Water& Atmosphere
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Water & Atmosphere February 2017 Shifting sands The end of a Kiwi dream? Life's a beach NIWA scientists' favourite spots Wave action Sculpting New Zealand's coasts Knowledge waves Young scientists leading the way Water & Atmosphere February 2017 Cover: Warrington Beach, Otago. (Dave Allen) Water & Atmosphere is published by NIWA. It is available online at www.niwa.co.nz/pubs/wa Enquiries to: In brief The Editor 4 Water & Atmosphere Aerosol assessment, NIWA Science Fair, NIWA New Zealand's hottest year, NIWA finds Private Bag 14901 overboard truck, mitigating coastal Kilbirnie acidification, Bountiful Bryozoans Wellington 6241 New Zealand 6 News email: [email protected] HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY: Below the ©National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd surface of one of New Zealand's ISSN 1172-1014 busiest shipping lanes Water & Atmosphere team: CHANGING CLIMATE: Editor: Mark Blackham Fish species may suffer as Production: NIWA Communications and Marketing Team New Zealand waters warm Editorial Advisory Board: Geoff Baird, Mark Blackham, Bryce Cooper, Sarah Fraser, Barb Hayden, Rob Murdoch 18 Life's a beach NIWA scientists pick their favourite beaches 32 Sustaining the sea Follow us on: Enhancing the use of marine resources within biological facebook.com/nzniwa constraints 36 Muddy sinks twitter.com/niwa_nz Mangrove swamps and coastal marshes soaking up google.com/+niwanz carbon emissions www.niwa.co.nz 40 Gallery special: 2016 NIWA Photography Awards Water & Atmosphere is produced using vegetable-based inks on 46 Q&A: Super sand paper made from FSC certifed mixed-source fibres under the ISO It's far more fascinating than 14001 environmental management system. we might think 48 Profile: Barb Hayden A nod to Ngāmotu 50 Solutions: Coastal Calculator: Turning enhancing the benefits of possibilities into pictures New Zealand’s natural resources 2 Water & Atmosphere February 2017 www.niwa.co.nz 8 Panorama: When things go bad ... John Morgan on the crucial role of scientists when natural disasters strike 10 NIWA scientists hit the great outdoors Summer is a peak time for NIWA fieldwork 12 Shifting sands The end of a Kiwi dream? 24 Wave action Sculpting New Zealand's coasts www.niwa.co.nz Water & Atmosphere February 2017 3 In brief A helikite is deployed from CSIRO's research vessel the Investigator Carlos Mendonca, Catherine Pot and Isobel Bremner from Onslow to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and College. (Kent Hogan) atmospheric pressure. (Tony Bromley) Aerosol assessment experiments NIWA Wellington Science Fair New capability has been developed to measure vertical Onslow College Year 13 student Catherine Pot was named profiles of aerosol and atmospheric properties that will be the winner of the NIWA Wellington Science and Technology used for a Deep South National Science Challenge project Fair 2016 with her simulation correction technique for the to understand the relationship between aerosol and clouds Van der Pauw method in measuring the conductivity of in the Southern Ocean. Initial trials took place at Birdlings semiconductors. Catherine impressed physicists on the Flat in Canterbury, followed by the first deployment on a judging panel with her work, winning $1500 and a $4000 voyage around the Great Barrier Reef on the Investigator in scholarship for study at Victoria University. The event, November. The work, in conjunction with the University of hosted by the Victoria University science faculty, drew Canterbury, uses a light-weight aerosol instrument tethered 388 entries from 505 students from 40 Wellington region on a helikite (kite/balloon combination). schools. New Zealand’s hottest year NIWA’s Annual Climate Summary, No locations had below average published in early January, confirmed temperatures. The first seven months New Zealand recorded its hottest year of the year, from January to July, were on record last year, with temperatures remarkably warm. The nationwide being 0.51°C to 1.20°C above the average temperature for 2016 was annual average throughout the country. 13.4°C (0.8°C above the 1981–2010 Temperature anomalies were especially annual average). 2016 was the warmest high in Northland, Auckland, Bay year since 1909, and surpassed New of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Whanganui, Zealand’s previous warmest year on Manawatu, Kapiti Coast, Wellington, record, 1998. West Coast, Otago and Southland. iStock 4 Water & Atmosphere February 2017 www.niwa.co.nz A 3D image showing the truck, lying on its side on the sea floor. (NIWA) Bryozoans. (Crispin Middleton) NIWA finds overboard truck Bountiful Bryozoans NIWA technology and expertise helped Maritime New Zealand find a truck Identifying bryozoans – also known as and trailer unit that tumbled overboard from the deck of the BlueBridge ferry moss animals or sea mats – is now Straitsman in high winds off the south coast of Wellington last year. Researchers easier thanks to a new, fully illustrated on NIWA's inshore research vessel Ikatere used the EM2040 multibeam electronic identification guide launched echosounder to search an area based on the last reported position of the by NIWA. Bountiful Bryozoans helps incident. High-density surveying revealed the condition and placement of the people identify this group of marine unit on the seafloor. creatures, which are abundant around New Zealand, but not widely recognised. Divers encounter them on Mitigating coastal acidification underwater rock faces and they are NIWA has been tasked by the Sustainable Seas Innovation Fund to undertake common under rocks on the lower a two-year feasibility study to determine the effectiveness of potential seashore or on wharf piles. Importantly, methods for mitigating coastal water acidification around mussel farms. vessel owners who do not clean their The research will include lab measurements and modelling, and will focus boat hulls very often may discover on the potential of controlling pH by returning processed mussel shells to they are fouled by bryozoans. In fact, the local environment. The research is aligned with the Ministry of Business, bryozoans are in the top five groups Innovation & Employment CARIM (Coastal Acidification: Rate, Impacts and of hull-fouling marine invertebrates. Management) project, and is also supported by Environment Waikato and Bountiful Bryozoans joins the growing Marlborough District Council. series of e-guides on New Zealand marine invertebrates and seaweeds developed by NIWA – alongside Awesome Ascidians, Extraordinary Echinoderms, Splendid Sponges, Coastal Crabs, Beautiful Browns (seaweeds) and Amazing Antarctic Asteroids. Marlborough Sounds mussel farm. (Aquaculture NZ) www.niwa.co.nz Water & Atmosphere February 2017 5 The changing climate of New Zealand waters At least 38 fish species in New Zealand waters may face a decline in their food supply as the climate changes, according to a new report by NIWA researchers. Marine biogeochemist Dr Cliff Law led a team of researchers waters north of New Zealand and the sub-Antarctic waters looking at how climate change will affect the oceans around to the south. New Zealand by 2100. The study is part of the Climate “One issue is the eastern Chatham Rise; it is a very Change Impacts and Implications project, funded by the productive area with high biodiversity, including protected Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. species such as cold water corals, and is also where there “The study confirmed that for our region the impacts of are extractive industry interests, such as fishing and mining. climate change are just as serious as those predicted for the “It is important that the effects of climate change on these rest of the ocean,” Dr Law said. areas are assessed with the cumulative effects of other “The interesting thing is that New Zealand is in this middle pressures such as fishing and mineral extraction,” Dr Law ground between the warmer subtropical waters where said. marine organisms are moving from, and the Sub-Antarctic Other projections stemming from the research include: waters where everything is a bit cooler and a potential new home for many species.” • An increase in mean sea surface temperature of 2.5°C, and exceeding 3°C in the Tasman Sea. One part of the study looked at how the supply of particles • A decline in primary production in surface waters by from the surface ocean to deeper waters would change. an average of six per cent, with subtropical waters These particles support food supply for fish, but the experiencing the largest decline. researchers found the flux would decline by up to 24 per cent by 2100. The largest predicted decline was in areas occupied • A decline in surface water nutrient concentrations, by spiny dogfish, gemfish, frostfish and terakihi, while particularly in the eastern Chatham Rise. barracouta, southern blue whiting and blue warehou will be • An increase in acidity, with pH decreasing by 0.33 affected to a lesser degree. Dr Law said the project highlighted the need to develop “This is the first time we have directly linked the vertical a high resolution model for New Zealand waters to more food supply to fish in New Zealand waters, and it’s important accurately determine the effects of climate change. to show the knock-on effects of climate change in surface “The open ocean is a large area around New Zealand and water on the fish stocks below,” Dr Law said. at present we don’t have models validated for this region. The project also looked at which ocean areas around New A model for New Zealand waters would enable us to get Zealand