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

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…

20°C seems the optimal temperature for life on Earth to thrive – what does this mean in a warming world

Have you ever wondered about the optimal temperature for life on Earth? For humans, 20°C is comfortable. Any warmer and we work less efficiently because releasing heat requires energy.

This bright-green invasive caulerpa seaweed is smothering the delicate marine ecosystem on Great Barrier Island. Photo / Glenn Edney

Suction Dredging Trial to Target Caulerpa

Suction dredging is about to begin in a battle against the highly invasive caulerpa seaweed taking hold at Aotea, Great Barrier Island.