Science Media Centre

Researchers looking at air trapped within Antarctic ice have found humans are putting more methane into the atmosphere through fossil fuel emissions than previously thought. Using ice cores from Antarctica’s Taylor Glacier, an international team of researchers – including New Zealand and Australian scientists – measured natural rates of methane in the atmosphere over the […]

The country’s capital will have warmer autumns and rainier winters by 2090, according to a new Niwa climate report. The report, prepared for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, projected an increase in the annual number of ‘hot days’ (over 25°C) in Wellington, from six per year now, to 26 per year by 2090. In the […]

An international study has estimated deaths from air pollution will rise by about 60,000 globally by 2030 because of climate change. Published this week in Nature Climate Change, the study combined global climate models – including data from New Zealand – to examine how warmer temperatures will speed up the creation of air pollutants. The […]

Following the discovery of the parasite Bonamia ostreae in Stewart Island oyster farms, the Ministry for Primary Industries has issued a restriction on the area and plans to remove the affected oysters. Niwa put together a Q&A with fisheries scientist Keith Michael about the parasite and the risk of it spreading further afield. What is Bonamia […]

With the, somewhat signposted, news that 2016 was the warmest year on record globally, and the warmest in New Zealand since modern records began in 1909, Professor James Renwick writes that we need to channel energy into urgent action. An excerpt (read in full): The past year also saw two milestones: the atmospheric concentration of […]

2016 was the hottest year in New Zealand in over a century, surpassing the previous warmest year on record, 1998. Niwa released its annual climate summary today, which showed 2016 was the warmest year on record based on the seven-station series which began in 1909. The full annual climate summary is available on Niwa’s website. […]

GNS Science will lead a multi-million dollar study investigating the Hikurangi subduction zone and what danger it might pose to New Zealand. NZ Herald science reporter Jamie Morton highlighted the study, which has received $6.5 million in funding from the Government’s Endeavour Fund. The scientists will examine the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the Pacific tectonic plate […]

Myths about sea lions, sparked by a consultation paper out for public comment, are counterproductive to the conservation of the species, writes Niwa fisheries scientist Dr Jim Roberts. An excerpt (read in full…) Myth – NZ sea lions mainly eat squid Southern arrow squid make up less than one-fifth of their diet. Furthermore, survival and […]

2015 was a dry, sunny year for New Zealand, but no hotter than average overall, according to NIWA’s annual climate summary. You can access the full annual climate summary here. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology also released its 2015 climate summary last week, which showed that 2015 was the fifth warmest year on record for Australia. […]

Christchurch’s freshwater wildlife is being smothered in silt, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Canterbury and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). The study, published today in the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, highlights the decline of wildlife in the city’s waterways following the Christchurch […]