Every day, the MetOceanView service ingests and serves up to our clients more than 2 million unique data points. These are modelled and observed data providing vital marine and atmospheric weather information to users.

This week, Cyclone Gabrielle brought significant heavy rain and strong winds that, combined with energetic ocean swells, caused significant storm surges to New Zealand. Surges occurred along the northern and eastern coasts of the North Island as well as parts of the South Island, as the system moved away to the east. Storm surge is the abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides. These surges, caused by the wind, waves and atmospheric pressure changes associated with a storm, exacerbate the effect of waves on coastal areas.

Unprecedented flooding of low-lying sections of New Zealand's largest cities occurred over the past weekend, severely disrupting the nation's public transportation system and forcing the shutdown of the country's international and domestic airports.

Storm surge is a critical component of coastal flooding and significant portions of NZ’s population and infrastructure are threatened by this weather hazard. A storm surge is an extreme event where low pressure systems (storms) combine with a high tides to cause coastal flooding. MetService, the University of Waikato, the University of Cantabria and Calypso Science collaborated under an MBIE Smart Ideas fund to develop innovative methods for the prediction of coastal storm-surge, applying state-of-the-art machine-learning techniques.