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
Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could ....Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could shape important decisions in the future and impact on environmental risk assessment.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560895
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$854,354.00
Summary
A new-generation gas-source radiocarbon system for integrated environmental and archaeological research. An ultra-sensitive radiocarbon analysis system, proposed here, is central to new, multi-institution research into past fluctuations of Australia's climate, natural resources and ecosystems. Focussed on the 40,000 years of human presence, the research is an integrated approach to changes of earth systems in the Australian region.The equipment is a single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer (SS ....A new-generation gas-source radiocarbon system for integrated environmental and archaeological research. An ultra-sensitive radiocarbon analysis system, proposed here, is central to new, multi-institution research into past fluctuations of Australia's climate, natural resources and ecosystems. Focussed on the 40,000 years of human presence, the research is an integrated approach to changes of earth systems in the Australian region.The equipment is a single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer (SSAMS) with an innovative gas-fed ion source and automated gas-handling system, with simpler processing and smaller samples than present AMS facilities. Future developments include automated multi-sample handling and coupling to microprobe and chromatographic analysers for microscale radiocarbon analysis of complex substances.Read moreRead less
Interactions between sulfur, nitrogen, and iron cycles in the sustainable management and use of acid sulfate soils. Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS) can cause major land management and environmental problems. It has been proposed that the linkages between the Sulfur, Nitrogen, and Iron biogeochemical cycles deterrmine the environmental and crop production hazards associated with use of ASS. In order to develop best management practices for ASS, it is important to research those linkages and determine th ....Interactions between sulfur, nitrogen, and iron cycles in the sustainable management and use of acid sulfate soils. Acid Sulfate Soils (ASS) can cause major land management and environmental problems. It has been proposed that the linkages between the Sulfur, Nitrogen, and Iron biogeochemical cycles deterrmine the environmental and crop production hazards associated with use of ASS. In order to develop best management practices for ASS, it is important to research those linkages and determine their contribution to fluxes of materials exported from these soils. This project will carry out that research and will transfer results to industry partners to improve land management practices and identify appropriate landuses in ASS landcapes.Read moreRead less
Developing a decision support system for the management of road runoff for water quality protection. Multiple stakeholders share a vested and often significant financial commitment to ensure water quality standards. These industries, in turn, are vital to the social and economic sustainability of many rural communities in Australia. Recent climatic trends of increasing drought episodes and related natural disasters such as bushfires are expected to increase the delivery of sediments and associat ....Developing a decision support system for the management of road runoff for water quality protection. Multiple stakeholders share a vested and often significant financial commitment to ensure water quality standards. These industries, in turn, are vital to the social and economic sustainability of many rural communities in Australia. Recent climatic trends of increasing drought episodes and related natural disasters such as bushfires are expected to increase the delivery of sediments and associated pollutants to streams. The proposed DSS will allow testing of various management scenarios with respect to road position and layout, thereby providing a planning and management tool, and a method to educate the practitioners involved in environmental management in Australia. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0883113
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$250,000.00
Summary
A stable-isotope mass spectrometer for novel determinations of past temperatures. Much of the Australian landscape is subject to a dry and evaporative climate, making it very difficult to use conventional geochemical techniques to estimate past temperatures, even on short timescales of tens to hundreds of years. The application of a new isotopic technique to preserved carbonate minerals (soil carbonate, shells in rivers, lakes and the ocean) avoids the difficulty of this variable evaporation, an ....A stable-isotope mass spectrometer for novel determinations of past temperatures. Much of the Australian landscape is subject to a dry and evaporative climate, making it very difficult to use conventional geochemical techniques to estimate past temperatures, even on short timescales of tens to hundreds of years. The application of a new isotopic technique to preserved carbonate minerals (soil carbonate, shells in rivers, lakes and the ocean) avoids the difficulty of this variable evaporation, and directly measures past temperatures. This will have a profound effect on our understanding of environmental changes on both short and long time scales, and permit a better understanding of the hydrological balances within the landscape.Read moreRead less
Testing climatic, physiological and hydrological assumptions underpinning water yield from montane forests. Water collected in dams and reservoirs remains the mainstay water resource for Australian cities, towns and industry. Overwhelmingly, that water is collected from forested catchments where the water balance of forest stands is dominated by the amount of water used by trees. Characterising tree water use, its response to changing climatic and nocturnal conditions, and other aspects of sta ....Testing climatic, physiological and hydrological assumptions underpinning water yield from montane forests. Water collected in dams and reservoirs remains the mainstay water resource for Australian cities, towns and industry. Overwhelmingly, that water is collected from forested catchments where the water balance of forest stands is dominated by the amount of water used by trees. Characterising tree water use, its response to changing climatic and nocturnal conditions, and other aspects of stand hydrology, are crucial to our ability to predict and model future water yields. Working in the Cotter catchment near Canberra and the upper Kiewa catchment in north-east Victoria, we aim to help the agencies responsible for water and catchment management to improve the security of their forecasts of water yield and their on-ground management. 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
Tracking flood waters over Australia using space gravity data. This project aims to assess the utility of near-real-time data from the currently operating space gravity satellite mission to quantify and track flood waters in Australia. Through analysis of the satellite data and fusion of observed signals with rainfall, river flows and conventional hydrological modelling, it expects to create new knowledge of soil moisture and movement of flood waters. Expected outcomes include a capability to im ....Tracking flood waters over Australia using space gravity data. This project aims to assess the utility of near-real-time data from the currently operating space gravity satellite mission to quantify and track flood waters in Australia. Through analysis of the satellite data and fusion of observed signals with rainfall, river flows and conventional hydrological modelling, it expects to create new knowledge of soil moisture and movement of flood waters. Expected outcomes include a capability to improve hydrological models by including the information of water signals obtained from the near-real-time observations. This should provide significant benefits such as more accurate land saturation maps and better predictions of runoff and flood risk.Read moreRead less