United States Assistant Secretary of State Claudia A. McMurray and NIWA’s Acting Chief Executive Byrce Cooper signed an important bilateral scientific arrangement today in Wellington. The cooperative arrangement provides a framework for the United States and New Zealand to exchange and augment expertise and information about earth sciences (including hydrology.)

“The arrangement will promote the protection of the environment, strengthen economic development and encourage the efficient employment of geological resources. It will increase the exchange of relevant scientific and technical knowledge, training, equipment and capacity,” says Assistant Secretary McMurray who heads the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science.

The arrangement between the U.S. Geological Survey and New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is also expected to increase the number of exchange visits between both institutions’ scientists and enhance cooperative research in areas of mutual interest.

“We are delighted to be intensifying collaboration with NIWA which is one of the premier hydrologic institutions in the world,” Assistant Secretary McMurray said.

Ms. McMurray noted that NIWA is very well known internationally for research in such areas as sediment transport, hydraulic modeling, and the development of advanced hydrologic and hydraulic measurements and methods. The Crown Research Institute has also developed innovative processes for the collection and processing of stream-flow records.