Cyclones, storm tracks and precipitation over the globe, and their sensitivity to climate change. The project will explore in detail the intimate connection across the globe between storms, storm tracks and precipitation and the changes in these key aspects of weather and climate. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of trends and outlooks for southern Australian and European weather and precipitation.
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.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100638
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$341,400.00
Summary
Improving the seasonal prediction of Australian rainfall extremes. This project aims to investigate the predictability of Australian extreme rainfall using the latest Bureau of Meteorology seasonal prediction system and new re-analyses and climate models. Extreme rainfall events in Australia are often associated with loss of life and damage to infrastructure and the environment, but some impacts can be mitigated with improved forecasting. This project will analyse influences of climate change an ....Improving the seasonal prediction of Australian rainfall extremes. This project aims to investigate the predictability of Australian extreme rainfall using the latest Bureau of Meteorology seasonal prediction system and new re-analyses and climate models. Extreme rainfall events in Australia are often associated with loss of life and damage to infrastructure and the environment, but some impacts can be mitigated with improved forecasting. This project will analyse influences of climate change and climate variability on seasonal-scale predictability of extreme rainfall. This will increase our understanding of the processes behind extreme rainfall events and where predictability arises from, and this would result in improvements in forecasting.Read moreRead less
The Southern Ocean boundary layer: winds, turbulence, sea spray and clouds. Both satellite products and climate models have large biases in the energy and water budgets over the Southern Ocean (SO). This is a direct consequence of a poor understanding of the structure and dynamics of the SO atmospheric boundary layer, which has arisen from an inability to make the necessary observations in this harsh environment. Due to the availability of new Australian research infrastructure, large steps forw ....The Southern Ocean boundary layer: winds, turbulence, sea spray and clouds. Both satellite products and climate models have large biases in the energy and water budgets over the Southern Ocean (SO). This is a direct consequence of a poor understanding of the structure and dynamics of the SO atmospheric boundary layer, which has arisen from an inability to make the necessary observations in this harsh environment. Due to the availability of new Australian research infrastructure, large steps forward are now possible with modest investment. This project will conduct and combine observations from the recently acquired marine vessel, RV Investigator, and the collocated airborne and surface observations to understand the structure and evolution of the unique, pristine SO boundary layer and to evaluate satellites and climate models.Read moreRead less
Precipitation in wintertime storms across southeast Australia, Tasmania and the Southern Ocean. The pristine conditions and strong wind-shear over the Southern Ocean affect the formation of precipitation in clouds over the region, which is vital to the water supply of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. This project will evaluate and improve the ability to simulate this precipitation, which will lead to better water resource management.
Improving the physical understanding, numerical simulation and forecasts of severe storms and precipitation events over major Australian cities. This strategic research project will improve our physical understanding and numerical simulation of severe storms over major Australia cities, which underpins future improvements in the forecasts of such storms. It will add to the capability of households, local government and industry to better prepare for major rainfall, hail, wind and flood events.
Coupling tropical cyclone and climate physics with ocean waves. It is argued that without accounting for the wave effects directly, the physics of large-scale air-sea interactions is inaccurate and incomplete. The project will introduce explicit coupling of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic phenomena with the physics of surface waves which should lead to improved predictions of tropical cyclones and climate.
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
MoistureMonitor: A multi-mission soil moisture monitoring system for a water limited future. A long-term soil moisture record for Australia is critical to understanding climate change feedback mechanisms and their impacts on water management. This project will validate, downscale and harmonise soil moisture retrievals from three satellite missions across this decade, each using a new and different low resolution antenna technology and interpretation approach. Moisture Monitor, the framework to d ....MoistureMonitor: A multi-mission soil moisture monitoring system for a water limited future. A long-term soil moisture record for Australia is critical to understanding climate change feedback mechanisms and their impacts on water management. This project will validate, downscale and harmonise soil moisture retrievals from three satellite missions across this decade, each using a new and different low resolution antenna technology and interpretation approach. Moisture Monitor, the framework to deliver this soil moisture record, will be verified using airborne campaigns and hydrological monitoring infrastructure in the Murrumbidgee catchment. Important outcomes will be validation of a new soil moisture satellite and development of a high resolution soil moisture product for improved land and water management and policy for Australia.Read moreRead less
Towards an Active and Passive L- and P-band soil moisture satellite mission. This project tests alternate configurations for remote sensing of soil moisture using a new state-of-the-art Active/Passive (ie radar/radiometer) P-/L-band (ie microwave) satellite concept through a series of airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of climate variability. The challenge is to do this accurately over large areas ....Towards an Active and Passive L- and P-band soil moisture satellite mission. This project tests alternate configurations for remote sensing of soil moisture using a new state-of-the-art Active/Passive (ie radar/radiometer) P-/L-band (ie microwave) satellite concept through a series of airborne field experiments. Timely soil moisture information is critical to improved water management for food production in the face of climate variability. The challenge is to do this accurately over large areas with an appropriate spatio-temporal detail, and for a soil depth that closely approximates the layer which impacts crop/pasture growth and influences management decisions. The longer P-band allows deeper penetration into the soil while the active/passive combination uses the respective resolution and accuracy characteristics.Read moreRead less