Category: NIWA

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

A tactile model for the blind has scooped top prize at the NIWA Waikato Science and Technology Fair. 

Chelsea Smart and Aliyah Alchin made a miniature model of their school for a fellow student who is visually impaired. 

The project entitled ‘Feel your way’ secured the year-8 students from Ohaupo Full Primary School NIWA’s Best in Fair award. 

Aliyah said they worked tirelessly to finish the project, which was done to help visually impaired people find their way around the school. 

“It took the whole term to create and identified every building, piece of playground equipment and potential obstacle could be identified in Braille, so that a child with low or no vision could have an overview of what the school contained.

“It was such a rewarding thing to be part of – to do something that could help others, it was amazing,” said Aliyah.

Science Fair tutor Valerie Millington said the students were meticulous, re-doing things if they found they were not suitable for the sensitive touch of someone who was blind.

Mashanta Mosin, a Phytoplankton and Ecotoxicology Technician at NIWA and a judge at the fair was impressed by the calibre of the science & technology projects this year. “All the students did a great job delivering quality science, with a few exceptionally amazing projects, innovations and ideas. It is great to see the amount of potential these young minds have.”

The NIWA Waikato Science and Technology Fair held at the Distinction Hotel, Hamilton on 14th August.

Providing major sponsorship for many of the science fairs throughout New Zealand is part of NIWA’s long-term commitment to enhancing science and technology for young New Zealanders. NIWA is also a major sponsor of the Auckland City, South & East Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury-Westland and Wellington Science and Technology Fairs.

Other top prize winners:

Bianca Enright from St Peter’s School won the NIWA award for outstanding exhibit relating to water and/or atmosphere for her project “Mangrove sedimentation – Research question: To what extent does the presence of Avicennia marina mangrove correlate with silt depth in Tauranga Estuaries?”

Evelyn Dijkstra from St Peter’s School won the NIWA work experience for ‘Best Senior Student and Best in Fair runner up for her project “Liquid Gold”. 

Kenshin Jayme from Te Aroha College received the Judges Choice award for “Studying the effectivity of mealworms in consuming biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes”.  

For more information visit Waikato Science & Technology Fair.  

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

As material from the volcanic eruption collapsed into the ocean, this triggered a huge surge of rock, ash, and gas that caused extensive damage to Tonga’s underwater telecommunication cables some 80km away.  

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

NIWA scientists are predicting that this year’s ozone hole will stay around for longer than usual, potentially lasting into early summer. 

NIWA’s Principal Scientist – Atmosphere and Climate, Dr Olaf Morgenstern, says this is largely due to a combination of climate change and the 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption. 

“Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai blasted an astonishing amount of water into our atmosphere. In fact, we are seeing around 10% more water vapour than usual. Water vapour is a greenhouse gas that causes cooling of the stratosphere and enhances depletion of ozone by forming clouds above Antarctica.  

“Additionally, the stratosphere is very sensitive to changes in temperature, with climate change causing a long-term cooling trend. This may be contributing to the cold and stable conditions we are presently seeing,” said Dr Morgenstern. 

The Antarctic ozone hole typically reaches its greatest extent in September or October and disappears in November or December. However, there were signs that the ozone hole could have formed earlier this year. 

Dr Richard Querel is a NIWA atmospheric scientist based in Lauder, Central Otago. He says NIWA is measuring the chemistry in the atmosphere to understand what exactly is going on. 

“We are working with others such as NASA and Antarctica NZ to see how the make-up of the atmosphere is reacting. We have balloon launches planned in Antarctica to take further measurements, which we will combine with NASA’s satellite data.  

“We will use this information to see how things such as the Tonga eruption may be influencing the ozone hole, which has been recovering ever since we introduced the 1987 Montreal protocol to ban human-produced ozone-depleting chemicals like CFCs,” said Dr Querel. 

Ozone molecules absorb ultraviolet radiation from the sun, acting like sunscreen for life on Earth. Too much UV can cause problems such as skin damage and a fall in ocean phytoplankton, which can impact the food chain. 

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

For the first time, NIWA used several techniques to map and understand the Waiwhetu Aquifer. This is a reservoir of drinking water that lies beneath the Hutt Valley and Wellington Harbour, and it releases freshwater from deep under the seabed via natural springs.

NIWA Marine Geoscientist Dr Joshu Mountjoy designed the study. He said it was motivated by the lack of knowledge about large coastal aquifers around New Zealand, with Wellington Harbour being the perfect test site. 

“Up to 70% of Wellington’s drinking water comes from the Waiwhetu Aquifer. A lot of work has been done over the years to understand where the aquifers are and where the freshwater is, but until now, we didn’t know where in the seabed the freshwater was leaking through. 

“Due to Wellington’s vulnerability to earthquakes, ensuring access to drinking water is a priority in case a source is cut off or damaged, and the Waiwhetu Aquifer is a critical resource for our resilience,” said Dr Mountjoy. 

Natural freshwater springs are located in the ocean as well as on land. They provide a window into submarine aquifers but finding them is challenging.  

To bypass costly drilling, NIWA showed that other techniques can be harnessed to track ocean-based freshwater springs and sample the water, helping scientists to understand a huge amount about submarine aquifers.  

“We used every tool we had available to understand the nature of these natural springs, including acoustic measurements, seafloor samples, remotely operated vehicles, and seawater sampling. We wanted to see which techniques worked best with a mind to apply them to other locations in the future,” said Dr Mountjoy.  

Through many novel methods, NIWA recorded video footage and acoustic soundings of freshwater flowing out of various pockmarks in the Harbour. There are several hundred of these, the largest of which are over 100m across. 

“We managed to create a detailed map of freshwater springs in the Harbour, which will be important for managing the aquifer as a drinking water resource for Wellington.  

“We can start applying the techniques we used here to find freshwater leaking out of other aquifers, such as in Marlborough, Canterbury, and Hawke’s Bay. These are barely understood beyond the coastline but are vitally important. 

“We are at the beginning of understanding offshore groundwater systems around the world, which that might be the most important resource some countries have. The implications are huge, especially for drought prone and water scarce areas,” said Dr Mountjoy. 

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

NIWA has launched a $5 million per year package of new projects aiming to tackle some of New Zealand’s most pressing challenges, including responding to and preparing for extreme weather events.  

NIWA already undertakes extensive research in forecasting, climate change and extreme weather, natural hazards, atmospheric science and Māori environmental research. This new investment will allow NIWA to double down on efforts in these areas. 

The new package includes an additional $2.3 million per year for extreme weather-related research, including forecasting impacts from extreme weather and also to support climate change resilient infrastructure development. 

An additional $1.85 million per year has been allocated to work with Māori on climate adaptation and to better deliver NIWA science to iwi/hapu and Māori businesses. NIWA is also investing in new projects to fast-track solar and wind forecasts for renewable energy production and to measure and verify agricultural greenhouse gas emission reductions.

“Following Cyclone Gabrielle and other extreme weather events in early 2023, NIWA urgently reprioritised some of our research to gather data in the immediate aftermath and to help affected communities recover from these events. This was complemented shortly afterwards by additional government funding to expedite our research into flood prediction and hazard risk assessment,” says NIWA Chief Executive John Morgan.

“These new investments will accelerate our efforts to increase New Zealand’s ability to respond to and prepare for future extreme weather events. As we have seen across the world in recent years, some of the biggest impacts of climate change have been increases in extreme weather events – such as storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.

“We know that such extreme events are going to become more frequent and more intense, and we need to be better prepared. Advanced, high-precision forecasts that link different hazards, such as rainfall with river flooding, will help all New Zealanders – including iwi, emergency managers, government, councils and the public – to face the challenges our changing climate brings,” says Mr Morgan. 

Notes: 

The funding for these new projects is coming from NIWA’s Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF). This is government funding that focuses on research programmes and scientific infrastructure that have long-term beneficial impact on New Zealand’s health, economy, environment and society. Each year NIWA re-evaluates how its SSIF is best used. 

Some of the current NIWA research in this area: https://niwa.co.nz/natural-hazards/research-projects/responding-to-and-preparing-for-extreme-weather-events-niwa-led-research. 

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research

A new database describing marine species has been released to assist conservation.

The New Zealand Trait Database – the first of its kind in NZ – provides information for more than 700 shallow-water seafloor invertebrates, such as snails, crabs, and worms. 

The database includes information on everything from the animals’ feeding method and body shape, to the ways they move and mix the sediment they live in.

NIWA’s Dr Drew Lohrer, Strategy Manager for Coasts and Estuaries, helped with database development. He says it will be a powerful tool for understanding and protecting our native ecosystems.

“This database brings together information provided by many New Zealand and overseas researchers. It fills a big knowledge gap and provides a standard set of information – in one accessible online location – for us all to work with.

The biological and functional traits information in the database opens doors to new types of analyses, which in turn will help us to protect species and their ecosystems,” said Dr Lohrer.

In recent decades, the use of trait-based analyses has advanced scientists’ understanding of marine ecosystem functioning, including how it will respond to environmental change.

“The NZTD enables us to describe the types of traits and functions that are likely to disappear if we lose species to pollution or disturbance. We can also gain insights into the resilience of animals living on the seafloor by examining how their traits overlap. For example, if one species is lost, ecosystem functioning may be maintained through the activities and traits of those remaining. However, if dozens of species are lost, we may lose critical functions entirely, which would have a bigger impact on the whole system.

Gathering this information together was no easy feat. NIWA Marine Ecologist Orlando Lam-Gordillo led the effort.

“Compiling the database was a substantial effort because we needed to describe around 18 traits with 77 sub-categories for each of the 700 animal types.

We did this by scouring hundreds of pieces of scientific literature and biological collections, which as you can imagine is difficult and time-consuming. Because of this, these databases are scarce or lacking in many parts of the world, which until now, included New Zealand,” said Dr Lam-Gordillo.

The New Zealand Trait Database is an ongoing project, with continuous updates and refinements as additional taxa and trait information becomes available.

It can be freely viewed and downloaded from the repository Figshare and the  NIWA website.

Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: NIWA’s Hotspot Watch for 23 January 2019

The previous hotspot in the Far North dissipated around the Aupouri Peninsula in the past week, but has spread south into northern Whangarei and Kaipara districts. The current hotspot in Tasman could strengthen in the next week, while central Canterbury may see a new hotspot form in the coming week.

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Source: NIWA – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: NIWA’s Hotspot Watch for 16 January 2019

The previous hotspot in the Far North has expanded in size during the past week, now encompassing much of the eastern Far North and the Aupouri Peninsula. A hotspot remains in place across Nelson and nearby portions of Tasman, but no other South Island hotspots are in effect at this time.

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