The award goes to the collaborative Niwa-University of Otago Centre for Chemical and Physical Oceanography, which last year also won the $500,000 top award in the Prime Minister's science prizes.
Last year's award was for the group's cutting edge research in evaluating ways to reduce greenhouse gases.
The new award recognises outstanding research performance at a high international level by a research group led from the university.
Based in the Otago chemistry department, the centre is a recognised world leader in the field of understanding the chemistry of the oceans' interactions with carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The group's internationally influential contributions include undertaking large-scale ocean fertilisation experiments in which iron triggered vast phytoplankton blooms that take up carbon dioxide from the air.
Findings from the centre's ground-breaking investigations have been published in several international journals and have featured in international conferences on geo-engineering.
Deputy vice-chancellor, research and enterprise, Prof Richard Blaikie said the award helped recognise that achieving such "sustained research excellence", often resulted from sustained "good teamwork".
Centre co-director Prof Keith Hunter, who is also the Otago pro-vice-chancellor, sciences, said the Otago award was "the ultimate pat on the back" from peers.
He was "really pleased" about the recognition given to his centre colleagues, and postgraduate and postdoctoral students.
The centre's success owed much to collaborative links between Niwa and the Otago department.
These links had also enabled a critical mass of researchers in chemistry, physics and plankton biology to be built up, and provided access to Niwa's research vessel Tangaroa and the university vessel Polaris II.
Dunedin-based scientists were "lucky to live" in an almost unique location close to the Southern Ocean.
"For once, the tyranny of distance becomes a blessing."
The centre was also developing plans for further cutting edge research, including trying to build a "regional" model of the Southern Ocean, partly to clarify patterns in nutrient-related biological productivity.
"If you find yourself at the top of the tree, you need to look for a bigger tree," Prof Hunter said.
The centre's other co-director is Dr Rob Murdoch, of Niwa.
