Precipitation in shallow convection over the Southern Ocean. This project aims to quantify the amount of precipitation over the Southern Ocean and identify the key dynamical and microphysical processes that lead to its development. Large uncertainties exist in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, which limits the ability to model the coupled Southern Ocean climate system. Observations from the RV Investigator, an Australian marine research vessel, have revealed heavy precipitation event ....Precipitation in shallow convection over the Southern Ocean. This project aims to quantify the amount of precipitation over the Southern Ocean and identify the key dynamical and microphysical processes that lead to its development. Large uncertainties exist in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, which limits the ability to model the coupled Southern Ocean climate system. Observations from the RV Investigator, an Australian marine research vessel, have revealed heavy precipitation events within the shallow convection commonly found between fronts that have not been captured by either satellite observations or numerical models. This project will improve weather forecasts, including precipitation, and climate projections over the Southern Ocean and the adjoining Antarctic and the southern part of Australia.Read moreRead less
Links between bushfires in Victoria and floods in Queensland. This project will investigate connections between bushfires in Victoria and floods in Queensland under the framework that atmospheric blocking can be thought of as a common link. High resolution runs using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change future projections of the energetics of high impact weather will improve climate forecasts in sensitive coastal areas of the country.
Improving the avoidance and prediction of turbulence from thunderstorms. One of the most critical weather-related safety issues for aviation is atmospheric turbulence caused by thunderstorms. Thunderstorm-generated turbulence is responsible for frequent serious injuries and significant costs to airlines that are ultimately passed on to passengers. Using extensive new data, case studies and state-of-the-art simulations, this project aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics and behaviour ....Improving the avoidance and prediction of turbulence from thunderstorms. One of the most critical weather-related safety issues for aviation is atmospheric turbulence caused by thunderstorms. Thunderstorm-generated turbulence is responsible for frequent serious injuries and significant costs to airlines that are ultimately passed on to passengers. Using extensive new data, case studies and state-of-the-art simulations, this project aims to improve our understanding of the dynamics and behaviour of thunderstorm-generated turbulence and its representation in weather forecast models. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of new methods to avoid and predict turbulence for use by the aviation industry. This research should provide significant benefits, such as safer and more efficient air travel.Read moreRead less
The weather-climate connection in Australian climate change. This project aims to uncover the key links in Australia's weather-climate connection by identifying the role weather features play in influencing the slowly varying climate and how changes in one might affect changes in the other. Better describing the two-way connection between weather and climate through an innovative combination of research techniques usually applied to only one of weather or climate will allow for a more insightful ....The weather-climate connection in Australian climate change. This project aims to uncover the key links in Australia's weather-climate connection by identifying the role weather features play in influencing the slowly varying climate and how changes in one might affect changes in the other. Better describing the two-way connection between weather and climate through an innovative combination of research techniques usually applied to only one of weather or climate will allow for a more insightful assessment of climate model quality. This assessment will support the identification of the most reliable climate models and, by using them, reduce uncertainties in future predictions. Improved predictions of climate in turn will enable better decision making in all sectors of society.Read moreRead less
Cloudiness over the Southern Ocean: reducing a key knowledge gap and source of climate model uncertainty. Southern Ocean clouds are key ingredients of the global climate system and yet are only poorly understood and poorly represented in climate models. Through the use of advanced observational analysis techniques this research will provide a deep understanding of key Southern Ocean cloud regimes and improve their representation in models.
Numerical prediction of bushfire behaviour and bushfire weather. Bushfires are a threat to Australia’s population and infrastructure, but there are many aspects of fire behaviour that are poorly understood. This project will examine how bushfires interact with the atmosphere and how these interactions influence fire spread. This research will underpin the development of new systems for fire weather prediction.
Weekly cycles of atmospheric parameters over Australia and the quantification of human influences on climate. Many human activities are organised on a seven-day cycle. The consequences of this might be expected to appear in the average variations of meteorological parameters across the week. This research will investigate these intra-week variations at many locations across Australia and will provide a critical insight into the human impact on climate.