On the 5th of August 2025, the Year 10 students at Raglan Area School were offered an amazing opportunity to help Met Ocean. Our goal was to record the tides, temperatures and swells of the Whaingaroa harbour.
With Whaea Sandra, Whaea Carolyn and Whaea Gwyn, the Year 10 syndicate walked down to the water. Once we arrived at the water front, three women helped us work our way through the procedure – Lisa, Mireya, and Kiri.
The way we started measuring the required information was by dropping a ripe orange into the harbour off of the bridge, recording the time, and plotting where the orange flowed in the estuary. This told us what way the currents were moving, and how fast they were.
We also dropped a ‘mangōpare sensor’ into the sea to get a more precise reading of the temperature and water pressure. The mangōpare sensor is a small lightweight device that measures the temperature, pressure and speed at which the swells are moving. Usually it is attached to the back of commercial boats. This can be useful for chartering and construction around the water.
The next day, we plotted where the orange had floated which allowed us to measure the speed of the currents. We give a big thanks to Met Ocean, Lisa and Mireya for giving us the awesome opportunity; we learnt so much from this experience!
by Otto and Stella.
