SeaWeek 2023: Tracking ocean temperatures with a waka
Last Sunday at Ngāmotu Beach, MetOcean Research Communicator Naomi Puketapu-Waite held a stall at Taranaki’s SeaWeek event for 2023. SeaWeek is an annual event run by the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education, a national non-profit that promotes and supports lifelong learning and sustainability for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Stalls lined the breakwater at Ngāmotu beach as groups from around Taranaki came together to appreciate and celebrate the moana. MetOcean’s stall showcased the Moana Project’s Mangōpare temperature sensor, alongside the Taranaki Outrigger Canoe Club, who deploy the sensor with a repurposed fishing rod from their waka.
Avid paddler Roisin Johnson said the club are keen on taking the sensor on their waka trips “Being a part of the Mangōpare temperature sensor programme is great for the club. We are out on the water often and like helping researchers to better understand what is happening below the surface.”
Members of the Taranaki Outrigger Canoe Club
Club Captain Hugh with the rod & sensor combo
Paddling in after deployment
The sensor garnered lots of attention from all ages throughout the event, with one standout comment from a young girl who queried if future sensors could be designed to change colour when exposed to colder water. Genius!
Even local MP Barbara Kuriger stopped by to check the sensor out, and learnt about how they are being used around the country by commercial fishers, education providers and research groups to collect subsurface temperature data.
Naomi Puketapu-Waite and MP Barbara Kuriger
The next generation of scientists contributing to the kaupapa
Currently there are 300 sensors across the country that are collecting this data, and after two years of rolling these sensors out we have:
Total Measurements: 14003052
Total Deployments: 36396
Max Depth: 1562 m
Max Number of Measurements by One Sensor: 20028
Total time underwater by Mangopare sensors: 42 years
SeaWeek 2023 was a blast, and we would like to thank Wild for Taranaki for hosting the event here in Ngāmotu. See you all at SeaWeek 2024!