• Plankton in the Ross Sea

    Follow a group of NIWA scientists investigating various aspects of plankton which are the base of the Antarctic oceans food web.
  • Life under the Ross Sea ice

    NIWA researchers are using remote underwater cameras to uncover the rich diversity of life under the Ross Sea and they are amazed at what they are finding in these chilly Antarctic waters.
  • Climate Present and Past

    Research Project
    Climate Present and Past is a core-funded project under NIWA's National Climate Centre. It aims to explore historical climate data and track past changes in climate through a range of approaches.
  • 2021_01_BROLL_Antarctic Seaweed_NIWA_bugged_frame grab_mackay.png

    Antarctica likely a carbon storage powerhouse

    Media release
    Antarctica is probably storing much more carbon than previously thought, according to NIWA.
  • David McCaw reunited with his RNZ security card 21 years after it was lost

    The curious case of a lost security card

    Media release
    In 2016, NIWA technician Rod Budd is doing a routine dive under the Antarctic ice at Cape Evans, studying the creatures that live there.
  • (no image provided)

    Fascinating finds from NIWA’s annual squid survey

    Media release
    Earlier this month, NIWA welcomed the Auckland University of Technology ‘Squid Squad’ – a team of scientists from the Lab for Cephalopod Ecology and Systematics – to unbox and categorise cephalopod species taken from voyages around the country.
  • 2023 - Antarctic voyage TAN2302

    Voyage
    In 2023, RV Tangaroa undertook a 45-day voyage to the Southern Ocean and Ross Sea (TAN2301) between January 11 and February 24, 2023.
  • Record low sea ice levels mixed bag for Antarctic voyage

    Media release
    Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have returned from a six-week voyage to Antarctica.
  • TAN2302 voyage update - 20 February 2023

    We are happily heading back from a highly successful trip to the frozen continent knowing that the data from this voyage will contribute to a broad body of science critically important to understanding the Ross Sea ecosystem and the impacts of climate change.
  • Colonial ascidians (grapes), crinoids (feather stars) and primnoid corals (orange) make up part of the Ross Sea ecosystem

    TAN2302 Voyage update 1

    One of our main tasks for this voyage is to better understand the geographic distribution - biogeography - of Antarctic organisms in the western Ross Sea, from the frozen coast out onto the continental shelf at 500m deep.
  • TAN2302 voyage update - 10 February 2023

    We have now visited 23 separate sites in these coastal areas, albeit some of them very close together. Every time we visit a new site, we first need to map the seafloor as we are working in unchartered coastal waters.
  • TAN2302 voyage update - 2 February 2023

    We are now halfway through our Antarctic mission and the past two and a half weeks have been marked by feelings of excitement, anticipation, and trepidation.