"The pressure from animal and plant pests is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity in the land environment. Pest predators (such as stoats and possums) eat eggs, birds, lizards, insects, and snails. Other animal pests (such as deer and goats) damage and kill trees and other plants and can compete with indigenous animals for the plants’ fruit and...

This dataset shows the trends of annual growing degree days (GDD) for 30 sites across New Zealand from at least 1972 to 2019. GDD are the total number of degrees Celsius above a base threshold temperature for each day. We use a base threshold of 10 degrees Celsius to report on the annual GDD for each of these sites and trends. Growing degree days (GDD)...

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...

"Small amounts of nitrogen are a natural component of healthy rivers. Nitrogen in rivers can vary due to differences in land use, climate, elevation, and geology. Nitrogen is transferred from land to water and is cycled through different forms, which can have different effects. Moderate concentrations of nitrate can cause weeds and algae to grow too fast....

"This dataset shows estimated annual emissions for different pollutants (tonnes per square kilometre): Particulate matter 10 micrometres or less in diameter (PM10); Particulate matter 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter (PM2.5); Sulphur dioxide; Sulphur Oxides (SOx); Carbon Monoxide (CO), and; Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). Measures of: - PM10 and PM2.5 are from...

We report on drought frequency, duration, severity, and intensity at three different time scales, short-term (3 months), medium-term (6 months) and long-term (12 months). These different time scales are approximately equivalent to meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought, respectively. We do this for 30 sites across Aotearoa New Zealand...

The dataset maps areas of winter forage cropping and intensive winter grazing occurring in hill country areas during 2018. Hill country is defined as areas where paddocks have an average slope of greater than 7 degrees. Paddocks are classified into crop type and a measure is provided of the proportion of bare ground within the paddock after grazing.

The REC groups rivers and parts of river networks that share similar ecological characteristics, including physical and biological. Rivers that share the same class can be treated as similar to one another and different to rivers in other classes. The REC classification system groups rivers according to several environmental factors that strongly...

"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,...

Percent of land deforested in each Territorial Authority unit from 2008–2014. New Zealand’s indigenous and exotic forests absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store the carbon as biomass and in the soil. On average, more than twice as much carbon per hectare is stored in New Zealand’s mature indigenous forests than in...

A spatial dataset identifying a set of environmental conditions that have potential to inhibit growth of newly-established woody vegetation such that it might not reach a ‘forest’ status (defined as greater than 30% cover of trees of 5 m height) within a 30-40 year timeframe. Inclusions: temperature, moisture availability, edaphic conditions, coastal...

The location and extent of seamount closures designated in the exclusive economic zone.

Note: Metadata relates to the mosaicked imagery. This layer has been provided to enable users to explore coverage and capture dates of the imagery. To enquire about ordering the imagery, please e-mail lucas[at]mfe.govt.nz. This imagery is 15m, six-band multispectral, cloud-minimised mosaics of Landsat 4 satellite scenes over mainland New Zealand captured...

Wetlands support high levels of biodiversity. They provide habitat for native invertebrates, plants, fish, and bird species (eg fernbird, kōkopu, and eels), many of which live only in wetlands. Wetlands act as ‘kidneys’ and giant sponges – they clean the water of excess nutrients and sediment, control flood water and pollutants, and act as carbon sinks...

This dataset measures the strength of extreme wind at 30 sites across Aotearoa New Zealand from 1980 to 2022. For individual sites we present the trends for the annual average of the daily maximum wind gust, and the annual maximum wind gust. The annual average of the daily maximum wind gust provides information on windiness, while the annual maximum wind...

This data set measures the rise in annual mean sea level relative to land referenced to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1995 to 2014 baseline period mean sea level at four longer-term sites between 1901 and 2020: • Auckland • Wellington • Lyttelton • Dunedin and two additional sites with shorter time series: • Moturiki, Mount...

E.coli is a type of bacteria commonly found in the intestines of warm–blooded animals (including people). When found in freshwater, it can indicate the presence of pathogens associated with faecal contamination, from sources such as waste from humans and farmed animals such as sheep and cows. E.coli concentrations can vary due to differences in land use,...

"The pressure from animal and plant pests is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity in the land environment. Pest predators (such as stoats and possums) eat eggs, birds, lizards, insects, and snails. Other animal pests (such as deer and goats) damage and kill trees and other plants and can compete with indigenous animals for the plants’ fruit and...

This data set reports on state for the period 2016 to 2020. Coastal and estuarine ecosystems are affected by changes in water quality. Nutrients The two main nutrients of concern in coastal and estuarine ecosystems are nitrogen and, to a lesser degree, phosphorus. An overload of nutrients (eutrophication) can lead to algal blooms that can kill marine life...

The Marine Environment Classification (MEC), a GIS-based environmental classification of the marine environment of the New Zealand region, is an ecosystem-based spatial framework designed for marine management purposes. Several spatially-explicit data layers describing the physical environment define the MEC. A physically-based classification was chosen...