A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of import ....A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of important organic reactions and enhancing collaboration nationally and internationally between computational and synthetic chemists. This should provide significant benefits in the form of improved chemical reactions for chemists to prepare new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials.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
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE200100201
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$530,000.00
Summary
A major upgrade to the Australia Telescope Compact Array. This project aims to upgrade the $150m CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array ("the telescope"), by replacing the signal processing electronics and doubling the bandwidth. This will significantly enhance the performance of the telescope, enabling more ambitious science by the 450 researchers and students who use it each year. For example, it will enable the telescope to study radio counterparts to Gravitational Wave sources, and it will ....A major upgrade to the Australia Telescope Compact Array. This project aims to upgrade the $150m CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array ("the telescope"), by replacing the signal processing electronics and doubling the bandwidth. This will significantly enhance the performance of the telescope, enabling more ambitious science by the 450 researchers and students who use it each year. For example, it will enable the telescope to study radio counterparts to Gravitational Wave sources, and it will enable it to make detailed observations of initial discoveries made with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and other Australian telescopes. In short, it will enable Australian researchers to do more ambitious research, and make more discoveries, across broad areas of astrophysics.Read moreRead less
The puzzle of landfast sea ice: ‘Fast’ ice and near-term climate impacts. Sea ice which is held motionless against the Antarctic coastline (so-called landfast, or 'fast' ice) is hugely important for global climate and Southern Ocean ecosystems but its extent has recently plummeted. This project will address major knowledge gaps by providing novel satellite-based mapping and analysis of fast ice extent, towards enabling incorporation of fast ice into Australia’s new sea ice-ocean Earth system mod ....The puzzle of landfast sea ice: ‘Fast’ ice and near-term climate impacts. Sea ice which is held motionless against the Antarctic coastline (so-called landfast, or 'fast' ice) is hugely important for global climate and Southern Ocean ecosystems but its extent has recently plummeted. This project will address major knowledge gaps by providing novel satellite-based mapping and analysis of fast ice extent, towards enabling incorporation of fast ice into Australia’s new sea ice-ocean Earth system model for the first time – to allow assessment of its impacts on global ocean circulation and ice shelf melt. Outcomes also include new automated capability for monitoring fast ice extent, analysis of its variability and drivers, and first maps of its thickness and roughness.Read moreRead less
Antarctica's leaky defence to poleward heat transport. Southern Ocean currents are barriers to the oceanic transport of heat toward Antarctica. This barrier breaks down at key locations along their path and the poleward heat transport is enhanced. Changing winds are expected to accelerate heat transport, threatening ice shelves that protect Antarctic glaciers from ocean-driven melt. This project aims to advance understanding of the small-scale processes that control heat transport across the Sou ....Antarctica's leaky defence to poleward heat transport. Southern Ocean currents are barriers to the oceanic transport of heat toward Antarctica. This barrier breaks down at key locations along their path and the poleward heat transport is enhanced. Changing winds are expected to accelerate heat transport, threatening ice shelves that protect Antarctic glaciers from ocean-driven melt. This project aims to advance understanding of the small-scale processes that control heat transport across the Southern Ocean. By combining funded international field campaigns that harness new advances in observing systems with next-generation numerical modelling, this research will create a step-change in our ability to predict Southern Ocean environmental change.Read moreRead less
Are coastal wetlands vulnerable to bushfires? The ‘Black Summer’ fires burned extensive areas of coastal wetland not typically associated with fire impact. These wetlands rely upon plant growth and sediment delivery to respond to sea-level rise, processes which may be impacted by fire. This project aims to quantify the distribution and severity of fire impact, and establish post-fire vegetation and surface elevation trajectories. By integrating fire ecology and wetland science approaches, this p ....Are coastal wetlands vulnerable to bushfires? The ‘Black Summer’ fires burned extensive areas of coastal wetland not typically associated with fire impact. These wetlands rely upon plant growth and sediment delivery to respond to sea-level rise, processes which may be impacted by fire. This project aims to quantify the distribution and severity of fire impact, and establish post-fire vegetation and surface elevation trajectories. By integrating fire ecology and wetland science approaches, this project will ascertain the resilience of coastal wetlands to the cumulative impacts of fire and sea-level rise. Expected outcomes of this project include new, spatially-explicit fire management tools which will aid the sustainable, long-term management of coastal wetlands in a changing climate.Read moreRead less
Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of th ....Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of this complex inverse estuary system and its surrounding catchment. The new understanding of the sources, fluxes and fate of nutrients within the bay and the surrounding catchment, arising from this project, is expected to benefit management decision-making and establish a new standard in estuarine water quality investigation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100267
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,000.00
Summary
Great Antarctic uncertainties: How to better predict rising sea levels. This DECRA project aims to significantly reduce the uncertainties in future projections of the Antarctic contribution to global and regional sea-level rise. This will be achieved by including, for the first time, the influence of interactions with the subglacial hydrologic system and surrounding ocean circulation on the ice sheet dynamics, using a coupled ice–ocean–hydrology model. This research will build on Dr Zhao's inter ....Great Antarctic uncertainties: How to better predict rising sea levels. This DECRA project aims to significantly reduce the uncertainties in future projections of the Antarctic contribution to global and regional sea-level rise. This will be achieved by including, for the first time, the influence of interactions with the subglacial hydrologic system and surrounding ocean circulation on the ice sheet dynamics, using a coupled ice–ocean–hydrology model. This research will build on Dr Zhao's international expertise in ice sheet modelling and coupled ice–ocean modelling. This project provide substantial benefits to Australia and internationally, particularly in regions vulnerable to rising sea levels, by producing more accurate sea-level rise projections for policy and mitigation strategies.Read moreRead less
Physics-aware machine learning for data-driven fire risk prediction. The 2019/20 Australian fire season was unprecedented in its extent, impact, and the response of fire agencies. In this project, we aim to answer the question: was the scale of these fires driven by known drivers of fire (drought, weather, fuels and ignitions), or were fundamentally new undescribed processes and phenomena involved? We will accomplish this by developing an innovative, physics-aware machine learning model of fire ....Physics-aware machine learning for data-driven fire risk prediction. The 2019/20 Australian fire season was unprecedented in its extent, impact, and the response of fire agencies. In this project, we aim to answer the question: was the scale of these fires driven by known drivers of fire (drought, weather, fuels and ignitions), or were fundamentally new undescribed processes and phenomena involved? We will accomplish this by developing an innovative, physics-aware machine learning model of fire risk and spread, trained and validated on a two-decade satellite fire record. The predictive ability of the model will be tested on the 2019/20 fire season to determine if novel drivers of fire can be identified, and the model itself will be operationalised into a novel short-to-mid term fire risk prediction tool. Read moreRead less