Methane is a greenhouse gas, so scientists are investigating how these sources of methane may be connected to our warming climate. Earth Sciences New Zealand marine scientist Dr Sarah Seabrook says ...

The tables below show the probabilities (or percent chances) for each of three categories: above average, near average, and below average. In the absence of any forecast guidance there would be an ...

New Zealand’s newest and largest supercomputer has produced its first weather forecast. Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Shane Reti was there to celebrate the milestone and to help deliver ...

This sonar technique uses a transducer in the ship’s hull to map the seafloor and create high-resolution images for the science team to plan their sampling. In addition, it gives the ship’s bridge ...

Seven nations sharing world’s longest mountain range already impacted by climate change Climate change is already reshaping life and landscapes across the world’s longest mountain range which extends ...

New Zealand could face twice as many of the most extreme atmospheric rivers by the end of the century, according to new research. Not only could the narrow bands of concentrated water vapour increase, ...

In February 2025, oceanic and atmospheric conditions remained broadly consistent with a weak La Niña. The ocean and the atmosphere in the tropical Pacific are not strongly nor consistently coupled, ...

Thirty eight scientists and crew will set sail today for Antarctica on NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa, with the aim of going as far south as the Ross Ice Shelf - a first for the ship. The ship, with ...

Temperature 2024 was New Zealand’s 10th-warmest year on record, based on NIWA’s seven station series which begins in 1909. Annual temperatures were above average (0.51-1.20°C above the annual average) ...

Disclaimer: The forecasts offered in this page draw upon modified Copernicus Climate Change Service Information [2022] (C3S, https://climate.Copernicus.eu). There is inherent uncertainty in ...

Rainfall Rainfall was below normal (50-79% of normal) or well below normal (<50% of normal) for much of the country. Rainfall was above normal (120-149% of normal) or well above normal (>149% of ...

A huge global study has used teabags to measure carbon storage in wetlands. Scientists, including those from NIWA, buried 19,000 bags of tea in 180 wetlands across 28 countries. This included three ...