The ocean waters surrounding New Zealand vary in temperature from north to south. They interact with heat and moisture in the atmosphere and affect our weather. Sea surface temperature changes with climate drivers such as El Niño, and will change with climate change. The sea surface temperature anomaly provides an indication of the heat change in the...

New Zealand has a diverse range of marine mammal species and subspecies, including whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions. Marine mammals are indicator species for the state of our marine environment. The conservation status of a species relates to its risk of extinction. Many of these species are endemic (only found in) to New Zealand. They are apex...

"Freshwater plant and animal pests can have significant negative impacts on ecosystem health by reducing indigenous biodiversity through predation and competition, and destabilising aquatic habitats. Freshwater plant pests can cause economic losses through blocking water intakes for hydroelectricity generation, impeded drainage or irrigation. In addition,...

"Annual rainfall is the total accumulated rain over one year. Rain is vital for life, including plant growth, drinking water, river ecosystem health, and sanitation. Floods and droughts affect our environment, economy, and recreational opportunities. This dataset shows annual average rainfall across New Zealand for 1983 as part of the data series for...

Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ) is a classification of fifteen climate, landform, and soil variables chosen for their relevance to biological distributions. Classification groups were derived by automatic classification using a multivariate procedure. Four levels of classification detail have been produced from this analysis, containing 20, 100,...

River flow is the quantity of water passing a point over a certain time. Each river or stream has its own natural flow characteristics, such as peak flows following rain or high spring flows from snow melt. Overall, this affects how much water is available for irrigation, drinking water, hydroelectricity generation, and recreational activities. River...

Source: Ministry of Transport

The 15 class Benthic-Optimised Marine Environment Classification (BOMEC). The BOMEC divides the benthic environment into ecosystem types. These are grouped into three inshore groups, three continental shelf groups, and nine deeper-water groups. Each group represents areas with similar environmental variables, such as depth, temperature, salinity, and...

"Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth. It occurs naturally, but in agricultural systems more nitrogen is commonly added to soils as fertiliser or from livestock waste. Not all the additional nitrogen can be taken up by plants. Some nitrogen will drain (leach) as nitrate from the soil and can enter waterways, potentially causing ecological...

In 2013, 37 percent of homes burned wood and 4 percent burned coal for heating. Burning wood or coal for home heating emits a range of air pollutants. It is the main human-made source of particulate matter and a significant contributor of carbon monoxide. Exposure to these pollutants can damage health, with effects ranging from respiratory irritation to...

New Zealand’s four million km2 marine environment is diverse, with a range of coastal habitats and offshore seabed environments. There are also many marine species unique to New Zealand. Marine protected areas conserve or manage some of these unique habitats and species, while a range of other tools also provide marine protection. We report on the area...

Extreme wave indexes estimate the occurrence of extreme wave events in coastal and oceanic waters. Extreme wave indexes estimate the number of times a significant wave height exceeds one of three threshold values for at least 12 hours in 24 marine regions. The three wave-height thresholds are four metres, six metres, and eight metres. This indicator...

Wetlands support unique biodiversity and provide important services. They clean water of excess nutrients and sediment, help absorb floodwaters, and act as carbon sinks (remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere). They also have cultural importance for Māori, and provide valuable food and materials (eg flax). Draining wetlands for agricultural and urban...

"The rates of death (mortality) of indigenous tree species vary across New Zealand. Changes in the state of the environment (such as from browsing pests, large-scale weather events, or climate change) may change the rates of mortality of particular tree species. This in turn may alter forest processes. Repeated surveys of the distribution of mortality...

"The rates of establishment (recruitment) of indigenous tree species vary across New Zealand. Changes in the state of the environment (such as from browsing pests, large-scale weather events, or climate change) may change the rates of recruitment of particular tree species. This in turn may alter forest processes. Repeated surveys of the distribution of...

The New Zealand River Environment Classification (REC) organises information about the physical characteristics of New Zealand's rivers. Individual river sections are mapped according to physical factors such as climate, source of flow for the river water, topography, and geology, and catchment land cover eg, forest, pasture or urban. Sections of river...

The ocean storm index estimates the number of days in a year when wind speeds exceed gale and storm force on the Beaufort Scale. In a gale, sea conditions are rough and waves can be over six metres high. In a storm, waves can be over 10 metres high. To put this into context, on land a near gale would make walking difficult, and a storm would cause some...

NEW FILE 21/04/2017 (See "Land domain updates" page for details; http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/environment/environmental-reporting-series/environmental-indicators/Home/Land/land-domain-updates.aspx) Different land uses put pressure on the land environment and can result in changes to soil health. Healthy soil supports the productivity of...

New Zealand’s four million km2 marine environment is diverse, with a range of coastal habitats and offshore seabed environments. There are also many marine species unique to New Zealand. Marine protected areas conserve or manage some of these unique habitats and species, while a range of other tools also provide marine protection. We report on the area...

New Zealand’s four million km2 marine environment is diverse, with a range of coastal habitats and offshore seabed environments. There are also many marine species unique to New Zealand. Marine protected areas conserve or manage some of these unique habitats and species, while a range of other tools also provide marine protection. We report on the area...