Links between bushfires in Victoria and floods in Queensland. This project will investigate connections between bushfires in Victoria and floods in Queensland under the framework that atmospheric blocking can be thought of as a common link. High resolution runs using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change future projections of the energetics of high impact weather will improve climate forecasts in sensitive coastal areas of the country.
El Niño in a changing climate: novel long-term perspectives from Pacific corals and model simulations. El Niño and La Niña events have a profound influence on Australian drought conditions and rainfall. Forecasting is hampered by short climate records, which do not capture the full range of El Niño dynamics. This project aims to generate records of unprecedented length and spatial coverage from key sites across the western and central equatorial Pacific. Five hundred years of continuous, monthly ....El Niño in a changing climate: novel long-term perspectives from Pacific corals and model simulations. El Niño and La Niña events have a profound influence on Australian drought conditions and rainfall. Forecasting is hampered by short climate records, which do not capture the full range of El Niño dynamics. This project aims to generate records of unprecedented length and spatial coverage from key sites across the western and central equatorial Pacific. Five hundred years of continuous, monthly-resolution climate data will be integrated with output from state-of-the-art climate model simulations to distil the key processes that cause El Niño to vary. This project aims to provide major advances in determining the full range of El Niño and La Niña behaviour, leading to improved forecasts of future changes, with consequences for Australia's water security.Read moreRead less
The forgotten role of the ground state in atmospheric photochemistry. This project aims to provide novel solutions to two deficiencies in current atmospheric chemistry models. That is, molecular hydrogen (H2) is underestimated by up to a factor of two, and in polluted areas, HO2 concentrations are underestimated by up to a factor of ten. The project will investigate these solutions and assess their local and global atmospheric impact. By better characterising the atmospheric H2 budget, and the r ....The forgotten role of the ground state in atmospheric photochemistry. This project aims to provide novel solutions to two deficiencies in current atmospheric chemistry models. That is, molecular hydrogen (H2) is underestimated by up to a factor of two, and in polluted areas, HO2 concentrations are underestimated by up to a factor of ten. The project will investigate these solutions and assess their local and global atmospheric impact. By better characterising the atmospheric H2 budget, and the role of ground state reactions in general, the predictive ability of atmospheric models will be improved. This will allow, for example, the outcomes of any change in atmospheric H2 concentration, potentially as part of any future hydrogen economy, to be predicted before they occur. The benefits of this project are global: they allow us to better predict the impact of changes to atmospheric composition – before they occur, and local: Australia’s strengths in physical, theoretical and atmospheric chemistry are reinforced.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100048
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$630,000.00
Summary
Atmospheric integrated research on burdens and oxidative capacity. Atmospheric integrated research on burdens and oxidative capacity: No single player in the Australian research community can make a large suite of atmospheric composition measurements, while the combined capability of the community is tremendous. Providing a platform to bring this capability together is cost effective and is expected to provide strong scientific return. This defines the requirements for Atmospheric Integrated Res ....Atmospheric integrated research on burdens and oxidative capacity. Atmospheric integrated research on burdens and oxidative capacity: No single player in the Australian research community can make a large suite of atmospheric composition measurements, while the combined capability of the community is tremendous. Providing a platform to bring this capability together is cost effective and is expected to provide strong scientific return. This defines the requirements for Atmospheric Integrated Research on Burdens and Oxidative capacity (AIR-BOX) to make a valuable contribution to Australian Atmospheric Science research. This project aims to provide a suite of mobile equipment including a chemical ionisation mass spectrometer, an ultraviolet-visible radiation spectrometer, a mini micropulse lidar, an in situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and a cloud condensation nuclei counter. It will be capable of remote and autonomous deployment, real-time data transfer and control, a wide range of tracer measurements, flexible configuration, and physical as well as tracer measurements.Read moreRead less
Reactive Intermediates in Atmospheric and Combustion Chemistry. Reactive intermediates are the key species that determine outcomes of the chemical reaction networks in atmospheric and combustion chemistry. However, most reactive intermediates remain undiscovered. The project aims to discover these intermediates using laser spectroscopy. Current models of atmospheric chemistry cannot account for the carbon balance over forests, nor the formation of secondary organic aerosols. Combustion models st ....Reactive Intermediates in Atmospheric and Combustion Chemistry. Reactive intermediates are the key species that determine outcomes of the chemical reaction networks in atmospheric and combustion chemistry. However, most reactive intermediates remain undiscovered. The project aims to discover these intermediates using laser spectroscopy. Current models of atmospheric chemistry cannot account for the carbon balance over forests, nor the formation of secondary organic aerosols. Combustion models struggle to predict how next-generation fuels burn in modern engines. The successful discovery of these intermediates would allow models to be more accurate and predictive. This will allow scientists, engineers and policy makers to make more informed decisions about atmospheric processes and design more efficient new fuels.Read moreRead less
Tropical climate change, the Hadley and Walker Circulations, and Australian climate. Tropical climate systems, especially the overturning circulations and monsoons, have undergone change in recent decades and are expected to do so over the next century. However, a full understanding of these has proved elusive. The project will employ a suite of insightful diagnostics of these tropical circulations calculated from the latest, high-quality data and the results of modelling to isolate the key phys ....Tropical climate change, the Hadley and Walker Circulations, and Australian climate. Tropical climate systems, especially the overturning circulations and monsoons, have undergone change in recent decades and are expected to do so over the next century. However, a full understanding of these has proved elusive. The project will employ a suite of insightful diagnostics of these tropical circulations calculated from the latest, high-quality data and the results of modelling to isolate the key physical mechanisms at work. The research is significant in that tropical circulations determine the precipitation and temperature over large parts of the Earth’s surface, and particularly Australia. The physical underpinning of the changes will assist in forming outlooks for future climate for the ‘wet tropics’ and the ‘dry zones’.Read moreRead less
GBR as a significant source of climatically relevant aerosol particles. Every cloud drop is formed from a microscopic aerosol particle, known as a cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). In unpolluted environments the CCN particles originate from biogenic sources. Determining the magnitude and driving factors of biogenic aerosol production in different ecosystems is crucial to the development and improvement of climate models. This project aims to determine the mechanisms of new particle production fro ....GBR as a significant source of climatically relevant aerosol particles. Every cloud drop is formed from a microscopic aerosol particle, known as a cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). In unpolluted environments the CCN particles originate from biogenic sources. Determining the magnitude and driving factors of biogenic aerosol production in different ecosystems is crucial to the development and improvement of climate models. This project aims to determine the mechanisms of new particle production from one of the biggest ecosystems in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. It is expected that the project will establish whether marine aerosol along the Queensland coast is coral-derived and show that this aerosol can affect the CCN concentration and therefore cloud formation and the hydrological cycle.Read moreRead less
Turbulent flow over surfaces with spatially varying roughness. This project aims to improve understanding of the effect of spatial roughness transitions on turbulent flows. Fluids flowing over non-smooth surfaces influence our daily lives, such as water moving through a pipe, wind blowing over the Earth's surface or aircraft moving through air. The presence of surface roughness profoundly influences these flows. Though engineers have learnt to deal effectively with evenly distributed roughness, ....Turbulent flow over surfaces with spatially varying roughness. This project aims to improve understanding of the effect of spatial roughness transitions on turbulent flows. Fluids flowing over non-smooth surfaces influence our daily lives, such as water moving through a pipe, wind blowing over the Earth's surface or aircraft moving through air. The presence of surface roughness profoundly influences these flows. Though engineers have learnt to deal effectively with evenly distributed roughness, this is seldom encountered in reality. Rather, there are abrupt changes in roughness, for example at the edges of wind-farms or at rivets on aircraft. This project aims to investigate these important, but little understood, turbulent flows. Potential benefits include improved simulation, more efficient vehicle design and improved atmospheric and climate models.Read moreRead less
The dynamics of turbulent entrainment in sheared convective boundary layers. This project aims to develop general laws to enable the accurate prediction of boundary layer entrainment processes. This will be significant in a wide range of environmental and engineering applications. In particular, the current lack of understanding of this area is a major source of uncertainty in the latest generation of global climate models.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101305
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$394,921.00
Summary
Extratropical Cyclones and their Associated Precipitation: Understanding, Model Evaluation, and Future Projections. Storms and their associated frontal systems are responsible for producing most of the precipitation in mid-latitudes. This project will combine several powerful analysis techniques to answer some fundamental and currently unanswered questions on storm-related precipitation, including the extremes. State-of-the-art climate models, our main tool in projecting future climate changes, ....Extratropical Cyclones and their Associated Precipitation: Understanding, Model Evaluation, and Future Projections. Storms and their associated frontal systems are responsible for producing most of the precipitation in mid-latitudes. This project will combine several powerful analysis techniques to answer some fundamental and currently unanswered questions on storm-related precipitation, including the extremes. State-of-the-art climate models, our main tool in projecting future climate changes, will then be evaluated to ensure they are able to capture the essential processes of storm-related precipitation that have been elucidated. This is essential to increase confidence in the projection of storm changes and their related precipitation, thereby providing better information to water managers.Read moreRead less