Environment – Aotea Green – Page 2 – Great Barrier Island News

Experimental UV light unit deployed on the seafloor at Rakino Island, designed to target invasive Caulerpa species with intense ultraviolet light. Photo / University of Auckland

UV Light Offers Promise for Some Caulerpa, Uncertain Impact for Aotea

Ultraviolet light is used to make drinking water safe, zap bugs, and reveal blood spatter at crime scenes. Now, a team from the University of Auckland is exploring whether it could also help preserve New Zealand’s kaimoana and boatie way…

Government to Resume Oil and Gas Exploration

Photo / Angus Dreaver / RNZ The Government will reverse its ban on oil and gas exploration, Minister for Resources Shane Jones has confirmed. Jones said New Zealand’s natural gas reserves were declining and sustainable sources like wind, solar and…

More than 100 tonnes of caulerpa washed up in this Great Barrier Island Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Sid Ware / Ministry for Primary Industries

Aotea Gets High-Tech Weapon to Fight Caulerpa

A new weapon is joining the fight against the invasive Caulerpa algae. The Aotea Caulerpa Response Team, MPI, the Aotea/Great Barrier Local Board and Auckland Council are teaming up to use suction dredges to remove Caulerpa from key locations. These…

A clock in the rocks: what cosmic rays tell us about Earth’s changing surface and climate

Photo / Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA By Shaun Eaves, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Jamey Stutz, The Ohio State University; Kevin Norton, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and Pedro Doll, University of Canterbury How…

West Antarctica’s ice sheet was smaller thousands of years ago – here’s why this matters today

Photo / Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA By Dan Lowry, GNS Science and Holly Kyeore Han, NASA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace…

Beyond Meat and Milk: Agricultural Sectors at a Crossroads

Grazing into the Future: Alternative Proteins Could Reshape New Zealand’s Landscape. Photo / Bernard Spragg / CC By Christopher Rosin, Lincoln University, New Zealand and Hugh Campbell, University of Otago The history of farming is seeded with technological “big bang”…

Red Helicopter against a blue sky. Isaac benhesed / Unsplashed

Motion Grounded: Council Decision Keeps Helipads Hovering Over Gulf

In a decision that clipped the wings of its advocates, Auckland City Council’s Planning, Environment, and Parks Committee on Thursday rejected Councillor Mike Lee’s motion to prohibit private helipads in the residential and settlement areas of the Hauraki Gulf Islands.…

Scientists have discovered never-before-seen deep reefs in the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / DoC / Supplied

Mapping the Mysteries of the Hauraki Gulf

Scientists from the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington have undertaken an ambitious project to map some of the Hauraki Gulf’s deepest and most unexplored reefs. Using an underwater drone, crews have plunged to depths…

Freshly exposed bedrock at the terminus of Brewster Glacier in March 2023. Andrew Lorrey, CC BY-SA

Frozen in time: old paintings and new photographs reveal some NZ glaciers may soon be extinct

By Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; George Hook, Canterbury Museum; Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and Shaun Eaves, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington As the austral summer draws…

Despite having no official basis, the Kowhai flower is commonly considered the National flower of New Zealand. Sophora microphylla is a spectacular, semi-evergreen, spreading tree, particularly in spring when it bursts into deep yellow flower. Observed on the shores of Lake Te Anau, New Zealand. Photo / Alan Vernon

Plants are Flowering Earlier than Ever – Here’s How they Sense the Seasons

Despite having no official basis, the Kōwhai flower is commonly considered the National flower of New Zealand. Sophora microphylla is a spectacular, semi-evergreen, spreading tree, particularly in spring when it bursts into deep yellow flower. Observed on the shores of…