The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of East and Southeast Asia: interplay between the India-Eurasia collision and the Pacific and Sunda subduction zones. This project investigates how the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates have interacted with the Eurasian plate to form the largest continental deformation zone on Earth in East Asia, stretching from the Himalayas to Indonesia and eastern Siberia. This is important for understanding how mountain ranges form and how continents are torn apart.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100076
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$394,585.00
Summary
Mixing hot spots in the Southern Ocean: processes, parameterisations and climate impacts. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in the uptake of heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. This uptake depends strongly on mixing processes due to ocean eddies, which are especially important in regions of steep topography, leading to localised mixing hot spots. These ocean eddies have scales of 10-100km and therefore can not be resolved in current global climate models. This ....Mixing hot spots in the Southern Ocean: processes, parameterisations and climate impacts. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in the uptake of heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. This uptake depends strongly on mixing processes due to ocean eddies, which are especially important in regions of steep topography, leading to localised mixing hot spots. These ocean eddies have scales of 10-100km and therefore can not be resolved in current global climate models. This project will examine these mixing processes using a combination of observations and innovative modelling approaches. This knowledge will be used to improve the representation of eddy processes in state-of-the-art climate models, which will ultimately allow Australia to more effectively respond to the challenge of climate change.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100937
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,484.00
Summary
Turbulent mixing in the deep Southern Ocean. Mixing in the Southern Ocean strongly affects the transport and storage of heat, carbon, and nutrients in the global ocean and hence climate itself. Yet processes generating mixing in the Southern Ocean remain poorly understood and inadequately represented in present ocean and climate models. This project aims to: understand mixing processes based on an innovative approach combining sparse observations and computer simulations; and to implement this u ....Turbulent mixing in the deep Southern Ocean. Mixing in the Southern Ocean strongly affects the transport and storage of heat, carbon, and nutrients in the global ocean and hence climate itself. Yet processes generating mixing in the Southern Ocean remain poorly understood and inadequately represented in present ocean and climate models. This project aims to: understand mixing processes based on an innovative approach combining sparse observations and computer simulations; and to implement this understanding into a state-of-the-art climate model to study mixing impacts on the ocean circulation and climate. This project aims to produce substantial improvements in climate models and allow Australia to predict and respond more effectively to climate change.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100326
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$338,266.00
Summary
The role of subduction initiation in the evolution of Earth’s oceans. An outstanding question in plate tectonics is how do oceans start to close? The Wilson Cycle describes the life of an ocean in three phases: opening and spreading, foundering of its passive margins and development of new subduction zones, and consumption and closure. It has been suggested that new subduction zones are difficult to form and thereby they are more likely to spread from ocean to ocean like a sort of invasive mecha ....The role of subduction initiation in the evolution of Earth’s oceans. An outstanding question in plate tectonics is how do oceans start to close? The Wilson Cycle describes the life of an ocean in three phases: opening and spreading, foundering of its passive margins and development of new subduction zones, and consumption and closure. It has been suggested that new subduction zones are difficult to form and thereby they are more likely to spread from ocean to ocean like a sort of invasive mechanism. This project aims to make use of laboratory models and plate kinematic modelling to understand how subduction zones are initiating and propagating in the Atlantic. The project aims to provide clues on how ancient oceans may have closed and whether the Atlantic is already in its turning point.Read moreRead less
Sea level around Australia: fingerprints of melting ice sheets. The project aims to derive regional information on sea-level changes around the Australian coastline. The project plans to use a new technique to combine tide gauge and satellite observations of sea level with information on the spatially varying contributions of melting polar ice sheets, thermal expansion of the oceans and exchanges of water between continents and oceans. It also plans to create new software to enable time-varying ....Sea level around Australia: fingerprints of melting ice sheets. The project aims to derive regional information on sea-level changes around the Australian coastline. The project plans to use a new technique to combine tide gauge and satellite observations of sea level with information on the spatially varying contributions of melting polar ice sheets, thermal expansion of the oceans and exchanges of water between continents and oceans. It also plans to create new software to enable time-varying estimates of the contributions of these sources, from which the changes in sea level over the past century can be reconstructed at any location, including in places where no local observations have been made. This would provide Australian communities with the best possible information regarding sea-level changes in their own region.Read moreRead less
Intraplate volcanism near lateral slab edges: result of deep mantle plumes or slab rollback-induced mantle flow? This project investigates how the Earth's interior (the mantle) flows near edges of tectonic plates as these plates sink into the mantle. This is important because these flows have been crucial in shaping the Southwest Pacific region bordering Australia and might be responsible for the formation of some of the largest volcanoes on Earth.
Three-dimensional subduction models of overriding plate deformation and mantle flow using laboratory and numerical methods. This project investigates the interaction of the Earth's tectonic plates at subduction zones, places where one plate sinks below another plate into the Earth. This is important for understanding the evolution of the Australian plate that has active subduction zones to the north and east, and how its geological evolution is controlled by subduction.
The dynamics of convection - insights for ocean and climate physics and for solar thermal energy system design. This project will inform our understanding of, and response to, climate change by improving knowledge of ocean circulation and technology for renewable energy generation. The results will lead to better climate prediction models and understanding of ocean CO2 uptake, acidification and sea-level rise, and will help to reduce energy sector emissions.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102927
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Ingredients of the eddy soup in Southern Ocean dynamics: processes, climate impacts and parameterisation. This project aims to understand jet-topography-eddy interactions in the Southern Ocean, and to apply that understanding to improving the representation of ocean physics in models. It will provide the underpinning science needed to increase confidence in climate predictions that will allow Australia to more effectively respond to climate change.
Interactions of physical processes for Southern Ocean dynamics. The Southern Ocean circulation is a major component of the earth’s climate system. Its behaviour depends strongly on the interactions of physical processes that are poorly understood and are not well represented in ocean models. This project will use laboratory experiments and fully-resolved flow simulations with appropriate scaling to examine the dynamics of key interactions between convection, mixing, wind-driven flow, eddies and ....Interactions of physical processes for Southern Ocean dynamics. The Southern Ocean circulation is a major component of the earth’s climate system. Its behaviour depends strongly on the interactions of physical processes that are poorly understood and are not well represented in ocean models. This project will use laboratory experiments and fully-resolved flow simulations with appropriate scaling to examine the dynamics of key interactions between convection, mixing, wind-driven flow, eddies and large-scale currents, while translating the results to improve ocean models. The project will develop the fundamental physics of the deep overturning circulation, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, response timescales and heat uptake in a warming world, and improve predictions of oceanic and climate change.Read moreRead less