Field Work

Featured image: Party balloons and sagging powerlines

Party balloons and sagging powerlines

Guest Author • Dec 28, 2016

When Tony Bromley heads to the hills in January he’s taking along a bag of party balloons and some cardboard coffee cups to help him with some complex measurements involving power lines along the National Grid. The NIWA atmospheric technician is aiming “to define the sag”. “Power lines expand with heat and the more power that goes down the line … Read More

Featured image: Snapping Chatham Rise critters

Snapping Chatham Rise critters

Guest Author • Dec 27, 2016

Fieldwork will see marine ecologist Dr David Bowden travel more than 7000km over January. He is leading a voyage aboard NIWA research vessel Tangaroa to study seabed habitats of the Chatham Rise, east of New Zealand. The Chatham Rise, which stretches for about 1000km from near the South Island to the Chatham Islands, is one of New Zealand’s most productive … Read More

Featured image: In search of salmon

In search of salmon

Guest Author • Dec 26, 2016

Phil Jellyman is jet boating up the Waimakariri River in Canterbury – not because it’s a fun thing to do but in search of salmon. The NIWA freshwater fish ecologist is planning to implant acoustic tags on the fish to find out whether irrigation schemes are affecting their migration to spawning grounds up river. Along the river he will install … Read More

Featured image: Setting sail for the Subantarctics

Setting sail for the Subantarctics

Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Feb 22, 2016

Update: The HMNZS Canterbury is being deployed to the Pacific to help Fiji in the recovery from Cyclone Winston. At this stage, Operation Endurance is suspended. Feb 24, 2016. It’s not every day you get a phone call asking if you’d like to jump on a boat for a few weeks and travel to a part of New … Read More

Subantarctic Island Quarantine

Guest Author • Jul 05, 2013

Dr James Russell is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, jointly appointed in the School of Biological Sciences and the Department of Statistics. He is blogging for National Geographic on an expedition to the subantractic islands, studying the impacts of shipwrecked mice and plans to eradicate them. Field Work is reposting some of … Read More

New Auckland Museum Three Kings Islands Expedition

Guest Author • Apr 11, 2013

From Alison Ballance, blogger for the Three Kings Islands Marine Expedition. Many people know the Three Kings islands as the site of the Elingamite wreck, and for over a hundred years treasure hunters have flocked here in search of gold and silver. But for the scientists of the Three Kings Islands Marine Expedition these islands hold treasures of … Read More

Antarctic voyage: Back in Wellington

Guest Author • Mar 14, 2013

Date: 13/3/2013 Location: 41.52247˚S, 174.772597˚E Weather: Sunny Sea state: Calm The day started early with a 6:30am breakfast, arriving in to Wellington Harbour at 8am – a beautiful day coming in to the harbour! RV Tangaroa looks very small compared to the large cruise ships (that’s Tangaroa on the left hand side, compared with the … Read More

Antarctic voyage: Are we there yet?

Guest Author • Mar 13, 2013

Date: 12/03/2013 Location: 43.292704°S, 173.575944°E Weather: Sunny Sea state: Calm The last couple of days we have been making our way up the east coast of the South Island back to Wellington. While it hasn’t been blue skies and calm seas, we have had a good trip home, with no delays from wild weather. As we … Read More