Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100184
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Understanding Antarctic dense water formation. This project aims to use a high-resolution global modelling approach to understand how Antarctic dense water formation changed in past climates and how to predict future changes. The Southern Ocean is critical in the uptake of heat and carbon from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. The sinking of cold and saline dense water around the coast of Antarctica transports heat and carbon into the deep ocean. Climate models fail to simulate this process an ....Understanding Antarctic dense water formation. This project aims to use a high-resolution global modelling approach to understand how Antarctic dense water formation changed in past climates and how to predict future changes. The Southern Ocean is critical in the uptake of heat and carbon from the atmosphere into the deep ocean. The sinking of cold and saline dense water around the coast of Antarctica transports heat and carbon into the deep ocean. Climate models fail to simulate this process and little is known about how dense water formation responds to changes in climate. Identification of critical vulnerabilities associated with Antarctic ice shelf melting and sea level rise will guide Southern Ocean observation systems and Australian climate adaptation programs.Read moreRead less
Building Australia's next-generation ocean-sea ice model. Ocean and sea ice models are used for predicting future ocean and climate states, and for climate process research. This project aims to bring the next generation of ocean-sea ice models to Australia and configure the models for our local priorities. The ultimate goal is to create a new coupled ocean-sea ice model for Australia that includes surface waves and biogeochemistry. The model will be optimised and evaluated on Australian facilit ....Building Australia's next-generation ocean-sea ice model. Ocean and sea ice models are used for predicting future ocean and climate states, and for climate process research. This project aims to bring the next generation of ocean-sea ice models to Australia and configure the models for our local priorities. The ultimate goal is to create a new coupled ocean-sea ice model for Australia that includes surface waves and biogeochemistry. The model will be optimised and evaluated on Australian facilities, and released for community use. These developments underpin future ocean state forecasts, sea ice forecasts, wave forecasts, decadal climate prediction and climate process studies. The project will benefit search and rescue, Defence and shipping operations, and will enhance future climate projections.Read moreRead less
An ensemble approach to studying the ocean's role in climate change. Using a newly-developed ocean model that harnesses the power of graphical processing units (GPUs) instead of the common central processing units (CPUs) we can run global ocean simulations at 1/50th the cost. Utilising this speed up, we aim to pioneer a modelling framework to perform ensembles of eddy-resolving global ocean simulations under various climate-change scenarios. This ensemble approach will enable us to separate the ....An ensemble approach to studying the ocean's role in climate change. Using a newly-developed ocean model that harnesses the power of graphical processing units (GPUs) instead of the common central processing units (CPUs) we can run global ocean simulations at 1/50th the cost. Utilising this speed up, we aim to pioneer a modelling framework to perform ensembles of eddy-resolving global ocean simulations under various climate-change scenarios. This ensemble approach will enable us to separate the changes we see in future projections that are due to climate change from the changes that occur in the due to the natural variations of the climate system. The project's outcomes will increase our confidence in future climate change projections, including ocean heat uptake, and sea level rise.Read moreRead less
Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo ....Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo-Pacific region. Expected outcomes include a 1000-fold increase in the observations of mixing in the Indonesian seas and new understanding of the ocean-atmosphere processes that control water property change along the ITF. This should lead to strong improvement in the skill of climate forecast models in the Australian region.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200100008
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000,000.00
Summary
The Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science. The Centre will revolutionise predictions of the future of East Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Changes in the Antarctic will be profoundly costly to Australia, including sea-level and fisheries impacts; but the speed and scale of future change remains poorly understood. A new national-scale and interdisciplinary Centre is required to understand the complex interactions of the ocean, ice sheets, atmosphere and ecosystems that will gov ....The Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science. The Centre will revolutionise predictions of the future of East Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Changes in the Antarctic will be profoundly costly to Australia, including sea-level and fisheries impacts; but the speed and scale of future change remains poorly understood. A new national-scale and interdisciplinary Centre is required to understand the complex interactions of the ocean, ice sheets, atmosphere and ecosystems that will govern Antarctica’s future. The Centre will combine new field data with innovative models to address Australia’s Antarctic science priorities, train graduate students, develop leaders, engage the public, and enable major economic benefit as Australia adapts to climate change in the coming years and beyond.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
Risks of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic continental margin. This project aims to comprehensively understand the interconnected processes by which oceanic heat is circulated towards Antarctica. The risk of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic margin is profound, with change already detected via deep ocean warming, land-ice melt, and ice shelf collapse. Yet this region remains poorly understood, with only limited observations due to both a harsh environment and a lack of standard data stream ....Risks of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic continental margin. This project aims to comprehensively understand the interconnected processes by which oceanic heat is circulated towards Antarctica. The risk of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic margin is profound, with change already detected via deep ocean warming, land-ice melt, and ice shelf collapse. Yet this region remains poorly understood, with only limited observations due to both a harsh environment and a lack of standard data streams. This project will use high-resolution global and regional ocean/sea-ice models to examine mechanisms for rapid warming of Antarctic continental shelf waters via both large-scale drivers and fine-scale processes, including mesoscale eddies, tide-topography interactions, and bottom boundary flows. This work will better constrain future rates of ice melt around Antarctica by providing vital knowledge of the ocean processes, dynamics, and feedbacks relating to warm water intrusion onto the Antarctic continental shelf.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100749
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$434,030.00
Summary
Machine learning of subgrid ocean physics for global ocean models. Climate projections require simulations with ocean-climate models for hundreds of years. Computational resources limit the resolution of our models for such long runs, meaning that some key physical processes remain unresolved and must be parameterised. This project uses machine learning to find new parameterisations for unresolved ocean processes. These new parameterisations will be implemented into computationally cheaper coars ....Machine learning of subgrid ocean physics for global ocean models. Climate projections require simulations with ocean-climate models for hundreds of years. Computational resources limit the resolution of our models for such long runs, meaning that some key physical processes remain unresolved and must be parameterised. This project uses machine learning to find new parameterisations for unresolved ocean processes. These new parameterisations will be implemented into computationally cheaper coarse-resolution ocean models, thereby enhancing these models' representation of the ocean circulation. This project expects to reveal the dynamics of unresolved processes, to improve the accuracy of climate projections and to provide a proof-of-concept for how machine learning can be used in ocean and climate science.Read moreRead less
Deciphering strategies polar phytoplankton employ to lessen iron limitation. The Southern Ocean is of global importance. It comprises one-third of the global ocean by area and disproportionately absorbs two-thirds of anthropogenic ocean heat and half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions even though phytoplankton in this region are chronically iron-limited. This project aims to understand why copper uptake by phytoplankton lessens the effects of iron limitation and how copper substitut ....Deciphering strategies polar phytoplankton employ to lessen iron limitation. The Southern Ocean is of global importance. It comprises one-third of the global ocean by area and disproportionately absorbs two-thirds of anthropogenic ocean heat and half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions even though phytoplankton in this region are chronically iron-limited. This project aims to understand why copper uptake by phytoplankton lessens the effects of iron limitation and how copper substitutes for iron. This knowledge is critical for evaluating the impacts and feedbacks between iron and copper in regulating Southern Ocean productivity and ultimately its ability to drawdown atmospheric CO2. The results from this project will facilitate the development of improved ecosystem models and conservation tools.Read moreRead less
How topography brakes the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This project aims to observe and simulate the mechanisms that slow the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The Southern Ocean winds have increased over the last two decades while the transport of the world’s largest current remains steady or slightly decreasing. A possible explanation is negative feedback mechanisms between the winds and transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This project will observe how eddies carry momentum from the ....How topography brakes the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This project aims to observe and simulate the mechanisms that slow the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The Southern Ocean winds have increased over the last two decades while the transport of the world’s largest current remains steady or slightly decreasing. A possible explanation is negative feedback mechanisms between the winds and transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This project will observe how eddies carry momentum from the wind down to the sea floor and accelerate the deep currents that drag against the rough bottom to put the brakes on this current. Since this current affects Australian rainfall patterns and agricultural output, findings could inform public policy.Read moreRead less