Hydrodynamics and Mixing around Coral Reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's great natural resources, an international environmental icon and a major contributor to the tourist industry in Queensland. The issues we will address are aligned with GBRMPA strategic priorities concerning effects on the ecology of climate change. This research will help delineate the physical processes responsible for the most serious potential impacts, which are of importance to management strategies to ....Hydrodynamics and Mixing around Coral Reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia's great natural resources, an international environmental icon and a major contributor to the tourist industry in Queensland. The issues we will address are aligned with GBRMPA strategic priorities concerning effects on the ecology of climate change. This research will help delineate the physical processes responsible for the most serious potential impacts, which are of importance to management strategies to be determined by GBRMPA. Other policy related issues range from sewage dispersal from coastal communities to marine accidents and fuel spills. Informed management strategies are crucial to successful future reef management. Read moreRead less
Narrowing the scatter and assessing the uncertainty of climate change projections of Australian river flows. Recent prolonged dry conditions in south-eastern Australia have triggered water restrictions in major cities, zero irrigation allocations in the Murray-Darling region and highlighted the importance of water to this country. This project represents an integrated package of research that will enhance our understanding of the uncertainty of future annual river flows, leading to more informed ....Narrowing the scatter and assessing the uncertainty of climate change projections of Australian river flows. Recent prolonged dry conditions in south-eastern Australia have triggered water restrictions in major cities, zero irrigation allocations in the Murray-Darling region and highlighted the importance of water to this country. This project represents an integrated package of research that will enhance our understanding of the uncertainty of future annual river flows, leading to more informed decision making for the sustainable management of Australia’s increasingly scarce water resources. The outcomes from this project are highly relevant to the national research priority “An Environmentally Sustainable Australia”, particularly priority goals “Water - a critical resource” and “Responding to climate change and variability”.Read moreRead less
High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geo ....High-resolution records of climatic change in Australia, both on land and at sea covering the last 20,000 years. This project aims to determine climatic changes in the Australian region since the deglaciation commenced 20,000 years ago at a century scale or better. The information is to be obtained from high-quality records of carefully selected lakes and deep-sea cores in the Australian region. The project will rely on high-resolution chronological records of environmental changes. Several geochemical and micropalaeontological techniques will be used to determine conditions in the lakes and ocean, and links to atmospheric conditions will be determined. This information is of relevance to the international climate community which aims at modelling high-quality and high-resolution records of climate change.Read moreRead less
Characterizing the hydrological cycle using water isotopes, land-surface models and satellite observations. Water is our most precious natural resource. In Australia, it is also our most precarious. The hydrological cycle describes the movement of water between the ocean, atmosphere and land. Understanding the effect and impact that a changing climate might have on the hydrological cycle is critical to securing Australia's water resources. To address these challenges, we must improve our basic u ....Characterizing the hydrological cycle using water isotopes, land-surface models and satellite observations. Water is our most precious natural resource. In Australia, it is also our most precarious. The hydrological cycle describes the movement of water between the ocean, atmosphere and land. Understanding the effect and impact that a changing climate might have on the hydrological cycle is critical to securing Australia's water resources. To address these challenges, we must improve our basic understanding of the water exchange processes within the Earth system. Our project will exploit new technology in ground and space based observation, combined with advanced modeling and measurement capabilities, to develop an improved understanding and characterization of Australian hydrological cycles and aid in assessing climate change related impacts. Read moreRead less
A new flood design methodology for a variable and changing climate. The extreme temporal and spatial variability of Australia's rainfall affects the quantity and quality of water resources, the productivity of agricultural systems, and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Given the impact of extreme events such as floods and the massive investment in water-related infrastructure, evaluation of these risks is an issue of national economic and environmental significance. Monte Carlo simulation tech ....A new flood design methodology for a variable and changing climate. The extreme temporal and spatial variability of Australia's rainfall affects the quantity and quality of water resources, the productivity of agricultural systems, and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Given the impact of extreme events such as floods and the massive investment in water-related infrastructure, evaluation of these risks is an issue of national economic and environmental significance. Monte Carlo simulation techniques will quantify the risks associated with current and future climate change, and the combined risks that come from multiple sources, such as from coastal tides and storm runoff. This research will provide a new spatial framework for calculating risk as well as tools to evaluate flood risk.Read moreRead less
Environmental impacts of climate change in the Nile basin over the past 30,000 years. There is growing international and national concern over the possible environmental, economic and social impacts of global and regional climate change. This project brings together a multi-disciplinary team of internationally recognised research leaders and the resources they command to investigate the environmental impacts of climatic changes in the Nile basin over geologically recent times. The outcome will b ....Environmental impacts of climate change in the Nile basin over the past 30,000 years. There is growing international and national concern over the possible environmental, economic and social impacts of global and regional climate change. This project brings together a multi-disciplinary team of internationally recognised research leaders and the resources they command to investigate the environmental impacts of climatic changes in the Nile basin over geologically recent times. The outcome will be a more comprehensive understanding of how a major river system responds to global and regional climate change, and will provide an enhanced conceptual basis for anticipating how drainage systems such as the Murray-Darling could respond to future change.Read moreRead less
Unravelling Western Australia's Stormy Past - A Precisely-Dated Sediment Record of Cyclones over the past 7000 years. Australia has a vast coastline, much of which is vulnerable to cyclone impact. Clearly, historical human experience does not comprehend what the climate system is capable of in terms of epic storms. Our effort to understand the storm risks of the past is complicated by the limited length of the instrumental record which reaches back only 150 years of European settlement in tropic ....Unravelling Western Australia's Stormy Past - A Precisely-Dated Sediment Record of Cyclones over the past 7000 years. Australia has a vast coastline, much of which is vulnerable to cyclone impact. Clearly, historical human experience does not comprehend what the climate system is capable of in terms of epic storms. Our effort to understand the storm risks of the past is complicated by the limited length of the instrumental record which reaches back only 150 years of European settlement in tropical areas of Australia. This project will reconstruct the history of storms and cyclones using sedimentary signatures in Western Australia over the past 7000 years to assess storm and cyclone risks under changing future climates in a regional context.Read moreRead less
Are humans responsible for recent changes in the behaviour of tropical cyclones? Decoupling natural variability from human influence using isotopes. An increase in the frequency of intense landfalling tropical cyclones will have a major impact upon Australia's economy and the safety of its citizens and visitors. There is little doubt that global climate change will cause this increase. Understanding when this might occur and the extent of this change over and above that which could also occur na ....Are humans responsible for recent changes in the behaviour of tropical cyclones? Decoupling natural variability from human influence using isotopes. An increase in the frequency of intense landfalling tropical cyclones will have a major impact upon Australia's economy and the safety of its citizens and visitors. There is little doubt that global climate change will cause this increase. Understanding when this might occur and the extent of this change over and above that which could also occur naturally will help reduce economic loss and save peoples' lives. Using isotope records of tropical cyclones and global climate models we will differentiate natural from human induced changes and ascertain the likely future impact of this hazard on Australia and its near neighbours.Read moreRead less
Uncoupling past salinity and temperature signals in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool: implications for climate change in the Australian region. The tropical oceans and in particular the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, immediately to Australia's north, play a key role in modulating global and Australian climate through El-Niño and related phenomena. Using a new microanalysis approach to analyse individual foraminifera from deep-sea cores, we will reconstruct past salinity and temperature variability within the ....Uncoupling past salinity and temperature signals in the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool: implications for climate change in the Australian region. The tropical oceans and in particular the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, immediately to Australia's north, play a key role in modulating global and Australian climate through El-Niño and related phenomena. Using a new microanalysis approach to analyse individual foraminifera from deep-sea cores, we will reconstruct past salinity and temperature variability within the Warm Pool, and determine changing rainfall patterns and, ENSO and monsoon behaviour under climate conditions that lie outside modern records. This information is vital for understanding past climate and predicting the future intensity and frequency of El-Niño related drought and wet cycles in Australia.Read moreRead less
Do terrestrial processes intensify Australian droughts ? Australia's agricultural productivity is strongly affected by climate, climate variability and climate change. Recent climate changes in Western Australia forced adaptation strategies costing $500 million while the anomalously intense 2002 Murray-Darling Basin drought significantly affected agriculture. Any further intensification of droughts would affect Australia's rural economy. This proposal will assess the role of terrestrial processe ....Do terrestrial processes intensify Australian droughts ? Australia's agricultural productivity is strongly affected by climate, climate variability and climate change. Recent climate changes in Western Australia forced adaptation strategies costing $500 million while the anomalously intense 2002 Murray-Darling Basin drought significantly affected agriculture. Any further intensification of droughts would affect Australia's rural economy. This proposal will assess the role of terrestrial processes, linked to increasing CO2, in causing the drought intensification and declines in rainfall. This will provide knowledge that will guide the development of future environmental management strategies.Read moreRead less