Oceans

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

  • Chasing deepsea shadows

    Feature story
    Mia Blyth catches up with a marine biologist hunting for ocean ghosts.
  • Tonga eruption discoveries defy expectations

    Media release
    New findings from the record-breaking Tongan volcanic eruption are “surprising and unexpected."
  • Anchors cause “extensive, persistent” damage to seafloor

    Media release
    High-resolution mapping has produced the first ever global estimates of coastal habitat damage caused by anchoring.
  • Survey provides snapshot of harbour’s health

    News article
    Greater Wellington Regional Council regularly assess sediment quality and seafloor community health in the subtidal areas of Te Awarua-o-Porirua (Porirua Harbour) and Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbour).
  • Guide explores the benefits of combating marine biofouling

    News article
    NIWA is contributing to an international effort to help developing countries reduce the impact of biofouling on aquatic-based industries and environments.
  • The instruments at work - In the volcano's wake

    Our team onboard RV Tangaroa are equipped with all the tech and tools they need to explore the undersea changes caused by the devastating volcanic eruption in Tonga earlier this year.
  • Voyage update - 24 April

    We have sampled 11 stations today, with different pieces of equipment, starting with rock dredges on a ridge close to Hunga Ha’apai. The samples taken returned a trove of rock specimens that got the geologist onboard excited.
  • Mapping the Tongan eruption

    The January eruption of the Tongan volcano Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apai triggered tsunamis as far away as the Caribbean. NIWA scientists are onboard RV Tangaroa surveying the ocean around the volcano, working to understand the largest eruption of its kind since 1981 so they can help increase our knowledge about similar volcanoes around the world.
  • Hazards in the Tasman Sea

    You’ll be blown away by what these women in science are up to onboard this RV Tangaroa voyage to the Tasman Sea.
  • 2022 - Tasman Sea tsunami

    Voyage
    You’ll be blown away by what these women in science are doing onboard RV Tangaroa in the Tasman sea!
  • NIWA-Nippon Seabed Mapping Project a “rare opportunity” to study effects of Tonga eruption

    Media release
    NIWA and The Nippon Foundation are undertaking a mission to discover the undersea impacts of the recent Tongan volcanic eruption.
  • Mean heat: Marine heatwaves to get longer and hotter by 2100

    Media release
    New research from the Deep South Challenge: Changing with our Climate and NIWA shows that New Zealand could experience very long and “very severe” marine heatwaves by the end of the century.