Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101336
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,354.00
Summary
Inter-ocean exchange around Australia and its relation to regional and global climate. The flow of water from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean is important to both regional and global climate. Most of the water flows through the Indonesian Archipelago, but there is also a westward flow south of Tasmania. We will study the dynamics of this inter-ocean exchange and investigate how it impacts regional climate and marine ecosystems.
Predicting environmental extremes in a period of climate change. This project has the potential to reduce the uncertainty in the predictions of extreme winds and waves used to design and operate coastal and offshore facilities. Predictions are typically achieved by extrapolating recorded data to predict probable extremes. The uncertainties associated with this approach are very large. This project aims to develop a new approach called ‘large ensemble aggregate’ analysis, which brings together da ....Predicting environmental extremes in a period of climate change. This project has the potential to reduce the uncertainty in the predictions of extreme winds and waves used to design and operate coastal and offshore facilities. Predictions are typically achieved by extrapolating recorded data to predict probable extremes. The uncertainties associated with this approach are very large. This project aims to develop a new approach called ‘large ensemble aggregate’ analysis, which brings together data from alternative model predictions or alternative measurement locations to expand the effective data and avoid the necessity for statistical extrapolation. This approach may significantly reduce the uncertainty in estimating extreme values. This would reduce the cost of constructing coastal and offshore facilities and decrease the risk of catastrophic failure.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100663
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Understanding the termination of El Nino-Southern Oscillation events. Australia's climate is extreme, with significant drought and flooding events driven by cycles of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study will improve our understanding of the termination of ENSO events and lead to better inter-seasonal climate forecasting, aiding the sectors reliant on accurate climate prediction.
Remote forcing of Pacific Ocean variability and impacts on global climate. Variability in the Pacific Ocean has a profound impact on global climate. Recent unprecedented decadal variability in the Pacific has been linked to global temperature trends and extremes, yet little is known about what drives this variability or its impact on regional climate. This project will combine observations, advanced coupled climate models and ocean-atmosphere dynamical theory to quantify remote drivers of Pacifi ....Remote forcing of Pacific Ocean variability and impacts on global climate. Variability in the Pacific Ocean has a profound impact on global climate. Recent unprecedented decadal variability in the Pacific has been linked to global temperature trends and extremes, yet little is known about what drives this variability or its impact on regional climate. This project will combine observations, advanced coupled climate models and ocean-atmosphere dynamical theory to quantify remote drivers of Pacific Ocean variability on interannual-decadal time-scales. This project aims to enhance our understanding of the modes of variability operating in this region and their impact on global and Australian climate. This will have significant benefits for the many sectors of society reliant on interseasonal-decadal climate prediction.Read moreRead less
Beach Erosion and Recovery: Quantifying the Hazard. Coastal erosion is confronting societies and the natural environment. The economic value in Australia of built assets at risk includes roads ($60 billion), commercial buildings ($81 billion) and homes ($63 billion). Hard engineering entire coastlines is rarely feasible, with beaches providing the best coastal defence along the great majority of sandy coastlines. But how wide should a buffer zone be to provide adequate protection from storms? An ....Beach Erosion and Recovery: Quantifying the Hazard. Coastal erosion is confronting societies and the natural environment. The economic value in Australia of built assets at risk includes roads ($60 billion), commercial buildings ($81 billion) and homes ($63 billion). Hard engineering entire coastlines is rarely feasible, with beaches providing the best coastal defence along the great majority of sandy coastlines. But how wide should a buffer zone be to provide adequate protection from storms? And critically, how reliable are the present modelling tools used to predict this, and can they be improved? Underpinned by innovative field observations to fill fundamental knowledge gaps, this project aims to deliver advanced understanding and the best available solution to storm erosion prediction.Read moreRead less
Quantifying sea-level trends and extremes along Australia's coastal margin. Multi-decadal changes in sea-level, and sea-level extremes, cannot be well quantified along most global coastlines, including Australia's, because the high spatial variability of sea-level is under-sampled by the sparse set of long, high quality tide gauge records. Satellite altimetry provides an alternative data source with greater spatial sampling, yet experiences contamination from land within tens of kilometres from ....Quantifying sea-level trends and extremes along Australia's coastal margin. Multi-decadal changes in sea-level, and sea-level extremes, cannot be well quantified along most global coastlines, including Australia's, because the high spatial variability of sea-level is under-sampled by the sparse set of long, high quality tide gauge records. Satellite altimetry provides an alternative data source with greater spatial sampling, yet experiences contamination from land within tens of kilometres from the coast and also suffers from regionally correlated biases. This project proposes to address these problems through re-tracking radar altimetry waveforms to derive new data in the coastal margin, enabling the production of new inferences on sea-level change and extremes at dramatically improved spatial resolution around Australia.Read moreRead less
A regional coupled climate model for Australia. This project aims to implement a regional, coupled atmosphere and ocean model, to determine under what circumstance ocean-atmosphere interactions are critical. Regional high-resolution atmosphere models are routinely used to provide projections of climate at the local scales needed by decision makers. However, these tools neglect the fine-scale interactions between ocean and atmosphere that can significantly modify conditions around coastal or isla ....A regional coupled climate model for Australia. This project aims to implement a regional, coupled atmosphere and ocean model, to determine under what circumstance ocean-atmosphere interactions are critical. Regional high-resolution atmosphere models are routinely used to provide projections of climate at the local scales needed by decision makers. However, these tools neglect the fine-scale interactions between ocean and atmosphere that can significantly modify conditions around coastal or island regions. This project intends to deliver the first high-resolution projections of both ocean and atmosphere off eastern Australia to understand how small-scale ocean and atmosphere processes and their interactions affect changes in extreme rainfall, marine heat waves and ocean circulation.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL100100214
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,918,382.00
Summary
Future risks associated with ocean surface warming: impacts on climate, rainfall, carbon, and circulation. Climate change is already affecting Australia, with harsh drought, more intense bushfire seasons, increased monsoon rains, heatwaves, and warmer temperatures all a feature of the past few decades. Climate change is expected to accelerate in the future, warming the oceans at an increased rate. This will affect ocean circulation, carbon uptake and ocean-atmosphere modes, such as El Nino, with ....Future risks associated with ocean surface warming: impacts on climate, rainfall, carbon, and circulation. Climate change is already affecting Australia, with harsh drought, more intense bushfire seasons, increased monsoon rains, heatwaves, and warmer temperatures all a feature of the past few decades. Climate change is expected to accelerate in the future, warming the oceans at an increased rate. This will affect ocean circulation, carbon uptake and ocean-atmosphere modes, such as El Nino, with unknown intensity. This project will improve our preparedness for climate change by better quantifying the risks that ocean warming will transform Australia's climate, rainfall, and sea level; as well as the ocean's uptake of carbon and the global ocean circulation. This will benefit sectors including agriculture, water management, fisheries, and tourism.Read moreRead less
ARC Centres of Excellence for Climate System Science. Our capacity to assess the threat of climate change is undermined by an unacceptable level of uncertainty in the understanding and modelling of regional climates. The Centre will undertake world-class research targeting identified weaknesses in the physical, chemical and biological components of the climate system. We will engage and nurture graduate students and postdoctoral follows through a program of graduate training and mentoring to per ....ARC Centres of Excellence for Climate System Science. Our capacity to assess the threat of climate change is undermined by an unacceptable level of uncertainty in the understanding and modelling of regional climates. The Centre will undertake world-class research targeting identified weaknesses in the physical, chemical and biological components of the climate system. We will engage and nurture graduate students and postdoctoral follows through a program of graduate training and mentoring to permanently transform our understanding of climate systems science particularly for the Australian region. The key outcome will be a dramatic enhancement in national capacity to understand and project the scale of future regional climate change.Read moreRead less
Precipitation-groundwater interactions over eastern Australia: climate change impacts at multiple scales. Most surface water in the Murray-Darling Basin is used for agricultural activity, and groundwater extraction is accelerating. We cannot yet predict how these water resources will be affected by climate change, partly because Australian climate models do not represent key interactions between small and large scale rainfall changes, and interactions between ground water, the land surface and t ....Precipitation-groundwater interactions over eastern Australia: climate change impacts at multiple scales. Most surface water in the Murray-Darling Basin is used for agricultural activity, and groundwater extraction is accelerating. We cannot yet predict how these water resources will be affected by climate change, partly because Australian climate models do not represent key interactions between small and large scale rainfall changes, and interactions between ground water, the land surface and the atmosphere. This project will produce the first climate simulations that explicitly include these interactions. This will allow a better understanding of future changes to groundwater resources. This understanding will help us plan ahead, and enable new research to help Australia maintain food security in an uncertain future.Read moreRead less