Understanding the effect of small-scale ocean process on tuna populations – a new tool to forecast tuna distributions for use in fisheries management. The western and central Pacific Ocean supports the world’s largest tuna fishery with catches contributing up to 40 per cent of revenue for many Pacific communities. These nations are dependent on these fisheries for livelihoods and economic development. Continued sustainable management of this valuable resource in the face of rapid population grow ....Understanding the effect of small-scale ocean process on tuna populations – a new tool to forecast tuna distributions for use in fisheries management. The western and central Pacific Ocean supports the world’s largest tuna fishery with catches contributing up to 40 per cent of revenue for many Pacific communities. These nations are dependent on these fisheries for livelihoods and economic development. Continued sustainable management of this valuable resource in the face of rapid population growth and climate variability and change is a challenge. Using observationally derived information of skipjack tuna, the project aims to develop a novel tuna behavioural model. This is intended to be integrated into a state-of-the-art biophysical model at resolutions capable of reproducing critical meso-scale processes, providing projections of tuna distributions that aim to aid in developing sustainable management practices.Read moreRead less
Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and ....Is there a climatic tipping point for Antarctic Bottom Water formation? Antarctic Bottom Water plays an important role in global ocean circulation and climate and yet its formation is also highly sensitive to climate change. This project will analyse new seafloor, core and water samples from the understudied Cape Darnley, East Antarctica, collected on a voyage in early 2022. This new data will be used in combination with an improved high resolution regional ocean model, to understand modern and past Antarctic Bottom Water formation under different climate states (warmer and colder than present), to determine if there are climate tipping points for the shut down of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The anticipated benefits include a better understanding of future climate change on this important water mass.Read moreRead less
Interactions of physical processes for Southern Ocean dynamics. The Southern Ocean circulation is a major component of the earth’s climate system. Its behaviour depends strongly on the interactions of physical processes that are poorly understood and are not well represented in ocean models. This project will use laboratory experiments and fully-resolved flow simulations with appropriate scaling to examine the dynamics of key interactions between convection, mixing, wind-driven flow, eddies and ....Interactions of physical processes for Southern Ocean dynamics. The Southern Ocean circulation is a major component of the earth’s climate system. Its behaviour depends strongly on the interactions of physical processes that are poorly understood and are not well represented in ocean models. This project will use laboratory experiments and fully-resolved flow simulations with appropriate scaling to examine the dynamics of key interactions between convection, mixing, wind-driven flow, eddies and large-scale currents, while translating the results to improve ocean models. The project will develop the fundamental physics of the deep overturning circulation, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, response timescales and heat uptake in a warming world, and improve predictions of oceanic and climate change.Read moreRead less
Melting and circulation in Antarctic ice shelf cavities. This project will explore and model the mechanisms causing the observed increased rate of melting of Antarctica’s ice shelves. This understanding is essential for accurate predictions of sea level rise and global thermohaline circulation over the next century, so that their impact on society can be planned for and mitigated.
A new energy budget for the global circulation of the oceans. The energy sources and sinks that govern the global circulation of the oceans will be re-evaluated, building a new picture of the energy budget of the oceans. This will lead to new knowledge of the circulation of the deep oceans, to better ocean and climate-prediction models, and ultimately to more reliable estimates of future climate change.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100089
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,151.00
Summary
A new understanding of Antarctic ice melting. Melting of grounded ice in the Antarctic may play a key role in future global sea level rise and Earth's climate system. Ocean-ice interactions governing the rate of melting are not well understood and limited data leads to large uncertainties in the predictions of future melting rates. This project will undertake the first direct numerical simulations examining the complex dynamics of melting of ice-shelves in the presence of convection and turbulen ....A new understanding of Antarctic ice melting. Melting of grounded ice in the Antarctic may play a key role in future global sea level rise and Earth's climate system. Ocean-ice interactions governing the rate of melting are not well understood and limited data leads to large uncertainties in the predictions of future melting rates. This project will undertake the first direct numerical simulations examining the complex dynamics of melting of ice-shelves in the presence of convection and turbulence, while translating the results to improve ocean models. By calculating the sensitivity of melting rate to surrounding ocean conditions, the project will develop the knowledge required to better predict future melting rates.Read moreRead less
Spanning ten billion scales from millimetre turbulence to global circulation. This project aims to explain the role of convection in the ocean. Convection is a key climate process yet it remains one of the most poorly understood mechanisms in the ocean and is crudely represented in climate models, leading to uncertainties in predictions of heat transport, climate change, polar ice loss and sea level rise. Using a unique turbulence-resolving approach and high-performance computing, the project wi ....Spanning ten billion scales from millimetre turbulence to global circulation. This project aims to explain the role of convection in the ocean. Convection is a key climate process yet it remains one of the most poorly understood mechanisms in the ocean and is crudely represented in climate models, leading to uncertainties in predictions of heat transport, climate change, polar ice loss and sea level rise. Using a unique turbulence-resolving approach and high-performance computing, the project will determine both the global role of buoyancy-driven convection in the broad ocean circulation and the local turbulence controls on melting rates of Antarctic ice-shelves. This will contribute to the formulation of better climate models and keep Australia at the forefront of oceanography and environmental fluid dynamics.Read moreRead less