Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0561233
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$434,000.00
Summary
State-of-the-Art Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility. This proposal seeks funds for the purchase and installation of a state-of-the-art 400 MHz Wide-Bore Solid-State NMR spectrometer. Research projects utilising this euipment will benefit from the ability to probe the structure of solid samples that are difficult to characterise in any other way. These materials represent advances in nanotechnology, new materials and will impact on the analysis of environmental contaminants in pota ....State-of-the-Art Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility. This proposal seeks funds for the purchase and installation of a state-of-the-art 400 MHz Wide-Bore Solid-State NMR spectrometer. Research projects utilising this euipment will benefit from the ability to probe the structure of solid samples that are difficult to characterise in any other way. These materials represent advances in nanotechnology, new materials and will impact on the analysis of environmental contaminants in potable water supplies, with a particular Australian focus on the identification of compounds formed as by-products during disinfection processes.
The upgraded facility will be the only one of its kind in Western Australia.
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Internal wave energetics, mixing and transport in lakes. The aim of this project is to increase our understanding of the physical processes controlling water quality in lakes. Water supplies world-wide are under increasing pressure from development, usually resulting in decreasing water quality. The biology and chemistry in lakes is controlled primarily by physical processes, and so understanding these processes is crucial to managing water quality in lakes and reservoirs. The outcomes of this p ....Internal wave energetics, mixing and transport in lakes. The aim of this project is to increase our understanding of the physical processes controlling water quality in lakes. Water supplies world-wide are under increasing pressure from development, usually resulting in decreasing water quality. The biology and chemistry in lakes is controlled primarily by physical processes, and so understanding these processes is crucial to managing water quality in lakes and reservoirs. The outcomes of this project will be improved tools for the management of these water resources, as all the research findings will be incorporated into already existing numerical models for lake management.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882509
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide im ....High resolution airborne radar for environmental research: soil moisture, vegetation, salinity and terrain mapping. There is a rapidly increasing demand for a range of environmental data. For example, information on soil moisture status is required for efficient and sustainable water use. Moreover, irrigation practices and large scale clearing have led to serious land degradation through increased salinity from rising water tables. Combined soil moisture and salinity measurement will provide important insight to this complex issue. Further, understanding the complex and rich biodiversity of Australian flora and its adaptation to droughts and fire is essential to ensuring Australian ecosystem longevity. Knowledge of flora changes through time as a function of soil moisture content and salinity is key to gaining this understanding.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354817
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources ....Groundwater and the Environment: Understanding the role of groundwater in the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems in Australia.
. 97% of freshwater on earth is groundwater. Despite this, it is undervalued, largely unexplored and poorly understood. In Australia, groundwater plays a critical role in our salinity problem and sustains our ecosystems. It will be a critical water supply in the future, especially in times of drought when surface water is scarce. Our nation's groundwater resources require the same unresounding commitment to preservation that we now see in the Murray-Darling basin. This network develops foundations for a desperately needed National Groundwater Centre to provide research to ensure win-win outcomes for this country's water resources and the users that rely on them.
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Assessment of the Mass Flux in a Benthic Boundary Layer of a Stratified Lake. Understanding the underlying processes responsible for Benthic Bundary Layer (BBL) mass flux in stratified lakes is of fundamental ecological importance. By verifying the ability of the current Centre for Water Research hydrodynamics models to reproduce the dynamics of the BBL, Australia will cement its position as an international leader in the development of technologies to guide the management of lakes, reservoirs, ....Assessment of the Mass Flux in a Benthic Boundary Layer of a Stratified Lake. Understanding the underlying processes responsible for Benthic Bundary Layer (BBL) mass flux in stratified lakes is of fundamental ecological importance. By verifying the ability of the current Centre for Water Research hydrodynamics models to reproduce the dynamics of the BBL, Australia will cement its position as an international leader in the development of technologies to guide the management of lakes, reservoirs, estuaries and coastal areas. Furthermore, these water bodies are important sources and sinks of carbon and the extent to which they contribute to the national and international carbon inventory can be assessed using this technology.Read moreRead less
Factors controlling phytoplankton patchiness in a seasonally stratified lake. This project will determine what processes result in the formation of phytoplankton patches in lakes, over what scale, and how they can be parameterized into models to assist in managing aquatic systems. This will allow key parameters to be measured at the correct time and space scales. The Controlled Lagrangian Drogue coupled with correctly parameterized hydrodynamic and water quality models will provide the Austra ....Factors controlling phytoplankton patchiness in a seasonally stratified lake. This project will determine what processes result in the formation of phytoplankton patches in lakes, over what scale, and how they can be parameterized into models to assist in managing aquatic systems. This will allow key parameters to be measured at the correct time and space scales. The Controlled Lagrangian Drogue coupled with correctly parameterized hydrodynamic and water quality models will provide the Australian and International water industry with tools to measure and predict phytoplankton patchiness and make decisions about water quality treatment, offtake regimes and reservoir management. This will minimize the economic costs of water quality management and enhance the security of the quality of our water resources. Read moreRead less
Integration of Surface Water and Ground Water Processes in Coastal Catchments. The hydrologic processes which describe surface water and groundwater movement often occur at completely different temporal and spatial scales. These two distinct flow regimes, however, are intrinsically coupled in coastal catchments in Australia. The superposition of local flow systems on a regional groundwater framework results in complex interactions which are difficult to accurately predict with existing numeric ....Integration of Surface Water and Ground Water Processes in Coastal Catchments. The hydrologic processes which describe surface water and groundwater movement often occur at completely different temporal and spatial scales. These two distinct flow regimes, however, are intrinsically coupled in coastal catchments in Australia. The superposition of local flow systems on a regional groundwater framework results in complex interactions which are difficult to accurately predict with existing numerical models, and are not truly understood even at the conceptual level. This work aims to study a single catchment at a very detailed level to allow for the production of a new integrated approach to the simulation of the complete hydrologic systemRead moreRead less
Maximizing reservoir water quality security through the use of a Lake Diagnostic System (LDS) and a Controlled Lagrangian Drogue (CLD). It is proposed to build on recent advancements in limnological research and existing measurement technologies to develop the hardware, algorithms and software to form a unique real time reservoir water quality management system, driven by minimal measurement inputs. This will remove the reliance on extensive expensive reservoir monitoring, previously necessary ....Maximizing reservoir water quality security through the use of a Lake Diagnostic System (LDS) and a Controlled Lagrangian Drogue (CLD). It is proposed to build on recent advancements in limnological research and existing measurement technologies to develop the hardware, algorithms and software to form a unique real time reservoir water quality management system, driven by minimal measurement inputs. This will remove the reliance on extensive expensive reservoir monitoring, previously necessary to characterize the lake spatial variability and seasonality, for full 3D modelling. This project will deliver to industry: two measurement tools to simplify reservoir monitoring, the LDS and CLD; and software tools to manage real time data collection, provide decision support to reservoir managers and to enable ?on-demand? scenario predictions.Read moreRead less
Extreme tidal forcing of a topographically complex coastal region: the Kimberley, Western Australia. This project will lead to significant advances in our understanding of the ocean circulation of the Camden Sound region of the Kimberley, Western Australia. The combination of field and laboratory observations, coupled with numerical modelling will, for the first time, elucidate the influence of the series of islands, reefs and headlands on the circulation and mixing along this coast. This will u ....Extreme tidal forcing of a topographically complex coastal region: the Kimberley, Western Australia. This project will lead to significant advances in our understanding of the ocean circulation of the Camden Sound region of the Kimberley, Western Australia. The combination of field and laboratory observations, coupled with numerical modelling will, for the first time, elucidate the influence of the series of islands, reefs and headlands on the circulation and mixing along this coast. This will ultimately provide insight into other similar systems with complex coastal topography, such as the Great Barrier Reef, and provide the frame work to understand the various physical processes that drive the marine ecology of the region.Read moreRead less
A Generalized Flood Frequency Framework for Prediction of the Effects of Multi-Scale Hydroclimatic Variability. The proposed project aims to investigate the effects of natural, multi-scale variability in climatic inputs, especially precipitation inputs -- intra-annual (seasonal), inter-annual and inter-decadal -- on the estimation of frequency of flooding. It will investigate the propagation of these natural variabilities through the catchment system, through simple models that can enable the e ....A Generalized Flood Frequency Framework for Prediction of the Effects of Multi-Scale Hydroclimatic Variability. The proposed project aims to investigate the effects of natural, multi-scale variability in climatic inputs, especially precipitation inputs -- intra-annual (seasonal), inter-annual and inter-decadal -- on the estimation of frequency of flooding. It will investigate the propagation of these natural variabilities through the catchment system, through simple models that can enable the estimation of probability distributions of soil moisture, runoff generation and flood peaks, and elucidate the underlying process controls. In this way, it will help develop a new framework for the incorporation of these multi-scale variabilities in flood estimation practice in Australia.Read moreRead less