

“With all the impacts of climate change and ecological damage, there has never been a more pressing time to employ all the technological capability at our disposal to monitor the state of our environment."

“With robotic craft we can deploy fleets over a very large area for an extended period. They can gather data remotely, be re-tasked and controlled from anywhere in the world, and are quiet, so have minimal disturbance to animals. They are also really cost effective.”

NIWA hopes to be routinely using the vessel for monitoring fish within the next five years.

A robot sea craft is the latest tool NIWA scientists are using to help them count fish.
New NIWA-led research shows increasing flood risk is going to be what leads people to make changes to adapt to sea-level rise.
We combine capabilities in weather, storm surge and tide forecasting with tide gauge observations to predict sea levels for specific locations under forecast weather conditions.

The abundance and diversity of life in our rivers, lakes and estuaries is the ultimate indicator of the health and wellbeing of our aquatic ecosystems. NIWA is helping to ensure that New Zealand’s unique and iconic freshwater species are healthy, abundant and thriving.

High waves pounding Wellington’s south coast today are being caused by a deep area of low pressure passing the Chatham Islands, according to NIWA forecaster Ben Noll.
A little can mean a lot – especially when it comes to the relationship between sea level rise and coastal flooding.
The world's most mysterious fish

A video about The world's most mysterious fish. NIWA researchers are working with iwi to try to unlock the secrets of New Zealand tuna—freshwater eels. Every year tiny, glass eels wash in on the tide at river mouths along our coast. But where do they come from and how do they get there?

 

Two reports released today by NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge reveal new information about how many New Zealanders, how many buildings and how much infrastructure could be affected by extreme river and coastal flooding from storms and sea-level rise.
NIWA is leading a New Zealand partnership to map the South and West Pacific Ocean's seabed as part of a worldwide initiative to map the entire globe’s seafloor.
Most of the plastic in the ocean originates on land, being carried to the estuaries and coasts by rivers. Managing this plastic on land before it reaches the river could be the key to stemming the tide of marine-bound plastics. The aim of this project is to understand the sources and fate of plastic pollution carried by urban rivers using the Kaiwharawhara Stream as a case study.
As a young child growing up on an Irish farm, one of Eimear Egan’s chores was to regularly clean out the well from where her family drew its drinking water. In the well lived a large eel that, no matter how many times it was shifted, just kept coming back.
Coastal communities around New Zealand are getting a say on how to respond to sea-level rise, and NIWA is helping them.
King tides

King tides can change lives. Two out of three New Zealanders live near the coast and rising sea levels mean low lying communities are under even more threat. Use NIWA's charts to find out when your king tides are coming.

Tide forecaster

Online resources for the management and prediction of tide and coastal hazards
Coastal risk exposure for New Zealand, adaptation guidance for local government and relevant summaries of previous court cases and Building Act 2004 determinations.

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All staff working on this subject

Principal Scientist - Natural Hazards and Hydrodynamics
Coastal and Estuarine Physical Processes Scientist
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