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
Flooding in Australia – are we properly prepared for how bad it can get? This project aims to investigate how floods have varied over the past 2000 years. Floods are a recurrent and natural part of Australia’s hydroclimate and are influenced strongly by climate variability. However, these influences are not yet completely understood or accounted for. This project will use novel insights from 2000 years of climate reconstructions to generate new knowledge about how bad flooding can get and what c ....Flooding in Australia – are we properly prepared for how bad it can get? This project aims to investigate how floods have varied over the past 2000 years. Floods are a recurrent and natural part of Australia’s hydroclimate and are influenced strongly by climate variability. However, these influences are not yet completely understood or accounted for. This project will use novel insights from 2000 years of climate reconstructions to generate new knowledge about how bad flooding can get and what causes flood frequency to change over time. A decision-making framework that allows for all the uncertainties associated with managing floods will also be developed. This will provide a critical evaluation of the accuracy of existing flood estimates, and also the reliability of infrastructure and policy based on those estimates.Read moreRead less
Managing Fresh-Water Resources in Saline Environments. Australian industry and urban developments often rely on a secure supply of fresh water. In many situations, the fresh water occurs adjacent to large expanses of saline water. This poses special constraints on how the fresh water can be recovered. This project undertakes careful mathematical modelling of fresh water recovery from reservoirs and from within islands (where it may be the only practical source of drinking water). The injecti ....Managing Fresh-Water Resources in Saline Environments. Australian industry and urban developments often rely on a secure supply of fresh water. In many situations, the fresh water occurs adjacent to large expanses of saline water. This poses special constraints on how the fresh water can be recovered. This project undertakes careful mathematical modelling of fresh water recovery from reservoirs and from within islands (where it may be the only practical source of drinking water). The injection and extraction of ground water in novel "mineral leaching" mining technology will also be investigated.Read moreRead less
Landscape-scale population dynamics of open forests in the Australian monsoon tropics. Over the last century there has been a trend of increasing tree cover in many landscapes. Yet the causes of this globally important ecological phenomenon are poorly understood, but may include the effects of climate, fire, grazing and CO2. We will determine how an area of forest has changed over 50 years in Kakadu National Park, linking forest demography with remote sensing techniques, re-measurement and analy ....Landscape-scale population dynamics of open forests in the Australian monsoon tropics. Over the last century there has been a trend of increasing tree cover in many landscapes. Yet the causes of this globally important ecological phenomenon are poorly understood, but may include the effects of climate, fire, grazing and CO2. We will determine how an area of forest has changed over 50 years in Kakadu National Park, linking forest demography with remote sensing techniques, re-measurement and analysis of long-term tree demography datasets, and simulation models of tree population dynamics on a landscape scale. This will provide a scientific framework to develop sustainable land management and the conservation of Australia's forest biodiversity.Read moreRead less
Enhancing marine bathymetry using new generation satellite sensors. Highly accurate marine bathymetry are currently lacking in 72% of the global ocean including around Australia, particularly in shallow seas and near-shore coastal zones, contributing to various navigation and marine safety accidents. Ship surveys of the seafloor are time-consuming and expensive. Satellite altimetry data provide an alternative solution. This project will improve Australia’s marine bathymetry by using spatially co ....Enhancing marine bathymetry using new generation satellite sensors. Highly accurate marine bathymetry are currently lacking in 72% of the global ocean including around Australia, particularly in shallow seas and near-shore coastal zones, contributing to various navigation and marine safety accidents. Ship surveys of the seafloor are time-consuming and expensive. Satellite altimetry data provide an alternative solution. This project will improve Australia’s marine bathymetry by using spatially comprehensive and unprecedented data from new radar and laser satellite sensors. We aim to develop techniques for integration of the new data with other independent data sources, producing the most precise marine bathymetry for coastal terrain mapping, marine transport and safety management.Read moreRead less
Impact of hot gas on volcanic rocks and ore-forming processes. High temperature gases move from Earth's interior to the atmosphere at volcanoes, but little is known about how they react. Recent work shows that exceptionally rapid reactions occur between hot gases and the surfaces of solids. These reactions are instrumental in forming ore deposits. The proposed work aims to apply state-of-the-art chemical analysis of natural samples and investigate gas-solid reactions experimentally to determine ....Impact of hot gas on volcanic rocks and ore-forming processes. High temperature gases move from Earth's interior to the atmosphere at volcanoes, but little is known about how they react. Recent work shows that exceptionally rapid reactions occur between hot gases and the surfaces of solids. These reactions are instrumental in forming ore deposits. The proposed work aims to apply state-of-the-art chemical analysis of natural samples and investigate gas-solid reactions experimentally to determine how chemical elements, including metals, are distributed in these reactions. The study seeks to create robust geochenmical models for understanding geochemical and ore-forming processes. Improved understanding of ore deposition will enhance the long-term viability of Australia's metals sector.Read moreRead less
Submarine volcanoes: degassing of silicic magma with implications for ascent and eruption processes. This research project will advance the basic understanding of how magma ascends and erupts in submarine settings. This study will identify the relative roles and timing of volcanic gas release from silicic magmas, using cutting-edge techniques newly available at the Australian Synchrotron.
Bio-optical model of Antarctic sea-ice algae photosynthesis. Antarctica contains no permanent human population; however the impact of climate change is being observed. Sea-ice is slowly becoming less thick and covering smaller areas of the Southern Ocean. Algae grow on the underside of this sea-ice which feed krill, which in turn support most of the Antarctic food web. Understanding how changes in sea-ice and snow thickness will change the productivity of Antarctica will have significant implica ....Bio-optical model of Antarctic sea-ice algae photosynthesis. Antarctica contains no permanent human population; however the impact of climate change is being observed. Sea-ice is slowly becoming less thick and covering smaller areas of the Southern Ocean. Algae grow on the underside of this sea-ice which feed krill, which in turn support most of the Antarctic food web. Understanding how changes in sea-ice and snow thickness will change the productivity of Antarctica will have significant implications to our management of this wilderness. Knowledge of how sea-ice algae responds to changes in light can be incorporated in climate change models.Read moreRead less
New thinking on the relationship of dingo ecology to biodiversity conservation and sustainable cattle production. This project will provide new understanding of the role of Australia's only native large mammal predator in sustaining biodiversity and ecological function. This will result in improved management of dingoes as a key part of Australian ecosystems. The project will also test the possibility that relaxation of current controls on dingoes could provide net benefits to beef cattle produc ....New thinking on the relationship of dingo ecology to biodiversity conservation and sustainable cattle production. This project will provide new understanding of the role of Australia's only native large mammal predator in sustaining biodiversity and ecological function. This will result in improved management of dingoes as a key part of Australian ecosystems. The project will also test the possibility that relaxation of current controls on dingoes could provide net benefits to beef cattle producers, and thereby improve the viability and sustainability of Australia's cattle-grazing industry.Read moreRead less
Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and e ....Species redundancy in response to multiple disturbances. This project aims to elucidate how the context within which disturbances occur affects food web linkages and how these map to responses in ecosystem function. There is a critical need to test the common assumption in environmental management that high biodiversity makes ecosystems resilient to disturbances. Studies that merely observe biodiversity change after disturbance cannot identify ecological processes connecting high diversity and ecosystem function, making experiments that manipulate identical disturbances in ecosystems with different biodiversity essential. This project will use field experiments that manipulate disturbances in streams replicated in low and high biodiversity regions and across gradients of chronic background stress to show how biodiversity sustains functional ecosystems, and how much diversity can be lost before ecosystems collapse.Read moreRead less