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
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
Tropical convection and its contribution to climate variability. This research will provide the necessary data to test and improve the representation of tropical convective clouds in weather forecast and climate simulation models. This will lead to more robust estimates of future climate change, and improved prediction of precipitation in the Australian tropics. This project will also provide training to undergraduate and postgraduate students in using modern computer models; such models will be ....Tropical convection and its contribution to climate variability. This research will provide the necessary data to test and improve the representation of tropical convective clouds in weather forecast and climate simulation models. This will lead to more robust estimates of future climate change, and improved prediction of precipitation in the Australian tropics. This project will also provide training to undergraduate and postgraduate students in using modern computer models; such models will be a key component of weather forecasting in the future.Read moreRead less
Precipitation Events over Tasmania and their Response to Weather Modification. The ongoing cloud-seeding work undertaken by Hydro Tasmania will be investigated through a combination of fieldwork and numerical simulations. New instrumentation and advanced numerical models will allow this research to provide a new understanding of the precipitation events over Tasmania and their response to cloud seeding. This research will also explore the interaction between the background aerosol/pollution leve ....Precipitation Events over Tasmania and their Response to Weather Modification. The ongoing cloud-seeding work undertaken by Hydro Tasmania will be investigated through a combination of fieldwork and numerical simulations. New instrumentation and advanced numerical models will allow this research to provide a new understanding of the precipitation events over Tasmania and their response to cloud seeding. This research will also explore the interaction between the background aerosol/pollution level and the precipitation. Given the relatively pure nature of the air over Tasmania, this research will be of international interest. This research will also be of direct interest to Hydro Tasmania as insight gained into the precipitation events will allow us to optimise their cloud-seeding operation.Read moreRead less
Radar Studies of Rainfall with Applications to Forecasting. Weather watch radars are used to predict severe weather events, with echo strengths depending on the number of rain drops in the beam. With suitable calibration the echo intensities can be used to predict rainfall rates. In 2005 the Bureau of Meteorology will establish a new weather radar near Adelaide. We will compare rainfall estimates made with the new radar with results from a VHF profiler that accurately measures rain drop distribu ....Radar Studies of Rainfall with Applications to Forecasting. Weather watch radars are used to predict severe weather events, with echo strengths depending on the number of rain drops in the beam. With suitable calibration the echo intensities can be used to predict rainfall rates. In 2005 the Bureau of Meteorology will establish a new weather radar near Adelaide. We will compare rainfall estimates made with the new radar with results from a VHF profiler that accurately measures rain drop distributions and rainfall. The aim is to test the weather radar estimates of rainfall rates and their uncertainties. Outcomes will have applications in flood forecasting and hydrology.Read moreRead less
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.
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
The dynamics and predictability of fire weather over southern Australia. As illustrated by the recent Victorian bushfires, Australia has one of the most severe fire climates in the world. Fires play a major role in modifying our landscape, affecting native flora and fauna, and damaging infrastructure and property. Effective fire fighting and fire management relies heavily on the prediction of fire weather and the impact of atmospheric conditions on fire behaviour. This project investigates some ....The dynamics and predictability of fire weather over southern Australia. As illustrated by the recent Victorian bushfires, Australia has one of the most severe fire climates in the world. Fires play a major role in modifying our landscape, affecting native flora and fauna, and damaging infrastructure and property. Effective fire fighting and fire management relies heavily on the prediction of fire weather and the impact of atmospheric conditions on fire behaviour. This project investigates some of the key processes that cause local enhancements in fire weather in regions of complex terrain like southern Australia.Read moreRead less
Wave-Induced Upper-Ocean Mixing. The wave-induced mixing is of principal importance for air-sea interaction models since heat capacity of 2-3m of the ocean water is equal to the capacity of the entire atmosphere. This project will study and implement such mixing, including the newly described physical phenomenon of wave-induced turbulence, into a variety of models. As a result, wave models and global climate models will be coupled. It is believed that such coupling will enhance our ability to pr ....Wave-Induced Upper-Ocean Mixing. The wave-induced mixing is of principal importance for air-sea interaction models since heat capacity of 2-3m of the ocean water is equal to the capacity of the entire atmosphere. This project will study and implement such mixing, including the newly described physical phenomenon of wave-induced turbulence, into a variety of models. As a result, wave models and global climate models will be coupled. It is believed that such coupling will enhance our ability to predict the impact of global climate change. As part of the project, predictions of changes to the global wave climate will be developed. Such predictions are important to a nation such as Australia where significant population and economic assets are located close to the coast.Read moreRead less