We generally enjoy good water quality in the Sounds however some activities can impact on that. Sewage, run-off from land, sedimentation, vessel discharge, marine farm discharges and boat maintenance activities can all have a negative effect. Water quality monitoring was established in Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranu in 2011 and in Pelorus Sound/Te Hoiere in 2012. Information collected each month on temperature, nutrient levels, phytoplankton and seawater chemistry is proving to be important for understanding how the Sounds ecosystems work. Council’s coastal monitoring programme provides essential information for good decisions on resource consents, future planning and protection for the Sounds. This scientific data will also feed into a national database run by Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA), alongside the recreational bathing data. This can be accessed via the link below to LAWA monitored beaches. For more information contact Dr Steve Urlich, Marlborough District Council coastal scientist steve.urlich@marlborough.govt.nz or Ph: 03 520 7400. Council has developed a Coastal Report Card to summarise annual monitoring results for key water quality parameters from Tōtaranui/Queen Charlotte Sound and Te Hoiere/Pelorus Sound. The 2015/16 report card can be found, along with a comprehensive analysis of monitoring data from 2014/15 by following the link below. https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/environment/coastal/coastal-reports-and-special-investigations In addition, there are: a) Corresponding CTD data (incl DO, fluorometry etc). b) Phytoplankton cell counts at each water quality station c) Zooplankton counts from the water-quality samples (to June 2014). Near-bed samples are collected using a Van Dorn at about 2 m above seabed. Up until June 2014, the near surface samples were also collected using a Van Dorn – at about 1 m below sea-surface. From July 2014, near-surface samples have been collected using a hose-sampler that extends from surface to approx. 15 m below surface (so collects a depth integrated sample). Up until June 2014, POC and PON were measured. Thereafter, PC and PN were measured.

Ocean acidification conditions around the New Zealand coast are being measured to establish baseline conditions and to quantify future change. The NZOA-ON is a network of coastal sites around the country – a mix of pristine and urban sites, and sites which are of particular interest to regional councils, the aquaculture and fishing industries, and sites of scientific interest. Data will be used to determine local conditions, and to provide a baseline against which to measure future change. This network is linked into the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON The network uses existing data collection infrastructure where possible to take advantage of auxiliary data and historic records. Sampling partners collect fortnightly water samples, liaise regarding shipment and logistics, and assist with deployment of the sensors. Sampling partners collecting the water samples, possibly as part of existing monitoring programmes, have access to the data to help them with their own management strategies. Sampling partners include regional councils, the Department of Conservation, and aquaculture industries. Water samples are taken fortnightly at each site (see Figure 1 for the sampling sites) by the sampling partners, then the full crates are returned to Dunedin for analysis of acidity parameters - alkalinity and total dissolved inorganic carbon (to develop a long-term data series). We then calculate pHT, pCO2, carbonate ion concentration, and saturation states. NIWA provides sampling partners with bottles, crates, chemically resistant gloves and training (including health and safety information). The actual sampling isn’t difficult, however sampling partners are required to use a droplet bottle to add a couple of drops of mercuric chloride (which is toxic) into the full sample bottles, so that the seawater is ‘preserved’ until it gets to the lab. SeaFET pH sensors[2] are deployed for 4-5 months at each site, and are moved from site to site to help determine short term variability at each location. Additional parameters are measured at the Dunedin and Firth of Thames sites, so that these sites meet the extra requirements of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON). The network uses data collection infrastructure where possible to take advantage of auxiliary data and historic records.

A moment tensor describes the source parameters of an earthquake such as the focal mechanism (the geometry of how the crust ruptured in the earthquake) and the seismic moment (the amount of energy released). Since August 2003 when sufficient broadband seismometers were deployed, GeoNet has been able to routinely compute moment tensor solutions for New Zealand earthquakes with M > ~4. The CSV file of moment tensor solutions is updated when a moment tensor solution is calculated. Moment Tensor Solutions can be found in Github here: https://github.com/GeoNet/data/tree/main/moment-tensor. DOI: 10.21420/MMJ9-CZ67 Cite as: GNS Science. (2006). GeoNet Aotearoa New Zealand Earthquake Moment Tensor solutions [Data set]. GNS Science, GeoNet. https://doi.org/10.21420/MMJ9-CZ67

CTD data collected during Marta Guerra's PhD project 'Foraging ecology of sperm whales at Kaikōura'. Time coverage: 30-May-2015 to 2-Jan-2018, including autumn/winter field season ('winter', May-July) and spring/summer field season ('summer', Nov-Jan), with a total of 3 winters and 3 summers. CTD casts collected daily (weather permitting) throughout the duration of each field season (each field season lasted typically 8 weeks). Spatial coverage: study area centered over the Kaikōura Canyon. Approximate area: from Kaikōura peninsula, extending out to 12 nautical mile offshore navigational limit to the East and Southeast, and extending 15 nautical miles from the Kaikōura peninsula to the South. CTD carried out over seafloor depths of c. 200m to c. 1500m. Measured variables: temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a concentration. CTD depths: variable, down to a maximum of 550 m. Instrument type: Winter 2015 = CTD Seabird scientific SBE-19, with WET-Star fluorometer. Maximum depth = 100m. Sampling frequency = 4 Hz. All other seasons = CTD RBR-concerto, with Turner Designs Cyclops-7 fluorometer. Maximum depth = 550m. Sampling frequency = 4 Hz. Platform type: hand-hauling from 6m outboard-powered vessel 'RV Grampus'. Quality control: data were deleted from the processed files when there was a known malfunction with one of the sensors. The processed files also had the upcast deleted from them, as well as the measurements in air, and acclimatisation period at the surface (1 minute since submersion). For more details on the original research project, access PhD thesis here: http://hdl.handle.net/10523/9189 ** NB. If you use these data, please include the following acknowledgements: Data collection and processing - Marta Guerra; Funding - New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust, Whale Watch Kaikoura, University of Otago, Ministry of Primary Industries.

From 1997 to 2008, a research programme to determine if fish assemblages in the New Zealand region could be classified into clearly identifiable communities based on their associations with each other and with environmental features was undertaken. The programme resulted in the creation of the Fish Communities Database, from which this dataset was extracted. The data set includes records from 1964 to 2008. These data have been used to show geographical and depth distributions of species from all research tows within the New Zealand EEZ since 2008. The main source of data was the Ministry for Primary Industries research trawl database.

The Petroleum / Mineral / Coal Reports dataset is one of six datasets that make up the Bibliographic Database. Under the Crown Minerals Act, these reports are submitted to the New Zealand government by holders of prospecting, exploration or mining permits and become publicly available at some stage. Records for and online links to the petroleum / mineral / coal reports are available through the Online Exploration Database (https://data.nzpam.govt.nz) of NZ Petroleum & Minerals (NZP&M). Equivalent records for the petroleum / mineral / coal reports were created in the GNS Science Bibliographic Database in order to facilitate the discovery of these items when GNS Science staff search the Bibliographic Database. Links are provided to most of the petroleum reports. In addition, GNS Staff can search for petroleum reports using the Petroleum Report Search webpage (http://online.gns.cri.nz/online/prsearch/) where links are also provided either to a copy held by GNS Science or to a copy held by the NZ government. Every indexed report has a unique BIB ID number in addition to its assigned PR (petroleum), MR (mineral) or CR (coal) number.

This database contains references and abstracts of geoscience publications relevant to New Zealand geoscience, including all GNS staff scientific papers and books, and all GNS publications. The Bibliography is produced by GNS Information Services, updated weekly, and is available as a live database search. These references and abstracts are provided free of charge to assist geoscience research in New Zealand. For more refined searching, subscribe to GeoRef or Knowledge Basket, both of which also contain New Zealand geoscience records. For access to the full article if your organisation does not have a subscription, you may use your local library to interloan the item, or GNS publications may be purchased from us.

Dataset contains vertical profiles of depth, temperature and salinity measured by SBE-19 and SBE-25 Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) probes between 2000/02/14 and 2020/11/23 at a station (45.833°S 171.500°E) in Subantarctic Surface Water (SASW) east of New Zealand from bi-monthly cruises of the R/V Munida and R/V Polaris II on the Munida time series transect.

This dataset contains Biome-BGC v4.2 model outputs of national pasture production forced with present day and 4 future projected CO2 Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP past, 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5) taken from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Meteorological inputs used to run the model were downscaled from six different General Circulation Models (GCMs): BCC-CSM1.1, CESM1-CAM5, GFDL-CM3, GISS-EL-R, HadGEM2-ES, and NorESM1-M. Outputs are provided for two different parameterizations of the Biome-BGC model to describe New Zealand’s two dominant types of pasture, dairy and sheep. The model was run at each point on NIWA’s Virtual Climate Station Network (VCSN), a 5 x 5 km national grid. The data consists of daily outputs at each grid box of net primary productivity (NPP), gross primary productivity, net ecosystem productivity (NEP), evapotranspiration (ET), water outflow, evaporation, transpiration, and soil water content, spanning 1971 – 2005 (RCP past) or 2006 – 2100 (RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5).

The National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for New Zealand provides probabilistic estimates of the strength of earthquake shaking that can be expected according to a user-defined time period and probability, e.g. the peak ground acceleration (PGA) that has a 10% chance of happening in any 50 year time window. Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) uses the location, recurrence behaviour, and predicted ground motions of earthquake sources to estimate the hazard at a site, or across a grid of sites as shown in the map below for Class C (shallow soil) site conditions. The NSHM is an algorithm that draws upon several component models to calculate its results. It uses a fault model that combines New Zealand’s active fault database, which includes 536 fault sources, and the 170 year historical earthquake catalogue. The background model is comprised of a multi-layered background seismicity grid DOI: https://doi.org/10.21420/MX74-Q807 Site as: GNS Science. (2020). National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for New Zealand. GNS Science. https://doi.org/10.21420/MX74-Q807