Integration of Surface Water and Ground Water Processes in Coastal Catchments. The hydrologic processes which describe surface water and groundwater movement often occur at completely different temporal and spatial scales. These two distinct flow regimes, however, are intrinsically coupled in coastal catchments in Australia. The superposition of local flow systems on a regional groundwater framework results in complex interactions which are difficult to accurately predict with existing numeric ....Integration of Surface Water and Ground Water Processes in Coastal Catchments. The hydrologic processes which describe surface water and groundwater movement often occur at completely different temporal and spatial scales. These two distinct flow regimes, however, are intrinsically coupled in coastal catchments in Australia. The superposition of local flow systems on a regional groundwater framework results in complex interactions which are difficult to accurately predict with existing numerical models, and are not truly understood even at the conceptual level. This work aims to study a single catchment at a very detailed level to allow for the production of a new integrated approach to the simulation of the complete hydrologic systemRead moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100027
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Australian National Facility for Noble-Gas Radio-Isotope Measurements. Australian national facility for noble-gas radio-isotope measurements:
This facility is designed to provide researchers with the ability to accurately date water and ice cores using the natural radio-isotopes in the sample. Radiocarbon dating has been a revolutionary tool in providing answers to a range of questions in anthropology, archaeology and the earth sciences. However, radiocarbon dating has a strong limitation in th ....Australian National Facility for Noble-Gas Radio-Isotope Measurements. Australian national facility for noble-gas radio-isotope measurements:
This facility is designed to provide researchers with the ability to accurately date water and ice cores using the natural radio-isotopes in the sample. Radiocarbon dating has been a revolutionary tool in providing answers to a range of questions in anthropology, archaeology and the earth sciences. However, radiocarbon dating has a strong limitation in that it can only date periods from 1000–50 000 years: the use of radioactive noble-gas isotopes can extend this range out to 1 year to 1 million years. This capability in the new facility is expected to support new understanding of processes in artesian reservoirs, ocean currents and geology that may affect questions of water availability, climate and environmental change.Read moreRead less
More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the ....More bang for your carbon buck: carbon, biodiversity and water balance consequences of whole-catchment carbon farming. Farming carbon via tree plantings on pasture land is becoming increasingly common to address the effects of climate change. This activity is likely to produce dramatic changes in Australia's rural landscapes, but we have little knowledge of likely effects on crucial ecosystem services and attributes such as stream water yields and biodiversity. This project will investigate the relationship between tree cover, carbon uptake, water yield and biodiversity. The outcomes will allow government agencies, landowners and carbon farming groups to better evaluate the effects of different landscape planning options and contribute to effective long-term planning for multiple goals.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882509
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide im ....High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide important insight to this complex issue. Further, understanding the complex and rich biodiversity of Australian flora and its adaptation to droughts and fire is essential to ensuring Australian ecosystem longevity. Knowledge of flora changes through time as a function of soil moisture content and salinity is key to gaining this understanding.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354817
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources ....Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources require the same unresounding commitment to preservation that we now see in the Murray-Darling basin. This network develops foundations for a desperately needed National Groundwater Centre to provide research to ensure win-win outcomes for this country's water resources and the users that rely on them.
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Risk Assessment of Pesticide Contamination of Surface Water and Groundwater - Trigger Mechanisms for Fast Transport. Pesticide and herbicide transport to groundwater and surface water poses a risk to the environment and humans alike. A new event-based risk assessment approach of pesticide movement to surface water and groundwater will be developed. With the use of rainfall simulation partitioning between surface runoff and infiltration will be quantified in an agricultural catchment. Pesticide c ....Risk Assessment of Pesticide Contamination of Surface Water and Groundwater - Trigger Mechanisms for Fast Transport. Pesticide and herbicide transport to groundwater and surface water poses a risk to the environment and humans alike. A new event-based risk assessment approach of pesticide movement to surface water and groundwater will be developed. With the use of rainfall simulation partitioning between surface runoff and infiltration will be quantified in an agricultural catchment. Pesticide contamination events will be identified from climatic data such high intensity rainfalls and soil properties controlling runoff and preferential flow. Results will be used to develop management strategies to reduce offsite movement of pesticides.Read moreRead less
A Generalized Flood Frequency Framework for Prediction of the Effects of Multi-Scale Hydroclimatic Variability. The proposed project aims to investigate the effects of natural, multi-scale variability in climatic inputs, especially precipitation inputs -- intra-annual (seasonal), inter-annual and inter-decadal -- on the estimation of frequency of flooding. It will investigate the propagation of these natural variabilities through the catchment system, through simple models that can enable the e ....A Generalized Flood Frequency Framework for Prediction of the Effects of Multi-Scale Hydroclimatic Variability. The proposed project aims to investigate the effects of natural, multi-scale variability in climatic inputs, especially precipitation inputs -- intra-annual (seasonal), inter-annual and inter-decadal -- on the estimation of frequency of flooding. It will investigate the propagation of these natural variabilities through the catchment system, through simple models that can enable the estimation of probability distributions of soil moisture, runoff generation and flood peaks, and elucidate the underlying process controls. In this way, it will help develop a new framework for the incorporation of these multi-scale variabilities in flood estimation practice in Australia.Read moreRead less
Animals on the move - an integrated approach to selecting conservation reserves under climate change. Conserving biodiversity when faced with rapid changes in climate and land use is a major challenge facing conservation managers. Translocation - the process of moving species from one location to another - may be the best means of preventing species extinction, but the long-term climatic suitability of translocation sites is rarely considered. This project will develop and apply new methods for ....Animals on the move - an integrated approach to selecting conservation reserves under climate change. Conserving biodiversity when faced with rapid changes in climate and land use is a major challenge facing conservation managers. Translocation - the process of moving species from one location to another - may be the best means of preventing species extinction, but the long-term climatic suitability of translocation sites is rarely considered. This project will develop and apply new methods for identifying climatically suitable habitats for a critically endangered tortoise, with the aim of selecting sites where the species can persist long-term with minimum management. The approach will have utility not only for management of endangered species, but also in selecting future climatic regions for raising commercially valuable species. Read moreRead less
Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological healt ....Balancing estuarine and societal health in a changing environment. This project aims to facilitate sustainable development in a fast-growing coastal region (Peel-Harvey, south-western Australia). By exploiting 30+ year data sets for this catchment-estuary system and integrating ecological, hydrological, biogeochemical, modelling and socio-economic expertise, this project seeks to link primary catchment drivers to estuarine health response (up to higher fauna), quantify estuarine ecological health and ecosystem services under historical and future scenarios, and test resilience across the human–natural system. Envisaged outcomes include evidence-based catchment planning solutions that optimise trade-offs between socio-economic development goals and minimal downstream impacts on estuarine health.Read moreRead less