Guest Work • Jan 23, 2017 •
From a tiny caddsifly to a frolicking dusky dolohin, NIWA staff have captured some beautiful images of insects, birds, fish – and a particularly handsome frog. These up close and personal images have required enormous patience, great skills and a little bit of luck to pull off. They have all been taken by NIWA scientists and staff in the course … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 16, 2017 •
Many Kiwis have a favourite seaside spot they escape to in the summer and scientists are no exception. In this NIWA Summer Series article, six scientists reveal their summer getaway beaches and reflect on how these holiday hotspots are changing. Dr Ken Grange, Regional Manager, Nelson. Dr Ken Grange. Credit: NIWA. Beach: Rarawa Beach, east coast Far North How long have you been … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 10, 2017 •
NIWA marine physicist Dr Natalie Robinson. Top of Natalie Robinson’s to-do list right now is to work out exactly what she’s brought back from Antarctica. The NIWA marine physicist has recently spent five weeks on the ice leading a team of researchers trying to solve one of the great conundrums facing scientists researching climate change: why has Antarctic sea ice … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 02, 2017 •
A NIWA technician spends four days and three nights on a crowded boat heading to one of the most remote places in the Pacific to help install a weather station. Conditions are so arduous he decides to quit his job – but how do you do that in the middle of the ocean? By Susan Pepperell. It wasn’t until he … Read More
Guest Work • 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
Guest Work • Dec 19, 2016 •
A year is a short time in science but a lot happened in 2016. In the first of its Summer Series articles, NIWA highlights its top scientific endeavours of the past 12 months and reveals we know a lot more about a whole range of things than we did this time last year. MARCH – Methane culprits identified Scientists … Read More
John Kerr • Oct 12, 2016 •
Being a scientist out in the field can be hard work, with long days in sometimes uncomfortable (or even dangerous) settings collecting data. But it does come with the opportunity for some unbelievable photos. NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, has announced the winners of its annual photography competition: From one pole to the other, NIWA scientists work in some of the world’s most … Read More
Lynley Hargreaves • Aug 11, 2016 •
Dr Scott Larned Improvements in some components of river water quality are encouraging, but it’s too early to declare victory, says NIWA’s Dr Scott Larned. In a recently published paper in the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, Dr Larned reported ten-year trends in New Zealand river water quality. He tells us what has improved … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Jan 21, 2016 •
It was signposted all year, but North American agencies have confirmed: 2015 was the hottest year since records began in 1880. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analysis showed that global surface air temperatures continued a long trend upward: 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. Globally-averaged temperatures in 2015 surpassed … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 15, 2016 •
The fourth is a summer series by NIWA, the Crown research institute If you’re collecting sea shells at the beach this summer and wondering what they are, NIWA is here to help. Sea shells are a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the … Read More