Taranaki’s just-opened bridge this morning🗻

Taranaki’s new Maunganui bridge this morning

The view from above shows an atmospheric river extending from NZ 🥝 to the Coral Sea 🌴. Low pressure 🍥 can be seen over the Tasman Sea.

A strong marine heatwave is contributing to New Zealand’s unusually hot weather and has caused sea surface temperatures to reach a near-record 23-24°C in some coastal areas. 🌊 🌡️ Read the full story here ➡️ https://t.co/x3k8c9nHsM

Have a read about some of the fascinating features - including an ancient river and what could be a whole other geothermal system - that scientists have discovered beneath Lake Rotorua

For those enjoying persistent heat across NZ in recent weeks, remember that others can be susceptible to unfamiliar temps for many reasons (pregnant women, young kids, elderly folks, those with medical conditions). Keep an eye out for those at risk - summers will only get hotter.

Meteorologists have been surprised to see New Zealand engulfed by yet another summer marine heatwave, which is likely to worsen over coming days https://t.co/7sJvBOQuFf

Some of the same driving factors in the mix in 2023 - namely marine heatwaves - are again playing out this month

Last year was New Zealand's second-warmest in history- and also the planet's hottest. 2023's average nationwide temp of 13.61C was just behind 2022’s record 13.76C, and only slightly above 2021’s 13.56C. https://t.co/DHgV0MuMf8

Possibly the last day we see the maunga in 2023

My last piece for the year looks back at four numbers that highlight just how extreme 2023 was

Santa's sleigh or comet? 🎅🌠 Turns out, it was comet Wirtanen passing over Aotearoa New Zealand! Our new meteorite camera at GNS Science captured the celestial show. No meteorites this time, but Santa's sleigh is ready! 🛷 Meri Kirihimete and Happy Holidays! 🎄⭐

A waterspout touched down into the Gulf this morning off Orewa with the sunrise making the funnel glisten. Credit & thanks to Grant Birley for sharing.

The early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic expanded our sense of what's possible w/ contact tracing. A valuable tool but hard do well. Excellent work here by Catriona Murray, with important implications for better management of endemic infections and for NZ's pandemic preparedness.

'... it now appeared recently-announced redundancies that removed some subjects from the Albany campus altogether were part of a wider plan to largely exit the campus.' Massey University to put $150m in property up for sale or rental

Looked at clean car discount data. People living rurally did worse than those living in cities, but it isn’t so much town vs country as town subsidising town (plus taxpayer bailout) https://t.co/aCMpYVuiXi

“No one believes the system is fit for purpose and sustainable," Travis Glare - DVC-R at Lincoln Uni says of his fellow scientists, noting we all keep trying anyway. Are we at the crisis point where more people need to care about how science works and is funded in NZ?

Parts of New Zealand could be growing hotter and drier faster than models are telling us, scientists suspect, as new data indicates it’s been our region’s warmest year on record

Fifty experts and leaders have urged the Govt not to roll back a rulebook setting water quality bottom lines for our lakes and rivers

I’d been working on this deep dive about what’s wrong with our science system for months before Massey moved to cut more than 60 roles last week. Whatever the new Govt decides to do, scientists have told me one thing: the sector can’t carry on like this