Southern Ocean oxygen variability since the last glacial maximum. Recently observed decreases in ocean oxygen concentration could decrease ocean biodiversity and accelerate climate change. This project will determine the links between climate change and ocean oxygenation since the last ice age, and provide a way to predict future oxygen concentrations.
East Asian Monsoon response to periods of abrupt global change. This proposal aims to investigate the response of the East Asian Monsoon to abrupt climatic change, under baseline states of both warm and cool climate. The research is significant as it utilises unique, precisely dated sediments from Japan, and novel approaches to quantifying spatial and temporal climate patterns. The research will improve understanding of the nature and causes of decadal-scale changes in monsoon precipitation, wit ....East Asian Monsoon response to periods of abrupt global change. This proposal aims to investigate the response of the East Asian Monsoon to abrupt climatic change, under baseline states of both warm and cool climate. The research is significant as it utilises unique, precisely dated sediments from Japan, and novel approaches to quantifying spatial and temporal climate patterns. The research will improve understanding of the nature and causes of decadal-scale changes in monsoon precipitation, with relevance for constraining the trajectory of the future monsoon, and the risks of prolonged drought and flood. The findings will benefit the Asian people, for whom the monsoon has major economic, social and environmental importance. In turn, this will benefit Australia, via economic and climatic ties to Asia.Read moreRead less
How warm and how wet? New perspectives on paleoclimate records and hydrological regimes in arid zones of Australia. This project will develop a new and precise palaeotemperature record for southern Australia, and will investigate the hydrologic dynamics of inland Australia. Together, this research will lead to new discoveries in the way Australian ecosystems respond to climate variability and will enable better understanding of its impacts.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100295
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,679.00
Summary
Forecasting the future of flood and drought in Australia using multi-century tree-ring and isotope chronologies from the tropics. The effects of El Nino on Australian floods and droughts in a globally changing climate is unclear because we lack long climate records from the past. This project will measure tree-ring and isotope records using kauri pine to advance our understanding of El Nino's effects on the frequency and intensity of drought and floods in Australia.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101017
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,000.00
Summary
Assessing the vulnerability of East Antarctica to future warming. This DECRA aims to address major gaps in our understanding of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet will respond to climate change, by enabling critical insights on its sensitivity to past climate warming. The project will apply a suite of geochemical approaches to determine – for East Antarctica’s most vulnerable basin – the extent of ice-sheet loss during past warming, and the impact of glacial meltwater on biological productivity and Sou ....Assessing the vulnerability of East Antarctica to future warming. This DECRA aims to address major gaps in our understanding of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet will respond to climate change, by enabling critical insights on its sensitivity to past climate warming. The project will apply a suite of geochemical approaches to determine – for East Antarctica’s most vulnerable basin – the extent of ice-sheet loss during past warming, and the impact of glacial meltwater on biological productivity and Southern Ocean circulation. New knowledge of how the ice sheet and ocean respond to climate warming, will lead to more reliable projections of future sea-level rise and climate. The DECRA will benefit Australia by providing a strong evidence base for policy decision-making to manage the impact of sea-level rise.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,079,069.00
Summary
Sea level change and climate sensitivity. This project will aim to improve understanding of climate and sea-level change on timescales relevant to longer-term planning, by characterising the relationship between past sea-level/ice-volume change and other key climate factors such as temperature and greenhouse gases, and by quantifying how rapidly sea level may adjust to climate change.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100180
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
An Australian fluid-inclusion facility for climate-change science. Understanding past temperature and rainfall changes is essential for improving climate projections. The proposed facility will generate new palaeotemperature and palaeorainfall information from cave deposits, leading to a better understanding of natural climate variability and change.
Deep-sea coral ocean-climate records of the last glacial and recent eras. The project aims to predict the ocean carbon dioxide sink’s long-term capacity and future trajectories of global warming and increasing carbon dioxide. This project will use geochemical proxies encoded in the skeletons of deep-sea corals in the Perth Canyon, Tasman seas, and Antarctica, in the heart of the ocean-climate system, to reveal continuous long-term records of environmental change at annual-decadal resolution for ....Deep-sea coral ocean-climate records of the last glacial and recent eras. The project aims to predict the ocean carbon dioxide sink’s long-term capacity and future trajectories of global warming and increasing carbon dioxide. This project will use geochemical proxies encoded in the skeletons of deep-sea corals in the Perth Canyon, Tasman seas, and Antarctica, in the heart of the ocean-climate system, to reveal continuous long-term records of environmental change at annual-decadal resolution for our recent past (hundreds to thousands of years) and the Last Glacial Maximum. These records are expected to provide a more accurate understanding of Earth’s long-term responses to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100890
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$427,082.00
Summary
Rapid climate change, early modern human dispersal, and Neanderthal demise. Why are we the only surviving human species? This project aims to investigate whether seasonal environmental changes associated with rapid climate change events played a role in the expansion of our own species and the demise of Neanderthals between 60,000-30,000 years ago. The project will generate quantitative, sub-seasonal records of past climate variability using novel multi-proxy analyses from key archaeological sit ....Rapid climate change, early modern human dispersal, and Neanderthal demise. Why are we the only surviving human species? This project aims to investigate whether seasonal environmental changes associated with rapid climate change events played a role in the expansion of our own species and the demise of Neanderthals between 60,000-30,000 years ago. The project will generate quantitative, sub-seasonal records of past climate variability using novel multi-proxy analyses from key archaeological sites, offering a framework for understanding early human responses to extreme climate fluctuations. This may inform our strategies for coping with future extreme scenarios. These unparalleled records will also provide data to test and refine climate models, enabling a better understanding of Earth’s climate system. Read moreRead less
Palaeoclimate reconstructions from the isotopic signatures of fossilised leaf waxes. This project develops a method for using the chemical signature of fossilised leaf waxes to reconstruct hydrologic change in south-eastern Australia during the Holocene (last 10,000 years) and Eocene (56-34 million years ago). Understanding climate in the geologic past is essential for testing models and projecting future climate with rising carbon dioxide.