Assessing clouds and rainfall in Australia's community climate model - Towards an improved simulation of Australia's water resources. Climate change is likely to significantly affect Australia's water resources. A well-measured response to this challenge requires reliable projections of future climate using modern Earth System Models. By thoroughly evaluating Australia's community climate model this research will inform Australia's adaptation policy and through subsequent model development it wi ....Assessing clouds and rainfall in Australia's community climate model - Towards an improved simulation of Australia's water resources. Climate change is likely to significantly affect Australia's water resources. A well-measured response to this challenge requires reliable projections of future climate using modern Earth System Models. By thoroughly evaluating Australia's community climate model this research will inform Australia's adaptation policy and through subsequent model development it will contribute to significant improvements in our ability to understand and predict climate change. Through better informing water resource management the research constitutes an important contribution to an environmentally sustainable Australia. Read moreRead less
Southern Ocean nutrients and their links to climate change: insights from the isotope and elemental signature of diatoms and sponges. It is not possible to respond effectively to climate change and variability associated with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide without understanding the role that marine phytoplankton play in the uptake and sequestering of carbon dioxide. The proposed research will lead to a greater understanding of how nutrients such as silica have limited phytoplankton grow ....Southern Ocean nutrients and their links to climate change: insights from the isotope and elemental signature of diatoms and sponges. It is not possible to respond effectively to climate change and variability associated with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide without understanding the role that marine phytoplankton play in the uptake and sequestering of carbon dioxide. The proposed research will lead to a greater understanding of how nutrients such as silica have limited phytoplankton growth, and ultimately the role the ocean plays in the sequestration of carbon dioxide over time. Such knowledge will benefit possible ocean-based carbon dioxide mitigation strategies, i.e. ocean fertilisation to stimulate ocean productivity and carbon dioxide drawdown.Read moreRead less
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) drilling in the Great Barrier Reef: unlocking the causes, rates and consequences of abrupt sea level and climate change. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and how it will respond to future global climate changes is of fundamental importance to the nation. The project will address this challenge by investigating the submerged fossil coral reefs in the GBR. This will lead to a better understanding of the natural rates, range and forcing mechanisms that control g ....Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) drilling in the Great Barrier Reef: unlocking the causes, rates and consequences of abrupt sea level and climate change. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and how it will respond to future global climate changes is of fundamental importance to the nation. The project will address this challenge by investigating the submerged fossil coral reefs in the GBR. This will lead to a better understanding of the natural rates, range and forcing mechanisms that control global sea-level and climate variability (ie. paleo-ENSO), and geo-biological changes affecting the GBR over the last 20,000 years. This project will provide unique insights into the response of the GBR to past environmental stress and improve predictions about the vulnerability of GBR to future global climate changes.Read moreRead less
Innovative measurement and modelling of greenhouse fluxes at regional scales across Australia. Carbon dioxide accounts for around 60% of the enhanced greenhouse effect. This proposal aims to markedly improve knowledge of the exchange of carbon, mostly as CO2, between atmospheric, ocean and land-based reservoirs in the Australian region. This will be achieved through a suite of measurements using innovative technologies: satellite and ground based remote sensing as well in situ measurements at ....Innovative measurement and modelling of greenhouse fluxes at regional scales across Australia. Carbon dioxide accounts for around 60% of the enhanced greenhouse effect. This proposal aims to markedly improve knowledge of the exchange of carbon, mostly as CO2, between atmospheric, ocean and land-based reservoirs in the Australian region. This will be achieved through a suite of measurements using innovative technologies: satellite and ground based remote sensing as well in situ measurements at Darwin and on the Ghan railway from Darwin to Adelaide. The measurements will be used to constrain inverse models of the carbon cycle and significantly reduce uncertainties in regional carbon source estimates. These estimates will in turn be compared to the Australian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for comparison and verification.Read moreRead less
Do terrestrial processes intensify Australian droughts ? Australia's agricultural productivity is strongly affected by climate, climate variability and climate change. Recent climate changes in Western Australia forced adaptation strategies costing $500 million while the anomalously intense 2002 Murray-Darling Basin drought significantly affected agriculture. Any further intensification of droughts would affect Australia's rural economy. This proposal will assess the role of terrestrial processe ....Do terrestrial processes intensify Australian droughts ? Australia's agricultural productivity is strongly affected by climate, climate variability and climate change. Recent climate changes in Western Australia forced adaptation strategies costing $500 million while the anomalously intense 2002 Murray-Darling Basin drought significantly affected agriculture. Any further intensification of droughts would affect Australia's rural economy. This proposal will assess the role of terrestrial processes, linked to increasing CO2, in causing the drought intensification and declines in rainfall. This will provide knowledge that will guide the development of future environmental management strategies.Read moreRead less
Reengineering a dynamic vegetation model to explore the stability of Australian terrestrial carbon. Overseas models do not represent Australian biophysical processes well: our flora and fauna are unique and our soils are old and nutrient poor. In contrast, the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) is a world-class framework for estimating current carbon processes. By building NCAS expertise into an overseas model of soil and vegetation processes we can develop the capacity to increase our con ....Reengineering a dynamic vegetation model to explore the stability of Australian terrestrial carbon. Overseas models do not represent Australian biophysical processes well: our flora and fauna are unique and our soils are old and nutrient poor. In contrast, the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) is a world-class framework for estimating current carbon processes. By building NCAS expertise into an overseas model of soil and vegetation processes we can develop the capacity to increase our confidence in future projections of carbon and vegetation change. Our proposal, linking Universities, CSIRO and the Australian Greenhouse Office establishes a team that is internationally competitive. It will enhance local expertise and local model development to ensure national policy development is underpinned by world-class science.Read moreRead less
The ARC Earth System Science Research Network. The ARC Earth System Science Network incorporates data collectors, modellers and impacts researchers to address the impacts of climate change and variability on Human, biological and physical systems. Our capacity to adapt to changes in water availability, agricultural productivity, the likelihood of species extinctions, and risks to human health will be enhanced through the Network's use of frontier technologies. The enhanced capacity to use data a ....The ARC Earth System Science Research Network. The ARC Earth System Science Network incorporates data collectors, modellers and impacts researchers to address the impacts of climate change and variability on Human, biological and physical systems. Our capacity to adapt to changes in water availability, agricultural productivity, the likelihood of species extinctions, and risks to human health will be enhanced through the Network's use of frontier technologies. The enhanced capacity to use data and model the Earth System will allow policymakers to make more informed decisions with regard to water, biodiversity, human health, industry and agriculture sustainability; thereby enhancing the national capacity to respond to climate change and variability and securing our common interest.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354594
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
The Australian Climate System Network. The climate system integrates the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, biosphere, land-surface and the fluxes of energy, water and biogeochemical quantities between these elements. Changes in climate affect Australia dramatically: for example, the cost of the recent drought exceeded $10 billion. To enable internationally competitive climate system research, networking is required to enhance our national capability and our international connectivity. We will expl ....The Australian Climate System Network. The climate system integrates the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, biosphere, land-surface and the fluxes of energy, water and biogeochemical quantities between these elements. Changes in climate affect Australia dramatically: for example, the cost of the recent drought exceeded $10 billion. To enable internationally competitive climate system research, networking is required to enhance our national capability and our international connectivity. We will explore the establishment of a Climate System Network by facilitating communication between Universities, government agencies and CRCs. The Climate System Network will enable new climate-related questions relating to the sustainability of the Australian physical and Human environments to be explored.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing pre-20th century rainfall, temperature and pressure for south-eastern Australia using palaeoclimate, documentary and early weather station data. South-eastern Australia is in the grip of a severe water crisis due to the worst drought in recorded history and increasing temperatures. This landmark project brings together a team of Australia's leading climate scientists, water managers and historians with the common goal of reconstructing south-eastern Australia's climate history. Th ....Reconstructing pre-20th century rainfall, temperature and pressure for south-eastern Australia using palaeoclimate, documentary and early weather station data. South-eastern Australia is in the grip of a severe water crisis due to the worst drought in recorded history and increasing temperatures. This landmark project brings together a team of Australia's leading climate scientists, water managers and historians with the common goal of reconstructing south-eastern Australia's climate history. The greatly extended record of annual rainfall and temperature variability will allow better planning for water storage and use, and improved testing of climate model simulations. Improving our understanding of the historical impacts of climate extremes on society will assist with planning for life in a hotter and drier future.Read moreRead less
Testing the hypothesis of synchronous inter-hemispheric climatic change during the Last Termination (20,000-10,000 years ago). The results generated in this project will provide a greater understanding of the sensitivity of the Australasian region to a range of different climatic conditions (far beyond that recorded in historical datasets). Focussing on climate at the end of the last ice age (20,000-10,000 years ago) we will investigate the timing, rate and magnitude of change in the Australasi ....Testing the hypothesis of synchronous inter-hemispheric climatic change during the Last Termination (20,000-10,000 years ago). The results generated in this project will provide a greater understanding of the sensitivity of the Australasian region to a range of different climatic conditions (far beyond that recorded in historical datasets). Focussing on climate at the end of the last ice age (20,000-10,000 years ago) we will investigate the timing, rate and magnitude of change in the Australasian region and test whether the variability was in phase with other records from the mid- and high-latitudes of the Southern and Northern Hemisphere. The results will provide a considerably improved context for understanding present and future climate change in Australia. Read moreRead less