Land, water, air

News from 2005 and earlier

30 December 2005: Fictional King Kong mirrors odd island facts. King Kong may be a far-fetched creation of Hollywood but scientists say the big ape has some basis in biological fact: animals on islands often evolve into gigantic versions of their mainland kin

30 December 2005: Goldman sees markets as solution to global warming. Goldman last month joined a growing list of investment banks, under pressure to withhold funds from projects that boost greenhouse gasses, that have promised to help protect forests and fend off global climate change

29 December 2005: Experts hesitate to link hurricanes to global warming. But changes in North Atlantic circulation almost certainly were a factor

27 December 2005: Climate change could melt top 3.35m of permafrost. Altering ecosystems across Alaska, Canada and Russia

27 December 2005: Scientists: coral reefs spared worst of tsunami's effects. Long-term intervention of humans, and not the momentary havoc wreaked by the tsunami, that posed the greatest threat to the reefs

26 December 2005: Tiny windmills could make wireless networks a breeze. A US researcher has designed a miniature windmill that - with a light breeze - could provide enough energy to power a wireless Internet sensor

26 December 2005: Mapping mayhem: around the world with Google Earth and co. Google Earth uses satellite photos and proprietary images taken from planes to show the world from a bird's eye view

26 December 2005: New Year's day 2006 delayed by one second. Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first "leap second" in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation

23 December 2005: Tsunami disaster zone still struggling with early warning system. A lot of staff still only on paper

23 December 2005: Rare frigate bird flies 1000's of kilometres for food for chick. Far the longest known non-stop journey by this critically endangered sea bird

22 December 2005: Japan whaling programme lacks scientific credibility – report. NZ Government's report, prepared by scientists Simon Childerhouse, Mike Donoghue and Scott Baker, says JARPA II contains numerous flaws and is based on speculative and unsound science

22 December 2005: Armed Mexican force defends monarch butterflies from loggers. Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve has been ravaged by illegal loggers

22 December 2005: Scientists don't know why Farewell Spit is a "whale trap". An average of 80 to 85 pilot whales stranded alone on NZ coasts every year, and there was usually about one mass stranding a year. Experts have said there about 15 main theories, ranging from pods following a sick or disoriented leader, or the pod trying to help a young whale stranded by accident

22 December 2005: Fairly even split between those for and against scrapping tax. The ditching of the proposed carbon tax has been hailed as an early Christmas present by business groups but as a broken promise by environmental groups which say the Government is not facing up to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions

21 December 2005: Seven US states sign CO2 plan in break with Bush. Group forms Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to curb emissions from 2009

21 December 2005: Council welcomes deforestation policy change. Anderton is asking officials to explore measures to address the issues of green house gas emissions arising from deforestation

21 December 2005: British biologist uses carbon trading to grow forests. Ian Swingland took up the idea of trading commodities to fund afforestation programmes after he witnessed the devastation caused by logging in the Borneo rainforests

21 December 2005: NZ fails to monitor tsunami risk from local and regional quakes. Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker wants GNS Science seismic surveillance network Geonet to be upgraded to include sea-level monitoring

20 December 2005: 'Intolerable and unacceptable' tsunami risk. Thousands of people in low-lying coastal communities - especially those on the East Coast of New Zealand - are at risk of being killed by tsunami, a GNS Science review released today reports

20 December 2005: Councils need to restrict coastal consents - tsunami scientists. Otago, Southland and Northland highlighted as regions where coastal development may need to be curbed

20 December 2005: Ragwort-affected West Coast farmers get an early Christmas present. Two new types of moths, crown-boring moths (Cochylis atricapitana) and plume moths (Platyptilia isodactyla), will be the latest biological control weapons in the battle against ragwort

19 December 2005: Indian Ocean nations prepare for next tsunami. Scientists say fault activity points to it happening sooner, rather than later

19 December 2005: New software makes it easier to mine data from satellite photos. Landcare Research's Ecostat programme "flattens" the effects of topography, making forests more easily identified

16 December 2005: 2005 set to be Aust hottest ever, 2nd hottest for world. New WMO measurements confirm climate change

16 December 2005: Business lobbyist says its unhappy about concept of carbon tax. In a joint campaign with the Coal Association, the Seafood Industry Council and the Vegetable and Potato Growers' Federation, the lobby commissioned a Pricewaterhousecooper’s study of seven selected businesses which showed their energy costs rising between 11 percent and 35 percent

16 December 2005: Climate, storms hit extremes in 2005 - UN weather body. While high temperatures and heavy rains could probably be linked to global warming, this phenomenon could not yet be firmly blamed for the summer's Caribbean hurricanes - WMO

15 December 2005: Prospecting of NZ coast opens potential for seafloor mining. Seafloor deposits of gold, zinc, copper, silver and lead may only need to be 15m thick to make mining them underwater profitable, an article to be published in the New Scientist reports

14 December 2005: Inventor develops boomerang to bring home weather equipment. The GPS Boomerang, the brainchild of Christchurch inventor Synco Reynders, is a polystyrene glider capable of returning weather instruments with accuracy

14 December 2005: Norwegians, Dutch mix sea and river to make power. Have developed devices to harness power from energy unleashed when river water meets the ocean and changes its level of salt concentration

13 December 2005: Ecological dead zone left by tsunami. Marine survey finds no sign of life around the epicentre of the Indian Ocean earthquake

13 December 2005: Big quake rattles lower North Island. Magnitude 5 quake centred 20km east of Pahiatua

13 December 2005: Earthquakes shake lower North Island. GNS say the two quakes, near Porirua and Pahiatua, are unrelated

13 December 2005: Report finds Calif. tsunami preparations flawed. The study by the California Seismic Safety Commission found flaws in the tsunami warning system, incomplete and underfunded local evacuation plans and building codes that have not been updated to protect occupants from the power of tidal surge

13 December 2005: Killer whales have highest man made toxin levels in Arctic. Blubber samples show high levels of PCBs and deca-BDEs

13 December 2005: Study pinpoints species facing extinction threat. A group of scientists working with the Alliance for Zero Extinction has identified 794 species on the brink of oblivion, including rare rabbits, frogs and bats

12 December 2005: Tsunami scientist in US miscalculated the risk of US tsunami. Controversy over whether a Pacific Ocean earthquake could create waves the same size as in the Asian tsunami

12 December 2005: Chemical testing outfit latest BioPacific venture. Invests in an Australian company that has developed a rapid test for toxins, residues and pathogens

11 December 2005: UN talks set road map for Kyoto beyond 2012. Environment ministers agreed on Saturday to a road map to extend the Kyoto Protocol climate pact beyond 2012

11 December 2005: Climate conference ends with pivotal deal. Ended early on Saturday with a watershed agreement by more than 150 nations - an unwilling US not among them - to open talks on mandatory post-2012 reductions in greenhouse gases

10 December 2005: US isolated on final day of world climate talks. Industrialised and developing nations were close to a deal on Friday to start work on extending the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming past 2012

10 December 2005: Clinton tells global audience Bush 'flat wrong' on climate. With a "serious disciplined effort" to develop energy-saving technology, he said, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen and not weaken our economies" - Clinton

10 December 2005: Businesses move past Kyoto regardless of US. Growing numbers of businesses are taking action on global warming regardless of what UN climate talks bring now or in the future

10 December 2005: US under fire as world climate talks near end. Most countries move closer to extending the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming beyond 2012

10 December 2005: US 'very close' to watered-down climate agreement. Two contentious weeks, the US neared agreement with an array of other countries late on Friday to join in global talks about possible new steps to combat climate change

10 December 2005: Climate conference haggles over post-Kyoto future. Prepared to consider a watered-down agreement by which a reluctant US would join in global talks on new steps to combat climate change

10 December 2005: US Seaworld claims dolphin breeding breakthrough. SeaWorld San Diego said on Friday it succeeded in selecting the gender of a baby dolphin

9 December 2005: DoC given Pollen Island by port company. Today Ports of Auckland formally handed over Pollen Island to the Department of Conservation who will manage it as a protected scientific reserve

9 December 2005: Be prepared for dried up rivers, algae-covered lakes – scientist. NIWA warnings

9 December 2005: NZ vulcanologists to leave Vanuatu tomorrow. They have left several solar-powered monitoring instruments on the volcano

9 December 2005: Scientist sees continuing quake and tsunami risk in Sumatra area. Because a length of the fault that caused the disaster last year is building up strain and could buckle in the coming decades

9 December 2005: Environmentalists rail against US for obstructing progress. Little prospect for consensus on a key item: mandatory cutbacks in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012

9 December 2005: Six-nation climate talks in Sydney next month. Six of the world's biggest polluters will meet in Sydney next month to discuss global warming

9 December 2005: Melting sea ice lends urgency to research: Otago physicist. Serious concerns about the greatly increased melting of sea ice in the Arctic are also lending urgency to scientific research in the Antarctic

8 December 2005: Ministers try to end deadlock at climate talks. High-level session seen as last chance to get US, China and India on board

8 December 2005: UN climate haggle enters penultimate day. With the exception of Washington, a consensus appears to be emerging for holding negotiations over the next couple of years on commitments after Kyoto's current pledging period runs out in 2012

8 December 2005: Govt stands by record on climate change. The Australian government today stood by its record on tackling climate change despite its refusal to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions

8 December 2005: Inuits file petition against US. Inuit leaders who say their 5000-year-old way of life is being eroded by global warming filed a petition accusing the United States of being the chief culprit behind damaging climate change

8 December 2005: Didymo control efforts strengthened - but personal responsibility the key. Biosecurity NZ has strengthened Didymo control efforts with a South Island-wide Controlled Area, enhanced public awareness activity and a $1 million summer research programme

8 December 2005: Spring of two halves for rainfall. Spring showed contrasting rainfall patterns across NZ - NIWA

8 December 2005: Amoeba could predict next big quake. Tiny marine organisms inhabiting Hawke's Bay's tidal lagoons could be used to predict earthquakes in the future - Auckland geologist Bruce Hayward

8 December 2005: US: NASA scientist works to pry electricity from the sea. NASA engineer Tom Woodbridge is a step closer to perfecting a generator his father, a rocket scientist, never quite finished

8 December 2005: Antarctic researchers head south for international study. Southern Ocean Ecosystems Program voyage leader Steve Nicol said 62 international researchers would spend about seven weeks sampling and surveying the ocean from south of South Africa to north of Davis station

7 December 2005: Tsunami researchers find bigger seafloor shifts. Displacements of up to 12m - twice that originally expected - have been found on the seafloor near Sumatra

7 December 2005: Report: 2005 will be warmest, stormiest year on record. The WWF report, released at the UN Climate Change Conference, makes a strong case for the urgent need to combat global warming

7 December 2005: Forecasters see more big hurricanes ahead. 9 Atlantic hurricanes predicted next year - Colorado State University

6 December 2005: NZ experts assess danger as volcano builds pressure. GNS volcanologists Steve Sherburn and Brad Scott, and Massey University's Shayne Cronin are monitoring activity at Vanuatu's Mount Manaro

5 December 2005: More of Third World fit for wind power - UN study. About 13 percent of the land in developing nations - previously thought to be just 1 percent - is suitable for generating electricity

5 December 2005: Warmer summer likely. Cyclone activity likely before April 2006 - NIWA's seasonal climate outlook

5 December 2005: Salinity problems grossly overstated. A new Australian Farm Institute report has slammed an audit published five years ago saying it was based on a flawed model and used dubious data to make its projections that 17 million hectares of land was at risk of dryland salinity

5 December 2005: Silver carp eyed to save trout lakes. Mahurangi Technical Institute's chief aquaculture scientist, Tagried Kurwie, has successfully bred the species for the first time in 20 years, and the new stock is being considered for release in Rotorua's trout lakes as a means of controlling algal blooms

5 December 2005: Rescue efforts fail to save rare dolphin. DOC staff fail to save a baby Hector's dolphin - New Zealand's only endemic dolphin - stranded on a beach near Waikanae

4 December 2005: Geologist: world's tallest skyscraper could cause more quakes. On the Web: American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org/

3 December 2005: Taipei sees more quakes after skyscraper – geologist. Academia Sinica geologist, Lin Cheng-horn is calling for more research into whether high-rise buildings can cause earth tremors, following an increase in seismic activity beneath the world's tallest building, Taipei 101

3 December 2005: Arctic peoples seek UN help to slow warming. Indigenous people want the Arctic to be added to UN's list of areas most at risk from climate change

2 December 2005: Run your car on cow fuel, Canadian company says. Using animal waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

2 December 2005: EU says will fulfil Kyoto target early, in 2010. Two years before the global environment treaty's final deadline

2 December 2005: Papua New Guinea leading developing nations on protecting Earth. Calls for the protection of rainforests by proposing wealthier nations pay poorer nations not to cut down trees

1 December 2005: Scientists say too many fish are snared in the wrong nets. Commercial fisheries in the US kill a pound of fish for every four pounds intentionally caught

30 November 2005: Researchers hope South American bug can halt plant pest. US is hoping to release Brazilian scale into Hawaii next year in an effort to halt the spread of strawberry guava plants

30 November 2005: Waiheke quakes 'rare' but not alarming. Six shallow quakes recorded in one day most unusual - GNS

30 November 2005: Urgent need for renewable energy solutions says prof. Otago University's Bob Lloyd, convenor of the trans-Tasman energy conference that ended in Dunedin today, says there are signs the world's oil production could peak as early as 2012

30 November 2005: NZ offers oil-gas prospects in wild southern oceans. Preliminary studies show reserves in the Great South Basin, south-east of New Zealand, far exceed Maui, New Zealand's biggest gas field

30 November 2005: Australia says "son of Kyoto" deal not possible. Calls for a more comprehensive framework after 2012 that recognises the needs of both the developed and developing worlds

29 November 2005: UN talks hear pleas for global warming fight. Of the 189 countries meeting in Montreal, 156 nations have ratified Kyoto

29 November 2005: Australia urged to reconsider nuclear alternative. Australia is home to over one-third of the world's reserves of uranium

29 November 2005: US tells climate conference it's cut greenhouse gas emissions. Claims that the Bush administration has cut emissions by 0.8 percent slammed by environmentalists

29 November 2005: Acidic waters eroding sea creatures' shells. CSIRO scientist Anthony Richardson predicts organisms with shells made of calcium carbonate - especially those in the Southern Ocean - may be extinct by the end of the century, with serious consequences for the marine food chain

29 November 2005: Climate talks begin amid warnings from scientists, greens. President of the Royal Society, Lord May, likens global warming to weapons of mass destruction

29 November 2005: UN vote urges fishing limits to protect turtles. Millions of sea turtles and sea birds fall prey to the industrial practice of longline fishing

28 November 2005: MetService preparing for coming cyclone season. "Neutral" year (neither having an El Nino nor a La Nina) prime candidate for a NZ cyclone

28 November 2005: Canada stresses green agenda, but emissions soar. New UN data shows greenhouse gases at 25 percent above 1990 levels in 2003, against the Kyoto target of cutting emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels

28 November 2005: US to battle allies on post-2012 global warming. Environmentalists want 2008 deadline for negotiating a successor treaty after Kyoto

28 November 2005: Sea ice scientists gather in NZ. The International Glaciological Society symposium at Otago University begins on 5 December

25 November 2005: Can "tipping points" accelerate global warming? Sudden, catastrophic changes triggered by human activities are most evident in the Arctic where Greenland's ice sheet is at risk of a runaway thaw

25 November 2005: UK: rate of rising sea levels has doubled. The switch occurred after the mid-19th century when factories and vehicles started pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere

25 November 2005: Scientists discover singing iceberg in Antarctica. Frequency of around 0.5 hertz

25 November 2005: New institute will tackle Auckland's energy and infrastructure problems. The University of Auckland is launching the Institute of Earth Science and Engineering today to help solve key geological and engineering problems facing the country

25 November 2005: Education resource kit to raise kiwi conservation awareness. The 'Kiwi Forever - Kiwi Mo Ake Tonu Atu' kit is bi-lingual, with text in English and Te Reo, and explains the cultural significance of the iconic species to people, particularly Maori

25 November 2005: Ancient air bubbles shed light on greenhouse gases. Analysing tiny air bubbles preserved in Antarctic ice

23 November 2005: Geologist finds permafrost under water. Discovered by a team of Italian scientists working in Antarctica, the ice retrieved in seabed soil samples is believed to have formed thousands of years ago when the land now underwater was dry

23 November 2005: Corals 'adapt to climate change'. Australian scientists have found that by using a particular type of algae, corals can reduce the incidence of bleaching associated with rising water temperatures

22 November 2005: Tiny fungi might protect trees - NZ researcher. Rebecca Ganley is heading a team from Scion carrying out research on endophytes, beneficial fungi that may boost resistance against disease and predators

21 November 2005: In the Arctic, evidence for global warming mounts. Evidence that humans are pushing up global temperatures may add pressure on governments, who next meet for climate talks in Montreal at the end of this month

21 November 2005: Forestry groups urge Govt to tackle climate change with market forces. Calls for rewarding those who reduce pollution by planting trees - non-existent in recent years - and putting the onus on those who pollute rather than taxpayers

20 November 2005: Ship rats proposed to be the key factor in historic collapse of northern NZ native bird populations. Caused the local extinction of the bellbird (Anthornis melanura) from northern NZ - Michael Lee

20 November 2005: NZ greenhouse gas emissions increase - UN report. Half of New Zealand's emissions - up 22.5 percent the past 15-year period - is livestock based

19 November 2005: South African conservationists slam proposed elephant culling. Say no scientific basis for reintroducing culling - stopped 10 years ago - in Kruger National Park

18 November 2005: Researcher, key figure in privatisation named Forester of 2005. Former FRI scientist, Dr Andrew McEwen, played a key role in the privatisation of the State-owned forestry plantations in the late 80s and early 90s

18 November 2005: Rich nations' greenhouse gas emissions may rise – UN. After a fall linked to the collapse of smokestack industries in the former Soviet Union

17 November 2005: Blair says future climate change treaties must include US. British prime minister adamant the US, India and China must be involved

17 November 2005: VUW researchers sign up for work on pristine Pacific atoll. Plan to study climate changes, disappearing coral reefs, invasive species and other global environmental threats on Palmyra Atoll

17 November 2005: American dedicated to preserving New Zealand wildlife. Conservationist Eric Dorfman captures our native diversity in his up-coming book 'Sanctuary, New Zealand's Spectacular Nature Reserves'

17 November 2005: NZIF "Forester of the Year" gains Royal Society recognition. Dr McEwen received the award for to his commitment and contribution to the profession of forestry over the last 43 years

17 November 2005: Transpower Landcare Trust Grants boost sustainable land management and biodiversity. Has awarded 27 community groups a total of $50,000 to help fund projects as diverse as farm monitoring and protecting rare geckos

17 November 2005: Climate scientist Jim Renwick awarded the Kidson Medal. The award is for Renwick's scientific paper "Southern Hemisphere circulation and relations with sea ice and sea surface temperature"

16 November 2005: Scientists warn of increased skin cancer risk from ozone 'hole'. The Antarctic ozone 'hole' is more intense this year than in 2004, and almost as large and intense as the all-time maximum recorded in 2003, when the hole reached about 29 million sq km – NIWA

15 November 2005: Homes evacuated in Japan as quake triggers tsunami alert. Undersea quake measuring 6.9 causes small tsunami along the east coast of Honshu

14 November 2005: British expert: odds against another ocean-wide tsunami high. Probably shorter than 2-1 within the next 70 years - hazard researcher

14 November 2005: Survival of the fittest for Harriet at 175. The giant Galapagos Island tortoise, a resident at Australia Zoo, is believed to have been taken back to England in 1835 by Charles Darwin and later accompanied Brisbane's first colonial governor, John Wickham, to Australia

13 November 2005: California may build mountain tunnel in earthquake-prone region. Proposing an 18km tunnel - the world's second longest - through area deemed too dangerous

12 November 2005: British minister urges Japan to scrap scientific whaling. Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw condems Southern Ocean whaling programme

11 November 2005: NZ geologist to join Pakistan quake team. GNS Science engineering geologist, Grant Dellow, will join an international team studying the impact of the recent 7.6 earthquake

11 November 2005: Singapore beats water woes, exports water skills. Once reliant on Malaysia for water, Singapore is now home to the world's largest desalination plant, and is taking its waste-water technology to the world

11 November 2005: Global warming moved plants northward. An increase in the planet's temperature 55 million years ago prompted major shifts in plant distribution

10 November 2005: Japan backs climate pacts, struggles to meet targets. Have risen 8 percent since 1990 instead of dropping the pledged 6 percent

10 November 2005: New York state to cut greenhouse gases from cars. Cars sold or registered in New York state must cut carbon dioxide emissions beginning in 2009

10 November 2005: Britain must renew its nuclear stations – scientists. Government likely to have to take a decision within a year on whether to renew the decades-old 11 nuclear power stations

9 November 2005: Student to aid DOC to re-establish black robins on Pitt Island. Pitt Islander Jade Lanauze, a year 13 student at St Mathew's Collegiate in Masterton, is one of five students awarded an environmental scholarship

9 November 2005: Penguin DNA suggests rates of evolution may be a moveable feast. A team of international researchers led by Professor David Lambert of Massey University have shown how environmental changes in the ice shelves in Antarctica have triggered changes in the evolution of the Adelie penguin

9 November 2005: First seconds of a quake can show its size – study. Berkeley scientists say that by measuring the size, type and depth of the first break on the fault line as the quake happens they can predict the magnitude before it has ended

9 November 2005: Nature shows climate change. An ecological database at Melbourne's Bureau of Meterology Research Centre shows evidence of major changes in plant and animal behaviour, a direct indication that Australia's climate is changing, scientists say

8 November 2005: DNA check on feathers to prove 'extinct' bird alive and well. If confirmed, the presence of the New Zealand storm petrel would be as significant as the rediscovery of the takahe - DOC

8 November 2005: Japan's whaling ships leave Shimonoseki for Antarctic. The 2nd expedition this year for the Institute of Cetacean Research, and the 19th since the research programme commenced in 1987

5 November 2005: Global warming could help salmon in Norway – report. By causing more rainfall that dilutes industrial acids blown from other parts of Europe

4 November 2005: Contrasting October weather patterns for North and South Islands. North Island wetter than average and the South Island below average - NIWA

4 November 2005: MetService awarded for wind shear alert system. Marks the development and implementation of a wind shear forecasting system for Dunedin Airport

4 November 2005: US Senate backs oil drilling in Alaskan refuge. In Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

4 November 2005: EU seeks talks, not targets at UN climate meeting. A UN climate change summit is not expected to agree new targets for the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions when it convenes later this month in Canada

3 November 2005: Reduced streamflows, soil moisture a worry in the South Island. Low snow falls over winter have meant lower flows into the hydro lakes - National Climate Centre

3 November 2005: Sea-based windmills could blunt eyesore criticisms. A radical adaptation of existing windmill and anchoring system technology is being explored by Norwegian researchers seeking an alternative to land-based turbines

3 November 2005: Average to warmer weather expected for summer. NIWA 3-month forecast

3 November 2005: Mass bleaching threatens coral reefs in the Caribbean. New data gathered by the University of Puerto Rico show some species of corals that have never been affected by bleaching before are now dying

3 November 2005: Overseas prospector searching for valuable minerals on NZ seabed. Northeast from White Island, along the Kermadec Arc, which is riddled with seafloor volcanoes and hydrothermal vents

2 November 2005: Britain pushes for consensus on tackling climate change. Addressing a G-8 meeting of energy and environment ministers, Prime Minister Tony Blair called for a new approach to tackle global warming after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012

2 November 2005: Britain calls for global approach to curb pollution. World carbon dioxide emissions are forecast to soar 60 percent by 2030 - energy watchdog

2 November 2005: Bells toll as Lisbon marks disastrous 1755 quake. Natural disaster experts meet on the 250th anniversary of the first quake for which a scientific explanation was sought

1 November 2005: Business faces pressure on climate change stance. The London-based Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is spearheading a drive to know more about companies' emissions, with a database on the world's 500 biggest companies

1 November 2005: Combating earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions in University of Auckland public lectures. Lectures will cover a range of issues including whether a large scale tsunami could ever occur in NZ and where the country's next big earthquake might be located

1 November 2005: Iran says it launched its first satellite into orbit last week. Sina-1 is a research satellite containing a telecommunications system and cameras that can monitor Iran's agriculture and natural resources, as well as natural disasters

1 November 2005: NZ hosts ocean charting conference. The International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) meetings in Christchurch and Wellington will discuss maritime safety is some of the world's most remote waters - Antarctica and the southwest Pacific

1 November 2005: Biosecurity NZ widens search for invasive sea squirt. Searching Northland waters; wants members of the public, especially mariners, to keep an eye out for the plant-like animal and report any suspected finds to its 0800 number (0800 80 99 66)

30 October 2005: Dingoes to be inseminated to stop extinction. Monash researchers, conservation network launch recovery programme that will see pure-bred female dingoes inseminated in an effort to save the species

28 October 2005: Mediterranean to suffer most in Europe due to warming. More droughts damaging everything from farming to tourism

28 October 2005: Solar energy fans fry burgers, dry towels in US contest. Designed to showcase currently available solar technology and show it is possible to live comfortably today in a house powered by solar energy

28 October 2005: Does sonar harm whales? Australian marine scientists hope data gathered from a mass stranding of pilot whales at Tasmania's Marion Bay will shed light on why whales beach

27 October 2005: Expanded hurricane record will help forecasters. Plantation diaries and Royal Navy ship logs, along with newspaper clippings and history books, are proving valuable to researchers looking to create a history of Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast hurricanes

26 October 2005: Documentaries link rings triology to NZ environment challenges. The Middle-Earth Connection, launched tomorrow, is a series of three documentaries that uses The Lord of the Rings film clips as a frame of reference for native forest preservation, farming practices and greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainable urban development

26 October 2005: Even low levels of common toxins may be a danger. A new report suggests there are no safe levels of exposure to lead, radon, tobacco smoke and by-products of drinking-water disinfection

26 October 2005: UK urged to generate more energy from biomass. Farmer's taskforce calls for burning biomass - forestry, crops and waste - for heat production

25 October 2005: EU launches new measures to protect seas, oceans. New environment strategy focuses on climate change, oil spills and commercial fishing

24 October 2005: Mt Taranaki eruption 'overdue' say researchers- report. New Massey University research suggests the volcano, which has shown little or no sign of activity for 200 years, has erupted at least once every 90 years on average for the past 9000 years

24 October 2005: Australia makes diplomatic bid to end illegal fishing. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer calls for greater international effort in protecting Antarctic ecosystems at the opening of CCAMLR's new headquarters in Hobart

24 October 2005: Africa aid to be eaten by climate change – scientist. Money to address poverty could be eaten up by the effects of increased and more severe droughts and floods - Lord May

21 October 2005: Selective logging may have doubled Amazon damage. Brazil officials say the latest US research overestimates the extent of deforestation

21 October 2005: South Africa strongly opposed to watered down Kyoto. A UN conference in Montreal in late November and early December will begin discussions on the post-2012 steps

21 October 2005: Greenland ice cap thickens slightly despite warming. Thickening at high altitude, in contrast to melting glaciers at sea level

20 October 2005: Wilma a record-setter, but records scanty: experts. Yet even weather experts convinced that global warming is a serious threat caution against blaming climate change

20 October 2005: Russia loses control of Earth-monitoring satellite. The second major failure in a month for space researchers at Khrunichev

20 October 2005: Fears of biopiracy hampering research in Brazilian Amazon. Over the past decade more than 30 researchers have been detained, and their samples confiscated or destroyed

19 October 2005: Polar regions take centre stage in climate crisis. ICSU announces major two-year study of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets to coincide with the International Polar Year, starting in March 2007

19 October 2005: Govt science company in name change. Geological and Nuclear Sciences is on the move and is re-branding as GNS Science

19 October 2005: The world's largest conservation union invests in Oceania. IUCN to open Regional Office for Oceania in Suva, Fiji in 2006

18 October 2005: Antarctic ice melts as sea warms but cause unknown. Scientists tell Royal Society meeting more knowledge is needed on the reasons for rising global sea levels

18 October 2005: Analysis: Britain at energy crossroads as CO2 emissions rise. Domestic target likely to fall short by 20 percent, but Kyoto goals still on track

17 October 2005: Report says NZers face hardships to meet Kyoto targets. Environmentalists hoping the new report prepared for an industry coalition might encourage the Government to take a more realistic approach to climate change policy

17 October 2005: Appeals against Marsden B coal use lodged. Internationally renowned environmental assessor of power plants, Dr Phyllis Fox, says the US would not approve such a dirty site

17 October 2005: Castalia report shows need to focus on forestry sinks. Time for the Government to re-think its climate change policy and encourage the planting of new forests - Kyoto Forestry Association

17 October 2005: NZ scientist camps out on the ice to retrieve methane samples. NIWA chemist Katja Reidel is part of a team collecting the samples at Antarctica's Law Dome in an effort to better understand what has caused a dramatic rise in atmospheric methane levels in the past two hundred years

17 October 2005: Research centres on new algae bloom. NIWA to tackle the causes behind Lake Taupo's deterioration

14 October 2005: East Cape rocked by magnitude six earthquake. The very deep quake - 250km - was centred 290 kilometres north of Te Araroa

14 October 2005: Underwater vacuum may be used to shred and suck up sea squirts. A steam cleaning method is also being considered by Biosecurity New Zealand

13 October 2005: Rock snot tests continue in North Island, bottom of the South. Biosecurity NZ said today a number of alternative cleaning methods had been promoted, but they had not been tested

13 October 2005: Scientists admit that earthquake prediction is still far off. A California project to predict when a earthquake would hit the city of Parkfield was spot on in location and size - but 11 years out - a study published in Nature reports

13 October 2005: Deforestation doesn't trigger floods - UN report. The report showed the frequency of major floods in the past 120 years has been stable worldwide, suggesting logging was not a cause of flooding

13 October 2005: Tsunami warning system could help predict other disasters. Ocean observation could assist in better weather forecasting allowing countries to better anticipate El Nino conditions, seasonal floods and storm surges - UNESCO proceedings

12 October 2005: New Zealand wants more international focus on disaster prediction. Natural Sciences Commissioner for UNESCO, Roy Geddes, says the organisation should focus its limited resources on helping scientists improve warning strategies rather than the proposed post-disaster relief

12 October 2005: Biosecurity NZ starts survey of invasive sea squirt. Has asked NIWA to examine harbour waters to guage the extent of the spread of the marine pest that threatens New Zealand's mussel industry

11 October 2005: Environmental decay may prompt refugee surge. As many as 50 million people could be displaced by 2010 as climate change takes its toll on the environment - UN study

11 October 2005: 25pc chance of big quake hitting San Francisco by 2025. Researchers based their prediction on new computer simulations of the San Andreas fault and adjacent faults over a 40,000-year period

11 October 2005: Isotope tests declare latest painted apple moth another migrant. Forensic analysis showed the moth found in a container facility at Otahuhu recently came from an arid climate and ate a diet of foliage not seen in New Zealand

10 October 2005: South Asia a hotbed for earthquakes, shallow faults intensify. Saturday's 7.6 quake centred in the mountains of Pakistani Kashmir was the same type of collision that formed the Himalayas millions of years ago

10 October 2005: Australia develops Web-based weather prediction tool. Based on more than a century of records kept by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and complex computer mathematics using sea temperature data the tool is available at: www.brs.gov.au/mlatool, or www.mla.com.au/growthoutlooktool

9 October 2005: European satellite to study polar ice destroyed after launch. European, Russian space agencies suffer setback

7 October 2005: Great white shark crosses Indian ocean - and back. Researchers believe the female shark - named Nicole - made the 20,000 km journey from South Africa to Australia and back for reproductive reasons, although their data does not show if she mated

7 October 2005: Australia says no date set for US-led cleaner energy forum. Critics say meeting delay a tactic to undo Kyoto

6 October 2005: Indonesia to establish tsunami warning system by end of 2005. First equipment - to give about an hours warning - to be installed along the west coast of Sumatra next week

6 October 2005: Ancient oceans filled with sulphur loving organisms. Ancient rock formations in the Gulf of Carpentaria that were once under water hold clues to life in the oceans more than a billion years ago

6 October 2005: Climate change linked to cruise ship illness outbreaks. Rising sea temperatures blamed for outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Alaskan oysters

6 October 2005: Biosecurity New Zealand investigates 'sea squirt' discovery. The exotic marine pest thrives in calm waters such as bays, harbours, boat hulls and aquaculture equipment

6 October 2005: Biosecurity staff to start urgent checks on top NZ trout rivers. North Island testing for didymo to start at Turangi

5 October 2005: Information can save lives. Information sharing following the South Asia tsunami could have been better handled, aid agencies say

5 October 2005: Tsunami boosts 2004's global natural disasters death toll. Indian Ocean tsunami boosted numbers to 250,000, the highest in almost 30 years - World Disasters Report

30 September 2005: UK: oxygen level rise gave mammals evolution boost. A sharp rise in oxygen levels 50 million years ago may have given mammals the boost they needed to take over the Earth

30 September 2005: Indigenous peoples urge action on Arctic thaw. After a US report showed the Arctic icecap had shrunk to its smallest in at least 100 years

30 September 2005: Biosecurity NZ rejects 'lack of action' charges. Rejecting claims by some scientists it has not done enough to control the spread of the invasive water weed rock snot

30 September 2005: Algae has destructive potential. Didymo becoming tougher, adapting quickly to new environments

30 September 2005: Biosecurity NZ attacked for lack of action. Should have "nuked" the affected waterways at the first sign regardless of the consequences for water life - Massey University ecologist

29 September 2005: Alaska landscape transformed by warmer climate. A comprehensive study of the impact of climate change on the Arctic has just been released

29 September 2005: Didymo to have devastating effects. Can smother the habitat for aquatic invertebrate

29 September 2005: Invasive algae may wreck more southern rivers, threaten Waikato. Biosecurity officials today widened their alert over the incursion of an invasive foreign algae - for which there is no biological control - to all rivers in the South Island

29 September 2005: Warming causes record Arctic ice melt. The Arctic ice shelf has melted for the fourth straight year to its smallest area in a century

29 September 2005: Scientists offer mixed forecast on Chilean quakes. Study suggests that while a giant quake similar to that experienced in 1960 is not likely to occur for another 300 years, the south-central region can expect large quakes to occur on a regular basis

28 September 2005: Smallest creatures in ocean hold valuable secrets. A $1 billion, 10-year project to catalogue and explore the biodiversity of the marine microbe is being undertaken by a team of international scientists

28 September 2005: Squid's in - and now it's on film. Japanese zoologists have the first ever recording of a live giant squid confirmed by DNA tests taken from a tentacle left behind on a bait hook

28 September 2005: Didymosphenia geminata confirmed in Buller River. Biosecurity New Zealand acknowledges the algal bloom, first discovered in rivers in Southland in October last year, could be present in other South Island rivers

28 September 2005: Invasive algae found in Hawea River. First sighting in Otago raises fears that didymo could be right through the Clutha system

28 September 2005: NZ researcher beaten to giant squid photographs by Japanese team. Steve O'Shea had tried unsuccessfully to lure the giant squid into camera range by squirting squid pheromones into the ocean off the East and West coasts of the South Island

27 September 2005: Help on the way for seabirds. New Zealand's Southern Seabird Solutions and the Peruvian Institute of Fisheries Research have agreed to work together to reduce seabird deaths due to long-line fishing

27 September 2005: Burying CO2 may curb global warming, but cost high. IPCC report says electricity consumption could rise by as much as 80 percent if power plant operators adopt the technology to capture and store carbon dioxide

26 September 2005: Greens welcome business group's call for energy strategy. The Business Council for Sustainable Energy is calling for the Government to put carbon tax revenue into research for alternative fuels

26 September 2005: Greenpeace slams decision allowing coal-fired power plant. Stringent operating conditions for Marsden B not enough for environmentalists

26 September 2005: Mapping out a future. The Ultimate Map of New Zealand (TUMONZ), a unique software package of up-to-date information, is the brainchild of two former Forest Research employees Alan Somerville and Alex van Zyl

26 September 2005: Auckland could be hit with little or no warning. NIWA scientist James Goff tells civil defence managers the Hauraki Gulf would act like a funnel for a tsunami generated from the Pacific Ocean near Fiji

26 September 2005: Civilisation under threat from climate change. Australian scientists Tim Flannery and Ian Lowe look at the impact of climate change in new books dedicated to the issue they say is the most serious facing mankind today

25 September 2005: Early snowmelts heating Alaska Arctic. Vegetation change from shorter winters could have profound impact on migrating caribou, study suggests

24 September 2005: Caribbean corals hit by warm, storm-spawning seas. Warm seas depriving corals of food source - WWF

23 September 2005: Scientists say trying to modify hurricane behaviour is futile. Says experiments from decades ago failed

23 September 2005: Climate change hurts Africa most, scientists say. Despite contributing least to the problem

23 September 2005: British scientist criticises US climate 'loonies'. Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, critical of US stance on global warming

22 September 2005: Council eyes own standards for agrichemical residues. Hastings District Council is proposing to set guidelines on agrichemical residues for new subdivisions in advance of the Environment Ministry's planned release of a draft set of national standards later this year

22 September 2005: Europe's 2003 heatwave altered carbon cycle. Cut plant growth across the continent by 30 percent

22 September 2005: Report says global warming could spark conflict. Could also lead to more droughts, floods and typhoons, and increase the incidence of malaria, dengue fever and cholera

21 September 2005: Hurricane expert predicts decades of more hurricanes. Says increased hurricane activity is part of a natural cycle in the Atlantic Ocean that fluctuates every 25 to 40 years

21 September 2005: 6,500-year-old plants exposed as global warming melts ice cap. A team of US scientists monitoring the world's glaciers have discovered preserved grasses and mosses from a former wetland in the Andes

20 September 2005: Conservation groups want $US404 million to save frog. Scientists plan a global effort to describe new species, address habitat loss and the trade in amphibians for food and pets

20 September 2005: DOC satisfied on Marsden point coal-firing plans. Sought advice from NIWA on the environmental and ecological impact of the power station

15 September 2005: Spending on environment yields big returns – report. Can bring big returns to aid a worldwide assault on poverty

15 September 2005: Major Los Angeles quake could be worse than Katrina. Experts say there's a better-than 60 percent chance that a quake with a magnitude around 6.7 will hit Southern California or the Bay Area within decades

15 September 2005: Bigger brained birds do better, study says. Small bird numbers on the decline because they cannot adapt to a changing environment, study suggests

14 September 2005: Govt and company hammer out carbon tax agreement. A Negotiated Greenhouse Agreement (NCA) has been reached between the Government and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters

14 September 2005: Seismic event could lead to better earthquake predictions. A new phenomenon known as a tremor-and-slip event, where seismic activity on a scale similar to a large earthquake happens over days in ocean plates

13 September 2005: Now windowless aircraft gets an airing. A flying wing with passengers inside the wing, a new concept in design to reduce noise pollution

12 September 2005: Captive breeding seen as lifeline for amphibians. Conservation International comes up with action plan to save frogs and salamanders

12 September 2005: NZ authorities assist high seas arrest of poachers. Supplied Australian authorities with information that led to the arrest in Hobart of an international crew suspected of poaching the endangered Patgonian toothfish

12 September 2005: Tagged Atlantic sea turtles trace journeys online. Follow the endangered leatherbacks on www.panda.org

10 September 2005: Scientists find growing land bulge in Oregon. Could be the beginnings of another volcano or magma shifting ground in the active seismic region, scientists say

10 September 2005: Hole in ozone layer growing to largest-ever size. Antarctic hole expands rapidly to cover 26.73 million sq km, and could expand further

9 September 2005: Fossils tell story of massive flying reptiles. With a wingspan of 55m, the newly-discovered giant pterosaur is more than twice the size of the biggest known flying reptile, the Quetzalcoatlus

9 September 2005: Methane emissions from biomass burning were just as high 1000 years ago. A NIWA-led team of international researchers have been able to show how levels of methane gas in Antarctic ice fluctuated over thousands of years to coincide with times of major land clearing, waning populations, and the industrialisation of Europe

8 September 2005: Freshwater science funding being eroded – researchers. Science conference hears of a lack of Government and private funding for environmental research

8 September 2005: Global warming causes soil to release carbon – study. 13 million tonnes of carbon is released from British soil each year, greenhouse gas that has probably wiped out the benefits gained by cutting industrial emissions, scientists say

8 September 2005: Taupo's greenhouse gas emissions to be compared with Yellowstone. GNS researcher Cynthia Werner will compare Taupo's Volcanic Zone and the US national park to better understand why Taupo's CO2 emissions are about 50 times lower than those at Yellowstone despite their similar size and similar heat output

7 September 2005: Scientists take another look at nation's biggest quake. Wellington symposium to address the impacts of the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake, and the role it has played in influencing earth science, engineering and civil defence communities in the country

6 September 2005: EU to help China tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Selling its clean coal-power technology to enable China to use its main energy source in a more environmentally-friendly way

5 September 2005: $11 million information centre planned for Cape Reinga. The Department of Conservation proposes to spend $11 million on a new information centre and visitor facilities at Cape Reinga

4 September 2005: A sequel to Katrina is all too thinkable. Tropical cyclone activity at near record levels

2 September 2005: Space sensors show massive surge in Chinese air pollution. Have risen by about 50 percent over China over the past decade

2 September 2005: Climate change ended 'Garden of Eden'. Changes in the orbit of the earth caused communities to rapidly change and adapt

2 September 2005: Disaster serves up tough lesson on environment. The costs of disregarding environmental concerns

2 September 2005: Hurricane Katrina revives debate over global warming. Hurricane Katrina's fury has reignited the scientific debate over whether global warming might be making hurricanes more ferocious

2 September 2005: Sumatran orangutans face extinction as peace comes. Logging pressures will start again

2 September 2005: Solar power firms warm up for stock market IPOs. Oil prices and greenhouse gas controls boost interest

1 September 2005: Activists club together to beat climate change. Leading British environment and aid groups joined forces on Thursday to lobby for world action to prevent potentially catastrophic global warming

1 September 2005: August temperatures reach record highs. Last month was the fourth warmest August since records began in the mid 1860s

1 September 2005: First land animals may have shuffled not walked. The backbone of a four-legged fish fossil that lived around 360 million years ago suggests the first land animals did not wriggle side-to-side, but moved in a caterpillar-like fashion - Nature magazine

1 September 2005: August temperatures reach record highs. Last month was the fourth warmest August since records began in the mid 1860s

31 August 2005: Brace for more Katrinas, say experts. Blame global warming for big Atlantic storms, scientists say

31 August 2005: Widening ozone hole is as big as Europe. Antarctica's ozone hole covers 10 million square kilometres, the biggest since 2000, and the third largest on record

31 August 2005: Ozone layer has stopped shrinking, US study finds. Legislation to control CFC use may be a reason for the encouraging sign - NOAA

31 August 2005: Scientist scours globe to save Earth's largest freshwater fish. Intrepid US biologist Zeb Hogan will search 10 of the world's major rivers in search of data on the giant species, some listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union

30 August 2005: Greater whale diversity off East Coast – survey. Australian researchers spot false killer whales, dwarf minke whales and Bryde's whales in Humpback survey

30 August 2005: NZ glaciers continue to recover. Increase in ice mass attributed to good annual rainfall - NIWA

30 August 2005: Millions lost in carbon credit value. Government's climate change policy could cost Dunedin's council-owned forestry company up to $43 million

29 August 2005: Move to replant seagrass in Whangarei harbour. If successful, the proposed environmental project would be the first of its kind in New Zealand history

26 August 2005: Earth's core spinning faster than the crust. The solid core that measures about 2414km across is spinning about one-quarter to one-half degree faster, per year

26 August 2005: Asian tsunami waves reached as far as Peru and Northeast Canada. Travelled the world several times and reached New Zealand - US research

26 August 2005: Dolphins need more protection – environmentalists. Seeking four new marine mammal sanctuaries in the South Island to protect the world's rarest marine mammal the Maui's dolphin, and the Hector's dolphin

24 August 2005: US panel sees growing threat in melting Arctic. Ice-free oceans in summer likely within a century - report

24 August 2005: Antarctic ozone hole grows from last year – WMO. Winter hole still smaller than in 2003

24 August 2005: Iraqi marshes drained by Saddam nearly half-restored. UN project sees 37 percent of the Middle East's main wetland area restored

20 August 2005: Plea to stop squabbles ends Greenland climate talks. Host Denmark calls on the 23 countries who attended the talks to put blame aside and come up with a plan of action to address global warming

19 August 2005: Coral reef ecosystems found to be in decline in US waters. NOAA report shows not much has changed since monitoring began five years ago

19 August 2005: NZ research shows crucial molecules still cleaning up atmosphere. A NZ-based study of the amount of hydroxyl radical present in the atmosphere over the past 13 years shows it has remained about the same over the past 13 years

17 August 2005: Conservation pioneer dies suddenly. Kevin Smith, a senior adviser to Conservation Minister Chris Carter and a former Royal Forest and Bird Society conservation director was a leading figure in the fight to end logging on the West Coast

17 August 2005: Denmark urges "new thinking" on climate change. Informal global climate talks seek new ways to widen Kyoto Protocol

17 August 2005: Calls for action to help forestry. Industry wants new measures to address decline in wood harvest, including regulatory changes, scrapping the carbon tax and incentives for new planting

16 August 2005: Fossils could reveal climate change triggers – scientists. Queensland cave dig reveals some of the best records of rain forest animal species over the last five million years directly connected to climate change

16 August 2005: New fibre optic sensor could change undersea exploration. Detects acoustic soundwaves under the sea with 100 times more sensitivity than technology currently available

15 August 2005: Neptune Minerals sees NZ sea floor as potential mining bonanza. World-first permit to drill for seabed sulphide deposits - rich in copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold. Neptune Minerals to invest $26M in mining sea floor off NZ. British company to drill in Kermadec Arc

13 August 2005: Polar bear makes huge 74 km one-day Arctic swim. First-ever monitoring of a long swim by a polar bear suggests it could have swum up to 100kms in 24 hours

12 August 2005: Ocean fertilisation experiment shows there's no silver bullet. A lot of work needed to be done before scientists understood how ocean ecosystems responded to changes in nutrient input

12 August 2005: Weather balloons' 1970s design caused climate spat. A dispute over whether global warming is really happening may have been caused by the placement of sensors on weather balloons when studies were done in the 1970s

11 August 2005: Melting of Siberian peat bog could speed global warming. Could release billions of tonnes of methane into the atmosphere

11 August 2005: Europe's big cities feel the heat of climate change: WWF. Summer temperatures have risen sharply in most west European capital cities over the past 30 years

10 August 2005: Spread the word, not the algae: avoid, dedicate or decontaminate. MAF's appeal to users of the Mararoa and lower Waiau rivers in Southland infested with the invasive algae, didymo

10 August 2005: South Island forest under protection. Maori owners, Crown opt for protection over logging for an area of the Waitutu native forest along the Fiordland coastline

10 August 2005: Exotic species help combat forest exploitation – scientist. Emerging ecosystems bring new birds, seeds to areas that would otherwise be wasteland, conference hears

10 August 2005: Carbon trading a long way off for Aust – Campbell. Australia's environment minister's response to an International Energy Agency request to consider emissions trading

9 August 2005: Australia needs energy supply, demand changes – report. An International Energy Agency report says Australia will need to do more than just focus on new technologies to address its greenhouse gas emissions put at 43 percent above the IEA average

5 August 2005: Environmentalists see hope in Exxon CEO change. Hopeful he would be more open to discussing issues of climate change and global warming than his predecessor

4 August 2005: Birds, plants thrive on UK organic farms. Calls to have Britain's organic farmland increased follow an ornithological study that found the land - only three percent of English farmland - supports more wild plants, plant and bird species and more bats than non-organically-managed land

4 August 2005: Simple tsunami alert system now in place – UN. A string of tidal gauges that the IOC is maintaining

3 August 2005: Tsunami warning must be backed by good response – experts. High-tech warning system would fail without preparedness plan - UN

3 August 2005: Collapse of Antarctic ice shelf linked to global warming. The collapse of Larsen B in 2002 has no precedent since the end of the last Ice Age, a new study shows

2 August 2005: Global warming? Scientists are seeing more irregularities. Marine biologists are seeing mysterious and disturbing things along the Pacific Coast this year

1 August 2005: Third warmest July on record – NIWA. Since records began in the 1860s

1 August 2005: Hurricane destructiveness increased over 30 years. Duration of the tropical cyclones and the wind speeds they produce have risen by 50 percent along with increases in the average surface temperature of tropical oceans

1 August 2005: Quake hits east coast. 5.6 in magnitude

1 August 2005: Study: hurricanes growing more fierce with global warming. Scientists call the findings both surprising and "alarming" because they suggest global warming is influencing storms now - rather than in the distant future

31 July 2005: Waitakere ranges bill delayed because of mapping error. A mapping error will delay the introduction of the Waikatere Ranges Heritage Area Bill to Parliament until after the election

31 July 2005: ASEAN nations interested in signing greenhouse pact. A number of South-East Asian nations could soon sign up to a new greenhouse emissions pact backed by Australia and the United States

30 July 2005: Howard influenced by energy industries, ex-official claims. Gwen Andrews, former chief executive of the Australian Greenhouse Office, said that in her four years in the role she was never asked to brief Prime Minister John Howard on climate change despite that being the period he was deliberating whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol

30 July 2005: Arctic depths teeming with life, say explorers. Robot submarines and sonar probed an isolated 3800m basin off Canada's Arctic coast

30 July 2005: Australia to head first census of Antarctic marine life – govt. The Census of Antarctic Marine Life is an ambitious project, involving 20-30 nations, up to 15 research ships and between 100 and 200 research scientists worldwide

29 July 2005: US beaches getting dirtier, report finds. In part because there is more pollution and in part because of better monitoring

29 July 2005: US-led climate plan won't supplant Kyoto – experts. Sets no binding goals

28 July 2005: US to announce "beyond Kyoto" climate pact. Environmentalists warn the five-nation pact could be a push by the US and Australia to end the climate change agreement

28 July 2005: ASEAN forum bounces back with climate deal. Developing new technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions

28 July 2005: Australia to host inaugural "beyond Kyoto" meeting. Of six countries that have agreed a pact to combat global warming through new technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions

28 July 2005: US unveils climate pact, Kyoto alternative. Promotes the use of technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions

28 July 2005: Seabed volcanoes pose potential tsunami risk - Australian expert. Australian researchers who have accompanied NZ scientists exploring seabed volcanoes along the Kermedec Arc between NZ and Tonga say such volcanoes could trigger a devastating tsunami at any time

28 July 2005: Australia seeks to breed test-tube sharks. Australian scientists have a radical rescue plan to artificially inseminate and breed the ocean predator in test-tubes

27 July 2005: Experts ready to report on Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. The UN group coordinating the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System will meet in Perth next week to discuss the system's progress

27 July 2005: Japan embarks on journey to centre of the Earth. Japanese scientists are planning a world-first dig deep into the Earth's mantle for clues that may help them better understand how life began

27 July 2005: 4.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Westport. Preceded by similar-sized quakes near Gisborne and Hastings - GNS

26 July 2005: Australia facing hotter, more volatile weather. At risk of stronger cyclones, fewer frosts, changing ocean currents and a more pronounced cycle of prolonged drought and heavy rains, a government-commissioned report on climate change shows

26 July 2005: Rare bird missing for two years found on Dunedin beach. A black stilt (kaki) released from DOC's breeding programme in the Mackenzie Basin in 2003 has been found at Brighton Beach, and officials say they will leave the critically endangered bird there for the locals to enjoy

26 July 2005: New infusion of rabbit virus set to arrive in NZ. The biocide that causes rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) is needed to address increasing rabbit numbers now immune to the virus spread illegally by South Island high country farmers in the late 90s

26 July 2005: Biosecurity conference looks at grassroots border protection. The organisers of a national seminar on border control have included a public session on Friday for Christchurch people seeking information on pests and diseases

26 July 2005: Self-cleaning building a possible weapon in fight against smog. High-tech building materials being developed include concrete walls that break down vehicle exhaust in road tunnels

26 July 2005: Greenpeace wants halt to deep seas bottom-trawling. Conservation group slams Canada's record in protecting fish species in its latest call to end deep sea trawling

25 July 2005: Strong quake hits Indian islands, but no tsunami. The quake that hit the Andaman and Nicobar islands Sunday was just below 7.5, the essential precondition for a tsunami, officials say

25 July 2005: Old sailors trick may reduce force of hurricanes. Researchers lend scientific weight to the traditional practice of tipping oil into the sea during stormy weather to make it less choppy

24 July 2005: More right whales may be dying than previously thought. May be underreported by as much as 83 percent annually, an article published in the journal Science suggests

22 July 2005: Glacier melting rapidly, sliding into sea: Greenpeace. New results suggest that the loss of ice from the Greenland Ice Sheet, unless balanced by an equivalent increase in snowfall, could be larger and faster than previously estimated

21 July 2005: Visitors who flout biosecurity laws should be deported – National. Also would set up a biosecurity response fund to deal with the incursion of unwanted pests

21 July 2005: Chemicals to be pumped into streams to clean up Lake Rotorua. Environment Bay of Plenty scientists to trial dose two streams with alum in an effort to reduce the lake's phosphorous levels

20 July 2005: Inner space exploration probes life under the sea. NOAA's undersea research lab Aquarius is home for scientists studying the movement of nutrients along the reef in Florida Keys

20 July 2005: Australia: trunks are packed but Govt faces jumbo legal fight. Animal welfare groups want the decision to import Asian elephants for a breeding programme overturned

20 July 2005: Fast-spreading Colorado wildfire threatens archaeological sites. Cliff dwellings on the Ute Mountain Indian reservation date from the Puebloan period - 600AD to 1300AD

17 July 2005: Haast earthquake may be helpful to seismologists. May help GNS scientists determine the origin of two earlier quakes in the region that yielded little data

17 July 2005: Drought sweeps millions of tonnes of soil off Australia. Recent rainfall across Australia's eastern states could result in a dust storm similar to that in 2002 when 4.85 million tonnes of topsoil was lost to the atmosphere and ocean over a 24-hour period, scientist warns

17 July 2005: Otago freshwater projects in jeopardy. Government's focus on Rotorua lakes comes at the expense of other regions - Otago University researchers

15 July 2005: India can't commit to Kyoto targets - UN climate head. As its energy-hungry economy is developing fast

15 July 2005: Chemical contamination in Arctic linked to bird droppings. Sea birds, which feed in the ocean but then come back to land, are returning not only with food for their young but with contaminants as well

15 July 2005: Giant South Africa crater added to World Heritage list. The Vredefort Dome - the world's oldest and biggest meteorite impact site

15 July 2005: NT to house new Commonwealth nuclear waste dump. Alice Springs, Katherine sites being considered for Australia's new nuclear waste facility

14 July 2005: New mapping system for oceans. Marine Environment Classification a "world first", and is a sophisticated new approach to classifying NZ's different marine environments and ecosystems

14 July 2005: Tsunami quake caused 1000 km seafloor rupture. New ENS/CNRS data on the Indian Ocean quake

13 July 2005: More fires as climate changes: NIWA. Changing weather conditions due to global warming will increase the risk of rural fires particularly in the east of both islands, scientists say

12 July 2005: Perth to be home of tsunami detection centre – govt. UNESCO is to base its secretariat for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System at the Bureau of Meterology in Perth

9 July 2005: G8 agree on need for climate action, but no targets. Environmentalists slam lack of firm goals to address carbon emissions

8 July 2005: G8 reaches climate deal in principle – Germany. Joint action to combat global warming but have set no measurable targets

8 July 2005: G-8 declaration to mention Kyoto but no gas targets mentioned. Some see any recognition by the administration of US President George W Bush of the science behind climate change as a key step

8 July 2005: Red light-flashing jellyfish lures in prey. First deep ocean invertebrate known to use red fluorescent light

8 July 2005: Donor countries agree to finance study to save Red Sea. Looking at the environmental and social consequences of transferring water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea

7 July 2005: Earth is getting darker, scientists warn. Because of pollutants in the atmosphere

7 July 2005: Blair presses for G8 climate deal, signs positive. Britain's Prime Minister wants a global accord, one that includes the US and developing nations, post-Kyoto

6 July 2005: Give pork the chop to reduce climate change. Anti-climate change strategist suggests a switch to vegetarianism could cut carbon emissions attributed to humans by 21 percent

6 July 2005: UN environment chief tells G-8 it pays to preserve nature. Klaus Toepfer sees environmental destruction as a barrier to achieving goals to reduce global warming

4 July 2005: Nuclear power not so clean, scientist says. An article in this month's Australasian Science magazine explains how the energy required to get a nuclear power station up and running is a major source of CO2 emissions

2 July 2005: G8 moving 'further apart' on climate change. Deadlocked on its severity, causes or how to tackle it, draft shows

1 July 2005: Science to help save wetlands. Landcare Research gets $2 million to develop science-based guidelines for the protection and restoration of coastal and lowland wetlands

1 July 2005: Broad-ranging aquatic research. New Zealand's oceans, lakes, estuaries, wetlands, native fish and birds will benefit from over $120 million of research investment announced today by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

1 July 2005: Waikato University given $10m to study lake pollution. The 10-year lakes restoration study will look at the risk from weeds, pest fish and algal blooms on lakes in the Rotorua region

1 July 2005: Exploring New Zealand's underwater mountains. A multi-disciplinary team of NIWA researchers is to study the marine habitat of the region's seamounts, to better understand the creatures that live in the productive but fragile environment

30 June 2005: Global warming could spread desert-like conditions. Global warming could have a major impact on Africa's southern sand dune systems, spreading desert-like conditions and destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people before the end of the century, new research warns

29 June 2005: Action by foresters has implications for carbon records. Planning to stop Government officials from entering their forests to monitor carbon levels in protest against Kyoto blunder

29 June 2005: New leader for Scion. From research scientist to top jobs in the government departments of forestry and education, Dr Russ Ballard is well placed to chair the new Rotorua CRI formerly known as Forest Research

29 June 2005: Exotic water plants costing US millions – expert. CSIRO warns dumping of illegal aquarium plants into river systems poses a serious threat to Australia's waterways and drinking water supplies

29 June 2005: Sri Lanka finds 35 new amphibian species - loses 19 more. The world's top spot for frogs, with more than 200 known species

28 June 2005: Blair suggests it will be hard to get G8 agreement on climate. Negotiations are continuing

27 June 2005: Kyoto protocol, waste of cash or green lifeline? The experts' view

27 June 2005: Australian scientists develop new way to gauge whales' age. Relies on collecting and analysing skin samples

27 June 2005: Rising seas could turn UK into series of islands: experts. Matched rising sea level scenarios against Space Shuttle Topography Mission data of the UK

27 June 2005: Timing of next Indonesian tsunami is a mystery to scientists. Scientists are "very bad" at predicting when

27 June 2005: Quake monitoring network gets funding boost. To increase from $5 million to $8 million a year; extra funding to strengthen emergency management and research on geological risks

26 June 2005: RMA changes reminiscent of think big - environment conference. Delegates resolved to vigorously oppose any moves by any political party to weaken or replace the RMA or to insert into it new objectives such as economic objectives

24 June 2005: Global warming pioneer Charles Keeling dies. His carbon dioxide measurements shattered the conventional wisdom that Earth could soak up rising fossil fuel emissions without harm

24 June 2005: Maori support whaling by other indigenous peoples. At odds with the NZ Government's opposition to whaling

23 June 2005: Whaling commission urges Japan to stop expanded whaling research. The International Whaling Commission urged Japan to drop plans to more than double the number of whales it hunts each year for scientific research, passing an Australia-sponsored resolution that Tokyo shouldn't kill the whales to study them

23 June 2005: Bush set to shun G8 allies on global warming. Leaked draft of a final statement for the G8 summit includes no firm targets, timetables or cash

23 June 2005: Government incompetence collapses public support for Kyoto. Kyoto Forestry Association says to drop carbon tax and set up carbon credits trading

22 June 2005: Tracing leaks in landfills winner for young scientist. Otago University PhD researcher Jessica North has won the 2005 MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year award

22 June 2005: Japan vows to go ahead with increased whale cull. To hunt fin whales and humpbacks, both threatened species

21 June 2005: Climate change minister not telling the truth about Kyoto. A Government policy that stopped new forest planting is to blame for NZs carbon credit shortfall, say foresters

21 June 2005: Farmers should give up as environment changes. Desert conditions predicted for Australia's southern states by 2070, with massive changes resulting from drought seen as early as 2030, climate expert warns

20 June 2005: Carter slams Japan's whaling programme. The increased catch of more than 1000 whales a year will include humpbacks from the Antarctic ocean that sustain New Zealands whale-watching industry

19 June 2005: Scientists fire harpoon into Japan's whale research claims. Discovered that out of 150 publications by Japan's whaling programme, only one met the international benchmark for scientific credibility

17 June 2005: Desertification, dust are global threats – report. Two billion people live in drylands vulnerable to desertification

17 June 2005: Nats accuse govt of $1 billion bungle. Opposition parties are accusing the Government of a billion dollar bungle after the disclosure that NZ is unlikely to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol

17 June 2005: Next Indian Ocean tsunami matter of time, experts say. Australian seismologists keeping a close eye on Indonesia

17 June 2005: Extreme weather linked to climate change. Computer models suggest that hurricanes will intensify as warmer temperatures draw more ocean water into the atmosphere

17 June 2005: US regulators vote to tighten rules on Pacific bottom trawling. Voted to impose a permanent ban on trawl fishing in nearly 768,000sq km of Pacific waters off the West Coast

17 June 2005: NZ should stick to climate change obligations – Clark. Strong economic growth a factor in billion dollar carbon credit turn-around, says Prime Minister

17 June 2005: Kyoto can be saved with new minister and new approach. Government should be seen as a regulator between polluting industries, with no risk to the tax payer - forestry association

16 June 2005: Nukes in, cash out in softened G8 climate text. A new draft communique on climate change for next month's Group of Eight summit has removed plans to fund research and put into question top scientists' warnings that global warming is already under way

16 June 2005: More droughts due to climate change would threaten economy. NIWA report sets out a range of four scenarios, based on two computerised climate models

16 June 2005: Targets for greenhouse gas emission projected to be overshot. NZ's greenhouse gas emissions were projected to overshoot by about 30 million tonnes the targets set under the Kyoto Protocol

16 June 2005: Severe droughts becoming much more common in NZ: scientists. Climate change is increasing the risk of drought in regions of NZ which are already drought-prone - NIWA

16 June 2005: Country projected to overshoot climate change targets. Nick Smith MP claims it's a "$1 billion mistake"

16 June 2005: East Coast forestry project under scrutiny. 30,000ha had been planted, and a scientific research programme had been established

15 June 2005: Great Barrier Reef in dirty water, scientist says. The scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin has published a special edition on the decline of one of the world's most important natural assets

15 June 2005: Exploration of NZ seabed finds potentially valuable organisms. Scientists using manned and remote-controlled submersibles in New Zealand waters have discovered micro-organisms with potential use for pharmaceuticals, researchers say

14 June 2005: Van Gogh's sunflower scenes 'heading for southern England'. Climate scientists predict a changing landscape with native woodlands of oak, beech, ash and Scots pine giving way to olives and eucalyptus within 50 to 100 years

12 June 2005: Stagecoach looks at adding sheep urine to it bus fuel. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions

12 June 2005: Ex-lobbyist leaves White House environmental job. Days after a newspaper reported he changed some government reports to downplay links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming

10 June 2005: Big business urges urgent G8 global warming action. Follows a similar appeal from the world's top scientists

10 June 2005: Cities finally waking up to the realities of drought. However, critics still saying gvt treating it as a short-term problem

10 June 2005: UN research institute calls for clear rules on sea research. Leaps in technology have made the darkest reaches of the sea much easier to explore, necessitating new rules to govern the precious resources of the deep

9 June 2005: Heightened risk of hurricanes this year: analysts. The Atlantic may face a major hurricane season this year

9 June 2005: Australia may be short of support for whaling moratorium. Australia conceded on Thursday it may be a few votes short of victory in a campaign to extend a moratorium on commercial whaling at an international conference this month

9 June 2005: Greenpeace stalks foreign bottom trawlers. Greenpeace activists who have spent the past two days disrupting operations by a Nelson-based bottom trawler have now set their sights on foreign boats

9 June 2005: Brazilian scientists unveil newly discovered prehistoric croc. Discovery suggests that an ancient land bridge once linked South America to Indo-Pakistan

9 June 2005: Grazing rights withdrawn in Victorian Alpine National Park. Victorian government says scientific evidence showed cattle caused considerable environmental damage to the national park

9 June 2005: Tiny dots of land in Pacific hold key to whales' future. Little definite good news from Australian environment minister's Pacific march this week seeking a united regional stance against the slaughter of whales, beyond a partial assurance and some encouraging words from island leaders

8 June 2005: Fears of more quakes, tsunami off Sumatra. Study takes a fresh look at Sumatra's seismic mosaic in the light of the last two great quakes, focusing on the two biggest fault-lines

8 June 2005: Perth warned of the impact of floods, quakes and tsunamis. Four year study into natural hazard risks by Geoscience Australia

8 June 2005: Forest owners leave loophole for GE organisms in nation's forest. NZ's forest owners say they have left a deliberate loophole for genetically engineered organisms in their new national standard for sustainable management of plantation forest management

8 June 2005: Aust nuclear debate heats up. Time to discard popular misconceptions about nuclear power and welcome a new debate on its use - Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

8 June 2005: Drought-plagued China sees water crisis peak in 2030. China had 21 percent of the global population and only 7 percent of the world's total water resources

8 June 2005: British newspaper claims Exxon leaned on Bush to shun Kyoto. The London-based Guardian newspaper claims to have seen official documents showing the oil and gas giant played a role in US climate change policy

8 June 2005: US official edited warming, emission link – report. Philip Cooney, chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, made changes to descriptions of climate research that had already been approved by government scientists and their supervisors

7 June 2005: Scientists join G8 campaign. Science academies from the world's leading nations are joining forces to call on their governments to act over climate change and Africa ahead of next month's summit in Gleneagles

4 June 2005: UN asked to ban longline fishing, save sea turtle, tidy oceans. Scientists to push for sustainable fishing practices at up-coming UN meeting on oceans and marine law

3 June 2005: Not all native birds suffer from human development – ecologist. Long-term monitoring by Bay of Plenty environmentalist Peter Scott shows pukeko, kingfishers, fantails, tui, harrier hawks and morepork are survivors of a changing landscape

2 June 2005: New use of stable isotopes confirms pest moth a new arrival. Confirmed the diet of the moth was consistent with it having originated outside New Zealand

2 June 2005: Australia to lead protest against Japan's whaling. New Zealand to participate in diplomatic meeting with Japan's Foreign Ministry

1 June 2005: Indian scientists to study tsunami-volcano link. Last week's eruption of India's only active volcano is to be studied for a possible link to the devasting earthquake and tsunami that hit the region in December

1 June 2005: May - the month of the big wet. Tauranga experiences wettest month for more than a century - NIWA

1 June 2005: Antarctica conference to focus on environment, climate. Representatives of 50 governments, researchers and experts will meet for a two-week conference in Stockholm to discuss the Antarctic, especially environmental and climate change issues

31 May 2005: New Zealand needs greater oil, gas exploration effort – expert. One possibility was to put together a national collaborative effort to link research to make a major focused search for oil and gas

30 May 2005: Climate change may have killed mega-marsupials: researcher. New research on fossils found in an ancient animal graveyard in Queensland's Darling Downs suggests climate change may have wiped out Australia's giant wombats and kangaroos more than 40,000 years ago

30 May 2005: Climate change: cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of law. Invest in technology or face a future of climate change litigation, environmentalists say

30 May 2005: High-tech ship sets course for green ocean transport. Shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) is showing off its new freighter powered solely by wind and waves at the World Expo in Japan, as maritime rules get tougher on emissions and ballast water

28 May 2005: Leaked G8 climate graft sets no specific targets. Environmentalists say leaked document fails to address targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions

27 May 2005: Wind farm gets emission units worth $10 million. Wind farm near Lumsden has been awarded emission units worth $10.6 million on the international market

27 May 2005: Seismologist who founded California earthquake centre dies. Eminent geophysicist Keiiti Aki, dies after a fall on the French island of Reunion

26 May 2005: Little-known fault threatens big LA disaster – study. Researchers predict a fault on the Puente Hills, where large earthquakes have been recorded only four times in the past 11,000 years, has the potential to kill as many as 18,000 people throughout Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernadino counties

26 May 2005: Whales at risk again from Japanese hunting, say international researchers. NZ and US scientists say Japan's intention to increase the number of whales killed for scientific purposes will further threaten South Pacific whales, and they will fight all the way to have the proposal overturned

25 May 2005: Drought package to address 'major concerns' of farm leaders. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson has agreed to fund emergency relief for farmers despite suggestions from a prominent scientist that much of the land is unsustainable

24 May 2005: Australia an 'environmental bandit', says David Suzuki. Visiting scientist slams Prime Minister John Howard for failing to sign the Kyoto Protocol

24 May 2005: Nelson landfill project gets emission units worth $420,000. Gas from the landfill will be piped to Nelson Hospital to fuel a new boiler system, reducing the reliance on coal

23 May 2005: 650kg leatherback turtle found dead on Auckland beach. DNA samples to be sent to US database of endangered species

21 May 2005: Groundbreaking wave power project to be built off Portugal. The floating generators will use wave motion to produce electricity by pumping high-pressure fluids to motors to generate power

21 May 2005: US official touts world network of weather data. Says international data collected from weather stations, ocean temperature sensors and satellites could revolutionise long-term weather forecasting within 10 years

21 May 2005: Asia tsunami quake stronger than first thought. New studies suggest a magnitude of 9.15 - the fourth largest quake since 1900

21 May 2005: Report: researcher identifies new tectonic plate under Tokyo. Until now the plate was believed to have been an extension of the Philippine Plate

21 May 2005: Climate change could crowd middle of Europe – EEA. Environmentalists predict a massive exodus from a thawing Arctic and a drought-stricken Mediterranean

21 May 2005: Advisory group recommends five-year black coral harvesting ban. To protect younger populations of the gemstone in Hawaiian waters now in decline

20 May 2005: Interim Indian ocean tsunami warning system by October. Mainly through upgrading an existing network of tide gauges

20 May 2005: Tsunami could strike Australia within a decade. US scientists are predicting a large earthquake could strike north of New Zealand within ten years, raising fears of a tsunami hazard for the east coast of Australia

20 May 2005: World's biodiversity declining at an alarming rate, report says. Second of seven reports billed as the world's largest study of changes to Earth's ecosystems and their impact on humans

19 May 2005: Scientists unveil online earthquake forecast for California. Real-time, colour-coded maps that provide earthquake probabilities in a specific region

18 May 2005: Australia ready for 'long-term solutions' on global warming. Committed to finding more efficient technologies that will allow for the continued economic use of fossil fuels

18 May 2005: US doubts new Kyoto climate deal after 2012. Says getting consensus among participants will be difficult

18 May 2005: Climate change pushes nuclear power back on the agenda. Up for discussion at the July summit of G8 nations

18 May 2005: Cash incentives needed to save rainforests – PNG. With the third biggest rainforest in the world, Papua New Guinea is pushing for developing countries to be paid to preserve forests from deforestation, a cause of global warming they say is not getting as much attention as factories, power plants and cars

17 May 2005: China warns of danger of melting Everest glaciers. Scientists have found glaciers on the Tibet side of the mountain are melting at a rate twice as fast as normal, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk from glacial lakes at bursting point

17 May 2005: UN climate talks start hunt for Kyoto successor. Planning starts on how to address climate change after 2012

17 May 2005: Spring's start coming earlier, study blames global warming. New Stanford University study

16 May 2005: Wind energy could supply as much as 35 percent of peak supply. A new study by the Ministry of Economic Development and the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority shows wind industry is the fastest growing sector of the generation market

16 May 2005: Trustpower project gets carbon unit bonus. Ashburton hydro scheme proposal could be worth nearly $900,000 under the Kyoto Protocol

16 May 2005: Strong quake shakes Kermadec Islands north of NZ. 6.6 quake not unusual in active fault zone - GNS

14 May 2005: Solar activity linked to whale strandings. Findings of a German study that compared beached whales in the North Sea over 300 years with astronomical data of sunspots during that period

14 May 2005: UN to start marathon in Bonn to widen Kyoto. First formal UN climate meeting since protocol came into force set for 16-17 May

13 May 2005: Italy pools with Spain and Portugal to fight natural disasters. Allowing researchers to improve monitoring and to share data about potentially dangerous geological phenomena

13 May 2005: PM announces $250m plan to protect Tasmanian forests. Australian government announces strategy to reduce clear-felling of old growth forests in the region by 60 percent by 2010

13 May 2005: BBC to send divers, scientists to site of tsunami earthquake. An international team of 21 scientists operating from a deep-water ship, the Performer, will spend 17 days researching the epicentre

13 May 2005: Let tsunami-damaged reefs recover naturally, scientist says. The chair of the World Bank's Coral Restoration and Remediation Working Group says governments should not fund costly repair programmes when history shows damaged reefs can mend themselves with time

12 May 2005: India scientists say hot springs predict quakes. Say the December tsunami was preceded by a dramatic rise in gases coming from deep within the earth at hot springs in the region that may be a reliable warning signal

12 May 2005: Fledgling carbon market starts to fly: World Bank. 43 million tonnes of CO2 traded since the start of this year

11 May 2005: Swiss put glacier under wraps to slow ice melt. Cover shrinking ice-cap at a Swiss resort with a fleece-like fabric to reflect the sun's rays

11 May 2005: Investors at UN meet pledge $1 b in clean energy. The pledge by US and UK institutions follows industrial heavyweight General Electric's commitment to double its R&D investment in technologies to reduce greenhouse gases

11 May 2005: Up to 5 percent of farmed salmon deformed – researcher. While researchers at Norwegian Institute of Aquaculture Research say the reason for the deformities in farmed Atlantic salmon are unknown, they suspect it could be linked to pollution or warm water temperatures

10 May 2005: Painted apple moth found in Otahuhu. Biosecurity officials say the single live male moth found in a trap at a container facility on Thursday is not a sign the recent eradication programme undertaken in west Auckland had failed

9 May 2005: Community asked to fund cull of possums which pose no TB threat. Banks Peninsula pest control programme seen as a test of community attitudes as national body funding winds down

9 May 2005: Geologists puzzled by lack of aftershocks. GNS scientists monitoring the Haast area hampered by a lack of data

9 May 2005: Summer sunlight helps trigger rise in suicides - UK scientists. Researchers show link between a change in serotonin levels and a 50 percent increase in attempted suicides since 1990

6 May 2005: Otago professor warns of a future without oil. Physicist and director of the university's energy management programme Bob Lloyd says increased transport costs due rising oil prices will put the breaks on economic expansion in this country

6 May 2005: Ancient jungles offer new insight into modern life. Researchers studying the effects of modern civilisation on members of one of the last remaining primitive tribes in Borneo say those that leave the forest for urban areas are more likely to suffer poor health and a loss of cultural identity

5 May 2005: Local councils welcome clean water plan. Local councils have welcomed the Government's announcement of a $137 million fund to help improve NZ's drinking water

4 May 2005: New Zealand to introduce carbon tax in 2007. To increase vehicle fuels, energy prices, lower GDP

3 May 2005: Scientists to study Haast quake. To monitor aftershocks near the Alpine fault overdue for a large quake after the area close by was hit by two big shallow earthquakes

3 May 2005: Restoring natural ecosystems in cities. Research will develop a model to reverse the loss of native plants and wildlife in NZ's urban areas

3 May 2005: NZ scientists show icy fish can adapt to warmer waters. Antarctica's bald rock cod adjust to an 8degC hike in water temperature, a finding that has surprised researchers studying the effect of global warming on fish species

2 May 2005: Researchers to replant city park in line with Maori memories. Waikato University researchers at Hamilton plan to spend $400,000 a year for the next four years working out how they can get people to plant more native bush in cities

2 May 2005: Govt puts $200 million in ecosystem research over next 12 years. The new projects cover biosecurity, possum bio-control, ecosystem resilience, restoring and sustaining biodiversity and defining New Zealand's flora and fauna

2 May 2005: A million dollar biodiversity question. Research team will work with councils and government agencies to develop and test policies for encouraging people to voluntarily take steps towards establishing, protecting and enhancing biodiversity habitats on their own land

2 May 2005: Big bird race takes flight. The race features 17 Tasmanian Shy Albatrosses, fitted with an electronic 'jockey' to allow scientists to track its progress on the migratory path from Tasmania to the South African city of Durban

2 May 2005: UK scientist's bright idea to fight global warming. Professor Colin Humphreys is developing tiny LEDs using gallium nitride, which he says could cut CO2 emissions by 15 percent

1 May 2005: Forecasters fear Australia slipping back into drought. The Australian National Climate Centre is predicting another El Nino event

1 May 2005: April rainfall at record lows. There was above average sunshine in most regions, with records set in Northland, Auckland, Nelson and Dunedin

30 April 2005: Flies help predict climatic change: researchers. Climatic change has dramatically altered the genetic makeup of vinegar flies on Australia's east coast over 20 years

29 April 2005: Undersea, space data back global warming projections. Climate scientists have found the heat exchange between Earth and space is seriously out of balance - what the researchers called a "smoking gun" discovery that validates forecasts of global warming

28 April 2005: Indian coral relocation offers hope for reefs. Indian marine biologists have successfully relocated corals threatened by an undersea pipeline to a new home in the Arabian Sea, offering hope to corals damaged by the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean

27 April 2005: Scientists call for fishing limits to protect tuna. Electronic tagging study finds Atlantic Bluefin tuna on the brink of extinction

26 April 2005: International scientists gather to study climate conditions. To study Northland's climate-sensitive ancient kauri for clues

26 April 2005: Carbon tax exemption - firms urged to get cracking. The Climate Change Office is urging all firms with high energy use wishing to negotiate tax relief to act promptly

23 April 2005: Fields of sunken wreckage exist beneath the sea off Hawaii. Pearl Harbour poses challenge for marine researchers

22 April 2005: Antarctic glaciers in retreat from climate change. A British Antarctic Survey scientist says the Antarctic peninsular could end up looking like the Alps

21 April 2005: Contamination alert after geothermal eruption. This week's eruption near Reporoa is sending contaminated water down the Waikato River

21 April 2005: Veteran submariner goes deep in search for knowledge. GNS chief executive Alex Malahoff heads off to explore New Zealand's underwater volcanoes next week

20 April 2005: Water quality overtakes air pollution as nation's big worry. In a biennial survey by environment specialists at Lincoln University, 19 percent of respondents ranked water quality as their main environmental concern

20 April 2005: Research boat to drop floats to measure climate warming. The NIWA ship will deploy the high-tech fl