Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100136
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$340,000.00
Summary
Mobile weather radar system for advanced environmental monitoring and modelling. High spatial and temporal resolution weather radar data on wind and precipitation will translate to significant environmental model advances. Australian researchers will undertake model validation studies on precipitation, dust storm, and flood prediction under a wider range of environmental conditions and in greater detail than currently possible.
Cause and effect: new mechanisms of particles formation in thunderstorms. This project aims to identify meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle formation and alteration during thunderstorms. How thunderstorms develop is well-understood. However, identifying meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle alteration during a thunderstorm is still not clear. This project will practically contribute to the evidence of the impact of air particulates, thereby having dire ....Cause and effect: new mechanisms of particles formation in thunderstorms. This project aims to identify meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle formation and alteration during thunderstorms. How thunderstorms develop is well-understood. However, identifying meaningful and specific indicators for predicting particle alteration during a thunderstorm is still not clear. This project will practically contribute to the evidence of the impact of air particulates, thereby having direct implications for meteorological, and air pollution policy in Australia and worldwide. This project will allow researchers to understand the impact of these factors on the escalation of the causative effects, and to find a way to prevent unnecessary fatal outcomes.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101297
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,094.00
Summary
Rethinking Australian drought risk, its long-term variability and processes. Drought risk describes the likelihood that damage will result from exposure to drought. This project aims to fundamentally reshape how we define, characterise and understand drought risk in Australia. A framework for drought risk will be applied that includes the complete range of characteristics that modulate the impacts of drought, which are the frequency of recurrence, duration, severity, seasonality and spatial exte ....Rethinking Australian drought risk, its long-term variability and processes. Drought risk describes the likelihood that damage will result from exposure to drought. This project aims to fundamentally reshape how we define, characterise and understand drought risk in Australia. A framework for drought risk will be applied that includes the complete range of characteristics that modulate the impacts of drought, which are the frequency of recurrence, duration, severity, seasonality and spatial extent. Long-term changes in drought risk will be examined and the process-based climatic risk factors will be identified. Advancing knowledge on the nature and causes of the long-term changes in drought risk is crucial to improving risk management of drought in the agricultural and water resource sectors.Read moreRead less
Extracting energy from air: mechanism of a bacterial hydrogenase. The atmosphere has recently been shown to be a key source of energy for diverse soil bacteria. Bacteria use complex enzymes, namely Huc-type hydrogenases, to harvest atmospheric hydrogen directly from air to support growth and survival. However, little is known about how Huc functions within and outside cells. By synergising expertise in microbiology, biochemistry, and chemistry, we will resolve the mechanism, assembly, and integr ....Extracting energy from air: mechanism of a bacterial hydrogenase. The atmosphere has recently been shown to be a key source of energy for diverse soil bacteria. Bacteria use complex enzymes, namely Huc-type hydrogenases, to harvest atmospheric hydrogen directly from air to support growth and survival. However, little is known about how Huc functions within and outside cells. By synergising expertise in microbiology, biochemistry, and chemistry, we will resolve the mechanism, assembly, and integration of Huc, including the basis of its remarkably high affinity and oxygen insensitivity compared to previously studied hydrogenases. This project will enable biotechnological applications, as the first study of an enzyme that extracts energy from air, and has broad ecological and biogeochemical implications.Read moreRead less
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102645
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
The cause of the poleward shift of Earth's storm tracks and jet streams. Why do global climate models shift the atmospheric storm tracks and jet streams poleward in simulations of future climate? This project will determine the underlying causes of the most important circulation change that is projected to occur with increasing greenhouse gases, and will allow much more accurate regional climate projections.
The dynamics of subtropical anticyclones and the connection to drought, heatwaves and bushfires in southern Australia. The aim of the project is to understand the dynamics of anticyclones (high pressure systems) in the region of southern Australia. The study of anticyclones in the region is important because of their very strong connection to rainfall in the winter, and heatwaves and bushfires in the summer, and because so little work has been done on understanding what is the defining feature o ....The dynamics of subtropical anticyclones and the connection to drought, heatwaves and bushfires in southern Australia. The aim of the project is to understand the dynamics of anticyclones (high pressure systems) in the region of southern Australia. The study of anticyclones in the region is important because of their very strong connection to rainfall in the winter, and heatwaves and bushfires in the summer, and because so little work has been done on understanding what is the defining feature of the climate of southern Australia. Understanding what controls the location and strength of these features will go a long way to explaining how the climate of southern Australia will change in a warmer world.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668382
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,000,000.00
Summary
e-Research Infrastructure for the Molecular and Materials Structure Sciences. Understanding molecular and materials structure in atomic detail is vital to a knowledge-based economy and a healthy society. The development of smart materials, nanotechnological devices, hydrogen storage materials, molecular switches, magnets and sensors, for example, depends on knowledge of three-dimensional atomic structure. Cures for illnesses such as SARS, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease and understanding the aging ....e-Research Infrastructure for the Molecular and Materials Structure Sciences. Understanding molecular and materials structure in atomic detail is vital to a knowledge-based economy and a healthy society. The development of smart materials, nanotechnological devices, hydrogen storage materials, molecular switches, magnets and sensors, for example, depends on knowledge of three-dimensional atomic structure. Cures for illnesses such as SARS, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease and understanding the aging process depends on knowledge of biomolecular structure. The deployment and development of automation-enhanced remote access to structural instruments through the web will greatly enhance Australian structure-based research, and make this science accessible to the public. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347970
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$186,000.00
Summary
Integrated Bio-nano-fabrication Facility. The project proposes the upgrade of a joint facility for the probing, fabrication and operation of hybrid bio-nano-devices. The facility will enhance the proposers' capabilities in the area of the fundamental and prototype-type research on biomolecular/cellular devices. The ultimate goal of these projects is to thrust Australian science in the era when the essential functions of cells can be replicated and controlled on devices that are smaller than livi ....Integrated Bio-nano-fabrication Facility. The project proposes the upgrade of a joint facility for the probing, fabrication and operation of hybrid bio-nano-devices. The facility will enhance the proposers' capabilities in the area of the fundamental and prototype-type research on biomolecular/cellular devices. The ultimate goal of these projects is to thrust Australian science in the era when the essential functions of cells can be replicated and controlled on devices that are smaller than living cells. The proposed facility has a modular structure consisting of additional nano-positioning, confocal microscope and zeta potential modules built on the existent laser tweezers/scissors, picoliter pipette and Atomic Force Microscope modules.Read moreRead less
Local climate changes caused by large bushfire burnt areas. This project aims to quantify the impact on local climate produced by large burnt areas after extreme bushfires. This project expects to generate new knowledge on these previously unexplored fire-scar induced changes to local climate. It will extend an innovative approach that combines satellite based earth observation with very high resolution regional climate modelling to quantify the impacts on land-atmosphere feedbacks and local cli ....Local climate changes caused by large bushfire burnt areas. This project aims to quantify the impact on local climate produced by large burnt areas after extreme bushfires. This project expects to generate new knowledge on these previously unexplored fire-scar induced changes to local climate. It will extend an innovative approach that combines satellite based earth observation with very high resolution regional climate modelling to quantify the impacts on land-atmosphere feedbacks and local climate. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced methods to quantify local climate changes after extreme fires and their effect on vegetation recovery. This should provide significant benefits to the planning for, and management of, vegetation recovery after extreme fires.Read moreRead less