Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100220
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
Sonic drilling to provide contamination-free core sampling of rock and unconsolidated sediment. Australia is the world's driest inhabited continent. Understanding environmental and climatic changes, from the temperate period when humans arrived about 50,000 years ago to the present state of widespread aridity, is crucial for modelling future climate change. This facility will provide new generation drilling equipment which is necessary to obtain accurate records.
Shaping a sunburnt country: fire, climate and the Australian landscape. Fire shapes Australia’s landscape, biodiversity and resources. This project aims to quantify the recent history of fire intensity and severity using several novel proxies in the fire-prone landscapes of south-eastern Australia. Calibration of these new proxies to recent wildfires will be used for a better characterisation of fire regimes. This research will be applied to sedimentary archives to investigate how fire regimes h ....Shaping a sunburnt country: fire, climate and the Australian landscape. Fire shapes Australia’s landscape, biodiversity and resources. This project aims to quantify the recent history of fire intensity and severity using several novel proxies in the fire-prone landscapes of south-eastern Australia. Calibration of these new proxies to recent wildfires will be used for a better characterisation of fire regimes. This research will be applied to sedimentary archives to investigate how fire regimes have evolved over the past 100 years. The outcomes will inform debates about the relationship between climatic variability and fire severity, and this will contribute to increase the preparedness of natural resource management to potential future climate and land-use scenarios.Read moreRead less
Hydrological changes in Australia and the South Pacific. This project plans to use stalagmites from the South–West Pacific to generate continuous rainfall records for the last 2000 years. Stalagmites contain uncorrupted data that are not available in other archives, and provide unparalleled accurate chronologies. The spatial and temporal variations of the data may highlight the interplay of climate drivers, such as El Niño Southern Oscillation, and how they change the distribution of rainfall in ....Hydrological changes in Australia and the South Pacific. This project plans to use stalagmites from the South–West Pacific to generate continuous rainfall records for the last 2000 years. Stalagmites contain uncorrupted data that are not available in other archives, and provide unparalleled accurate chronologies. The spatial and temporal variations of the data may highlight the interplay of climate drivers, such as El Niño Southern Oscillation, and how they change the distribution of rainfall in the Pacific. This knowledge would increase our scientific understanding and enable better predictions of the recurrence of droughts and wet events in Australia.Read moreRead less
Will rivers be smaller when the climate is hotter? This project aims to investigate how large rivers are affected by changing atmospheric temperature. Large inland rivers are the main source of water supporting ecological functions, economies and societies. This project will quantify the size and age of abandoned river channels in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) of southeast Australia and the Atuel/Diamante basin of Argentina. We will use this to reconstruct a history of changes in river discharg ....Will rivers be smaller when the climate is hotter? This project aims to investigate how large rivers are affected by changing atmospheric temperature. Large inland rivers are the main source of water supporting ecological functions, economies and societies. This project will quantify the size and age of abandoned river channels in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) of southeast Australia and the Atuel/Diamante basin of Argentina. We will use this to reconstruct a history of changes in river discharge and relate this to climate. Novel climate and hydrological modelling will then be used to simulate the impact of temperature changes on catchment runoff and river discharge. Such information is vital for decision-making, planning and water resource allocation in the MDB and elsewhere. Read moreRead less
Reconstructing changes in atmospheric circulation over the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the past 3000 years. The climate of the mid-latitudes of the southern hemisphere is of global significance and yet past changes have proved difficult to reconstruct due to the dearth of records. Working across the Southern Ocean region using tree rings, lake sediments and ice cores, the project will produce the first comprehensive reconstruction spanning the last 3000 years.
Understanding the drivers and impacts of long-term Antarctic ice sheet change. This project will extend historical records of change and develop an understanding of the complex linkages between the climate and Antarctic ice sheet dynamics. The results will thereby assist in identifying the mechanisms of the past and future ice sheet stability and be communicated to the general public by enhancing scientific understanding.
Back to the Future: Interglacial Warming and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . The Antarctic is highly-sensitive to abrupt changes caused by the passing of tipping points within the climate system. Crucially, the instrumental record is too short to resolve major uncertainties surrounding future warming. The Last Interglacial (125,000 yrs ago) was 2°C warmer than today and experienced 6-11 m higher global sea levels. The role of Antarctica is vital for constraining sea-level projections. This Austra ....Back to the Future: Interglacial Warming and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . The Antarctic is highly-sensitive to abrupt changes caused by the passing of tipping points within the climate system. Crucially, the instrumental record is too short to resolve major uncertainties surrounding future warming. The Last Interglacial (125,000 yrs ago) was 2°C warmer than today and experienced 6-11 m higher global sea levels. The role of Antarctica is vital for constraining sea-level projections. This Australian-led international project aims to determine the mechanisms and impacts of past interglacial Antarctic warming up to 2°C (relative to pre-industrial). Innovative techniques integrating horizontal ice cores and high resolution marine records will help identify polar tipping points and better plan for impacts in Australia.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL100100195
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,981,452.00
Summary
Tipping points in Records of Extreme Events in Australasia: Using the Past to Understand and Plan for Abrupt Future Climate Change. This project will generate the fundamental science outputs required to extend historical records of change and understand the complex linkages between Australian and global atmospheric, terrestrial and marine processes in the climate system, thereby assisting in: (i) identifying the mechanisms of past and future climate variability; (ii) developing and validating me ....Tipping points in Records of Extreme Events in Australasia: Using the Past to Understand and Plan for Abrupt Future Climate Change. This project will generate the fundamental science outputs required to extend historical records of change and understand the complex linkages between Australian and global atmospheric, terrestrial and marine processes in the climate system, thereby assisting in: (i) identifying the mechanisms of past and future climate variability; (ii) developing and validating methodologies for improved climate reconstruction and robust chronological frameworks; (iii) predicting the response of Australian ecosystems to future climate change; and (iv) communicating the research outputs to the general public and state, national and international decision makers, helping scientific understanding and aiding resource management.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100668
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$351,805.00
Summary
The further back we look, the further forward we can see: 1,000 years of past climate to help predict future climate change in Australia. Reconstructing 1,000 years of Australia's past climate will greatly extend our understanding of natural climate variability currently estimated from weather observations. For the first time, Australian climate variations over the last millennium will be used to assess the accuracy of climate model simulations for our region.
The last glaciation maximum climate conundrum and environmental responses of the Australian continent to altered climate states. This project will show how climate systems in south east Australia responded to large scale global change the last time this happened, which was about 21,000 years ago. By determining the climate response in Australia to this change, this project will help predict future response in rainfall and temperature to human-induced and natural climate change.