Seeing the good from the trees: remotely sensing the urban forest. Urban forests provide a range of ecosystem services including temperature regulation and rainfall capture, but measuring these benefits is currently prohibitively costly and inaccurate. This project aims to develop a new model of urban forest ecosystem services that uses remotely sensed three dimensional data to map canopy cover. A model using this data, which is being collected by an increasing number of governments, represents ....Seeing the good from the trees: remotely sensing the urban forest. Urban forests provide a range of ecosystem services including temperature regulation and rainfall capture, but measuring these benefits is currently prohibitively costly and inaccurate. This project aims to develop a new model of urban forest ecosystem services that uses remotely sensed three dimensional data to map canopy cover. A model using this data, which is being collected by an increasing number of governments, represents a novel advance on the established methodology that requires expensive and time-consuming fieldwork. The advancements expected to be made in this project will mean that environmental planners will be able to better plan the urban forest so that cities are more liveable and resilient in the face of climate change.Read moreRead less
Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely ....Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely collected in Australia's catchments and thereby better predict water quality behaviour. Proposed field studies aim to support this development. The outcomes sought are improved planning and management of water quality in our rivers, lakes and estuaries, improved health of these water bodies and improved water supplies.Read moreRead less
New generation functional materials for 21st century applications: exploiting the properties of naphthalene diimides. This project melds the expertise of several research groups in the area of fluorescent material development. Based on a family of highly fluorescent molecules, the project will focus on designing new sensors, polymeric materials and molecular switching devices.
Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies an ....Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies and their interactions across multiple spatio-temporal scales, revealing their impacts on productivity along Australia’s most populous coastline. This will provide significant benefits such as improved ocean forecasting and sustainable management of Australian marine industries and seafood sector, supporting economic growth. Read moreRead less
Carbon nanotube fluidic channels for desalination - interplay of nanoscale confinement and electrostatics. Tiny tubes of carbon, ten thousand times smaller than human hair, allow water to pass through at extraordinary speed. This project aims to understand and improve their salt rejection properties using comprehensive experimental and theoretical approaches. This will provide the impetus and knowledge for developing advanced membranes for desalination
Linking terrestrial–aquatic fluxes to rectify the Australian carbon balance. This project aims to rectify the Australian carbon balance by determining the amount of terrestrial carbon that is lost to streams and rivers across the country. Through a novel integration of high-resolution hydrochemical and gas measurements, remote sensing and machine learning algorithms, the project intends to generate new knowledge about the links between terrestrial carbon sequestration and aquatic carbon export. ....Linking terrestrial–aquatic fluxes to rectify the Australian carbon balance. This project aims to rectify the Australian carbon balance by determining the amount of terrestrial carbon that is lost to streams and rivers across the country. Through a novel integration of high-resolution hydrochemical and gas measurements, remote sensing and machine learning algorithms, the project intends to generate new knowledge about the links between terrestrial carbon sequestration and aquatic carbon export. Expected outcomes include a refined estimate of the net carbon sequestration potential across Australian biomes and seasons. This should provide significant benefits such as avoiding misalignment of greenhouse gas abatement policies and advancing carbon cycling models and predictions.Read moreRead less