Research

Understanding and supporting the migration of fish through New Zealand's freshwater habitats

A team of NIWA freshwater ecologists are researching the use of biodegradable plant mats to help reintroduce native aquatic plants to degraded freshwater lakes in Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Temperatures around Aotearoa New Zealand are increasing, and not just on land. Amid a changing climate, significant marine heatwaves have impacted Aotearoa over the past decade and are expected to become more frequent and intense.

Scaling up of solar and wind power is essential for Aotearoa New Zealand to become carbon neutral by 2050

Following extreme weather events in 2023, NIWA reprioritised research to help affected communities recover and prepare for the future.

CarbonWatch NZ is an internationally-recognised research programme that will enable New Zealand to make the right decisions for a zero carbon future.

Detecting and quantifying methane emissions by satellite

NIWA is developing a national river flow forecasting tool for New Zealand that aims to support and strengthen our planning for and response to extreme rainfall events.

NIWA researchers are developing a physics-informed and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven method to vastly reduce the computer power needed to provide accurate climate change projections.

The development of updated national climate projections for Aotearoa New Zealand was completed in 2024.

NIWA and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are working together to develop a new drought forecasting tool.

Since the early 2000s, NIWA has been part of the international Argo programme, which is deploying floats to measure temperature and salinity throughout the world's oceans.