NIWA

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

Congratulations to NIWA marine biologist Niki Davey, and the University of Otago’s Dr Allison Miller who have recently been awarded an Ocean Census Taxonomy Award in recognition of their work in marine taxonomy. 🥳 The awards are designed to support a wide range of activities contributing to the discovery and description of new marine species. 🦑 🐠 🦀 Niki and Alison will use the funding to study sea cucumbers collected during an Ocean Census voyage to the Bounty Trough earlier this year, many of which are likely to be new to science. The pair will identify and describe the new species using both morphological and phylogenetic methods and assess previously identified but undescribed specimens. Well done! 👏 Find all the winners here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eZx9rFdQ

Since launching earlier this year, MethaneSAT has started taking measurements of atmospheric methane as it scans the skies. Among the first focuses on its list was the agriculture-heavy Waikato region. 🛰️ NIWA staff from Wellington and Lauder recently headed to Waikato to carry out their own methane measurements to help validate the satellite’s observations and quantify sources of methane across the region. 🌏 The successful campaign saw four EM27/SUN spectrometers measuring methane from the ground and a newly developed in situ system taking readings in the air during eight flights. 🛩️ Thanks to the University of Wollongong and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for the loan of spectrometers and support from a Wollongong PhD student to enable the work. 👏 Our next campaign is planned in Canterbury during summer – watch this space. 👀 New Zealand Space Agency

You’ve found our winner for the 2024 photo competition People’s Choice Award! 🏆 Congratulations to bosun Glen Walker who has taken out the title with his winning image of RV Tangaroa steaming toward Protection Cove in Antarctica. 🥳 An avid "hobby" photographer, Glen safely climbed the ladder up the aft mast at the back of the vessel to capture this image using his phone. 🚢 $1,000 in prize money has been donated to the charity of Glen’s choice, Parkinson's New Zealand. 🌷❤️ “I picked this one because it’s close to me. My father has Parkinson's. It’s a horrible disease.” Thank you to everyone who participated and voted for their favourite photo in this year’s competition. 🙌

Current flood forecasting in Aotearoa New Zealand is unable to accurately capture multiple flood events happening simultaneously, such as heavy rainfall, riverine flooding and coastal inundation. 🌧️  To address this problem, researchers led by NIWA coastal modeller Dr Zhonghou Xu are developing a compound flood forecast system to predict extreme flooding due to heavy rainfall and storms up to 48 hours in advance. The MBIE Smart Idea-funded work will rely on NIWA’s high-resolution numerical weather prediction, ensemble weather forecasts, and river flow and storm tide forecast systems.  The team will incorporate AI techniques to enable modelling to be done faster while retaining high-resolution outputs. Gisborne, which has been impacted by extreme flood events such as ex-Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, will be used as a case study to test the system. 🌀 The researchers hope that this work will increase local preparedness and reduce losses from flooding, as well as helping people to select the best flood mitigation measures. ⚠️ 📸 Stuart Mackay

NIWA is pleased with the announcement today by the Science, Innovation and Technology Minister of the Government’s response to a recent review of New Zealand’s weather forecasting system. More here: https://lnkd.in/gRvrve5f

Our X-band satellite receiver has been part of the Lauder skyline since 2007 – it’s used to download data from Earth-observing satellites as they move across the sky. 🛰️ This requires a large satellite dish that can be pointed with high accuracy, protected inside a spherical dome. To keep up with the latest technology, as well as an ever-increasing number of satellites in the sky, the tracking satellite dish was replaced last week with a larger one. 📡 Space Operations New Zealand Ltd helped us with the changeover and will repurpose the old dish at their satellite ground station at Awarua near Invercargill. The swap over was caught by the weather camera at our Lauder Atmospheric Research Station. 🎦

Flood frequencies and magnitudes are increasing with climate change. This poses a serious risk to Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy and citizens’ safety. 🌧️ Flood risk mitigation requires accurate flow measurements for providing public safety warnings, better forecasting, developing flood protection infrastructure, improving land zoning, allocating water resources and monitoring changing flow trends. ⚠️ Led by NIWA hydrodynamics scientist Dr Hamish Biggs, a new MBIE Endeavour-funded project will develop new measurement methods, equipment and software for floods and flash floods.   These next-generation measurement systems will be used by New Zealand’s flood management organisations to build our resilience to floods and better prepare the country for the impacts of climate change. 🌤️ 📸 Stuart Mackay

NIWA has been awarded $10.2m from the MBIE Science and Innovation Endeavour Fund to eradicate an invasive clam that was only recently discovered in New Zealand waters. 👏 The freshwater gold clam, or Corbicula fluminea, is native to eastern and southeast Asia but was found in several locations in the Waikato River catchment in May 2023. 🏞️ NIWA Principal Scientist – Freshwater Ecology Dr Deborah Hofstra is leading the research programme. “This species breeds rapidly and densely, with tens of thousands of individuals occupying a single square metre. This means they successfully compete against native species for food and space, whilst also clogging up critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants. “However, because it’s only recently been discovered here, we lack a detailed understanding of how this species will respond in New Zealand conditions; how readily they will spread, how severe the impacts will be, and what the most effective ways are to intervene.” Dr Hofstra and her colleagues will work over the next five years to improve our understanding of Corbicula fluminea and develop tools and approaches to manage the clams and mitigate their impacts. Read the full story here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eJSym6rV 📸 Michele Melchior