A PhD student on the Moana Project, Youstina Elzahaby’s love of maths has led her on a journey from assessing economic risk towards deciphering marine heatwaves.

Moana Project genetics and ocean circulation research is helping to piece together what has happened to the pāua populations in Kaikoura following the 2016 earthquake which greatly disrupted their habitat.

If you think the ocean has been unusually warm this summer, you are right – MetOcean Solutions ocean models and satellite data show that coastal waters in Aotearoa New Zealand reached up to 4 degrees warmer than usual and that marine heatwaves persisted for more than 100 days in places.

Moana Project PhD student Mireya Montaño has successfully completed a 28 year hydrodynamic hindcast model (1993-2020) of the Bay of Plenty, Te Moana-a-Toi.

Tomorrow and Saturday, the western coastline of the North Island is due to experience water temperatures up to a whopping 4 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year, reports MetOcean Solutions, the oceanographic division of the NZ MetService.

Northland to Taranaki will experience sea temperatures above what is normally experienced even in the peak of summer.

The Mangōpare sensor has been used by the Uummannaq Polar Institute in Greenland to support their monitoring of ocean temperatures. Today the Ummannaqq Polar Institute released a short video showcasing these monitoring efforts, following fishers Simmi Løvstrøm and Hans-kr Korneliussen as they deploy the sensor among the Ummannaq Fjords.

As part of the new SwellMap website release, Moana Project data have been made available, allowing users to access sea temperature and current velocity (speed) forecasts

When visiting the beach you can stand on the shore and observe the waves, you can swim to feel the currents and watch the tide as it rolls in and out. But ultimately you cannot determine what is happening at depth, what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow.

But with ocean modelling we can predict and look back on ocean conditions over time.

The Moana Backbone model, developed as part of the Moana Project’s Ngā Ripo o te Moana workstream, helps management of the waters around The Noises, a chain of predator free islands in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

Research from the Moana Project has been featured on The Conversation, a network of news stories that are written by academic experts and researchers.

The Moana Project backbone model clearly illustrates the occurrence of a cyclonic eddy off the coast of Kaikoura on Saturday the 11th of September 2021. MetOcean scientists using the model came across the eddy where satellite images from the same day show elevated levels of chlorophyll-a concentrations in the centre of the eddy

Our oceans are changing, and as part of the Moana Project, He Papa Moana team members Tony Craig, Katherine Short and their business manager Karen Lo from Terra Moana are working hard to help fisheries and marine management adapt to these changes.

The Moana Project’s Mangōpare sensor is the latest crew member on the Spirit of Adventure Trust, a well recognised youth development organisation that provides a unique approach to teaching leadership and communication skills through its 10-day sailing voyages.

The Moana Project Mangōpare sensor was used on recreational fishing gear and on a science research voyage for the first time as part of the Blue Cradle inaugural expedition in late June.

The Moana Project is pleased to announce its involvement in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, as the programme was officially launched in Parliament on the 8th of June, World Oceans Day.

When your collaborative ocean research project involves 54 experts from across 14 national & international organisations, it’s important to bring everyone together (in person or virtually) to share progress.

Learn about a mussel sampling trip that took place in the Bay of Plenty. As part of the Moana Project, the He Hono Moana team are working to better understand the genetic connectivity and microchemistry of this important kaimoana.

Outputs of the Moana Project have ended up in Greenland! Research being undertaken in Uummannaq, Greenland in collaboration with Inuit hunters and fishers is using the Mangōpare sensor for ocean observation.

The Chatham Islands (Rēkohu) are expecting a strong marine heatwave this weekend as forecast by the Moana Project’s new marine heatwave forecasting tool.

As a New Zealand first, the Moana Project is using advanced ocean modelling to forecast when and where marine heatwaves are likely to occur. The forecasts are also being made freely available to researchers, public and industry.