NIWA

NIWA is using machine learning to forecast flood inundation in a fraction of the time required to run physical models. 🤖 “What people really want to know is not just whether the river is running high, but what areas will be flooded, and what’s at risk from that potential flooding. We’re exploring how AI will help us to move from weather forecasts to inundation forecasts quickly enough so that useful information gets to those who need it,” says Climate, Atmosphere & Hazards platform manager Nava Fedaeff who leads the project. Predicting flood maps with physical models can take up to 24 hours but with machine learning it takes only 1-2 minutes. 🕓 Five days ahead of an event, scientists combine several elements such as weather forecasting, river flow predictions, inundation mapping and exposure assessments. This enables them to produce models that detail – down to street level – people, property or infrastructure at risk when storms strike. 🏘️🌧️ Using Westport as a case study, data scientist Dr Deidre Cleland has produced a StoryMap detailing how the system works. Check it out here 👉 https://lnkd.in/erct4vbE Read the full story here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eiXmfZFV  

The World Meteorological Organization's latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin once again shows record breaking greenhouse gas levels, locking in temperature increases for years to come. Read the bulletin in full using the link below – including a feature on NIWA's Baring Head station (one of two global greenhouse gas observatories profiled this year).

MethaneSAT – listen here! 🎧🛰 In a podcast made for World Space Week, NIWA’s Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher talks to interviewer Haritina Mogoșanu about her role as science leader for the global MethaneSAT research programme, the New Zealand government’s first official international space mission. Led by the US Environmental Defense Fund, the mission aims to quantify and map agricultural emissions globally from space. The satellite launched this year, and initial data from New Zealand have been collected and validated through ground-based and aircraft measurements. 🛩️ In this podcast episode, Sara emphasises the role of space in monitoring climate change and highlights the importance of global observations for effective climate action. “Our role as a New Zealand science team is to develop the capability of the satellite to quantify and map agricultural emissions all around the world, which is the first time anyone will have ever tried to look at diffuse agricultural emissions from space. So that’s pretty exciting!” 🔊➡️ https://lnkd.in/eM-iGjZa

RiskScape loss modelling software, co-developed by NIWA and GNS Science in partnership with Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC), is now powering NHC's crucial loss modelling tool, PRUE. Read more about this important mahi below 🖥 ⬇

Huge congratulations to NIWA coastal scientist Dr Christo Rautenbach on winning the NZ Coastal Society's 2024 Professional Development Award! 🤩🎉

A mystery specimen has been identified as a species never documented in New Zealand waters. 🌊 Earlier this year, researchers spent three weeks exploring the Bounty Trough during a NIWA Ocean Census voyage to discover new species. 🦀 🐡 🦑 Amongst the brilliant selection of fish and invertebrates collected from 3,500m deep, an unusual specimen stumped the experts. 😕   “It looked kind of like a sea star, but we thought it could also be a sea anemone or octocoral. We had several world-leading experts onboard and none of us could place it, and initial DNA sequencing resulted in no close relationship with any known organism. So, it became known as ‘The Thing’,” said marine biologist and voyage lead Sadie Mills. However, after further DNA sequencing, the team got a positive result – a 98.9% match to Oligotrema lyra – an abyssal ascidian, or sea squirt.  🧬 While this species is already known to science, it is the first time it has been documented in New Zealand waters and expands our knowledge on the huge diversity of species that fall under our protection. Read the full story here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/evwe7QV5 🎥 Learn more about the voyage in the video here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ePJvsBX7

📢 Looking for scholarship opportunities for 2025? 📢 In collaboration with Fisheries New Zealand, we are offering scholarships to both Masters and undergraduate students studying marine biology or fisheries science. 🌊 🐟 🎓 Masters scholarships in Quantitative Fisheries Science – available for Masters Students in the field of quantitative marine science, particularly stock assessment modelling or ecosystem modelling. 🎓 Undergraduate scholarships in Quantitative Marine Biology – available to students interested in a double major in mathematics or statistics combined with biology or marine biology. Interested? Find all the details and how to apply here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gj9jJVy ⏰ Applications close 10 November 2024.  📸 Crispin Middleton

Every week, researchers at NIWA’s Lauder Atmospheric Research Station launch an ozonesonde balloon into the stratosphere to measure ozone. 🎈 As it rises, the sonde samples the air to detect the presence of ozone and sends data back to the team at Lauder. This data then feeds into a global network, for scientists around the world to access and use. Our Changing World’s Dr Claire Concannon caught up with the team in Central Otago to learn more about how and why they monitor ozone, what’s going on with the ozone hole and why we still monitor ozone so closely. 🎧 Listen here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ebjTsKNN 📸 Rebekah Parsons-King

Interested in building a better wetland? NIWA ecologists Chris Tanner and Brandon Goeller in conjunction with Massey University's Catchment Solutions Project are offering a free masterclass on surface flow constructed wetlands. They're a proven nature-based solution to reduce on-farm nutrient and sediment losses. You'll learn what makes an effective wetland, how big they need to be, how to identify suitable sites, the best planting and much more. The two-day course is at Massey on 7-8 November, and expressions of interest close on 15th October. Register at the link below. https://lnkd.in/g4VhvE2P

NIWA researchers are looking to identify internal wave hotspots and their cooling potential to mitigate the effects of climate change as part of a new MBIE Smart Idea-funded project. 🌡️ 🌊 Where these internal waves occur and break, they mix cool waters up to the upper ocean, providing relief for marine organisms from increasing marine heatwaves and a warming ocean. ♻️ Led by physical oceanographer Erik Behrens, the team aims to map the location of internal waves across New Zealand together with Australian partners and the University of Otago to identify yet-to-be-discovered marine refugia. The project will better inform marine activities to minimise the impacts of internal waves and climate change on our blue economy and ecosystems. 🖼️ Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem