Integrated assessment of climate change, climate input errors and land-use change on soil-moisture and carbon-balance in a catchment simulation framework. Assessing soil moisture and carbon balance changes in a warmer climate is important for land-use and agricultural planning. A decision support tool is proposed that performs the assessment and allows us to develop plans that reduce adverse impacts. The tool consists of three parts. The first part models changes in rainfall accuracy to calibrat ....Integrated assessment of climate change, climate input errors and land-use change on soil-moisture and carbon-balance in a catchment simulation framework. Assessing soil moisture and carbon balance changes in a warmer climate is important for land-use and agricultural planning. A decision support tool is proposed that performs the assessment and allows us to develop plans that reduce adverse impacts. The tool consists of three parts. The first part models changes in rainfall accuracy to calibrate approaches for catchment simulation. The second part simulates rainfall under climate change conditions using stochastic downscaling. The third part simulates future soil moisture and carbon balance using downscaled climate inputs. The end result is a probabilistic simulation of the catchment hydrology under future climates.Read moreRead less
Stable water isotopic simulation and analysis to improve Earth System models and deliver better predictions of Australian water resource vulnerability. As Australia's challenges in environmental sustainability rival those anywhere on Earth, we must be clever in our diagnosis of susceptibility and insightful in proposed remedies. Climate change and variability have impacts on people and society that must be managed effectively whatever their causes. Of importance to Australia is the availabilit ....Stable water isotopic simulation and analysis to improve Earth System models and deliver better predictions of Australian water resource vulnerability. As Australia's challenges in environmental sustainability rival those anywhere on Earth, we must be clever in our diagnosis of susceptibility and insightful in proposed remedies. Climate change and variability have impacts on people and society that must be managed effectively whatever their causes. Of importance to Australia is the availability of water for drinking and agriculture. The new, interdisciplinary ARC network for Earth System Science provides models for novel and synergistic research such as naturally occurring water isotopes as a tool for improving predictive skill and confidence. We exploit these and leverage international programs to improve regional hydro-climate and water resource understanding in Australia.Read moreRead less
Improving understanding of climate change and its impacts in Australia through detection and attribution of climate change. This research will quantify the contribution to Australian regional climate change due to greenhouse gases, which will assist policymakers in reaching decisions about policies on emission reductions or adaptation to greenhouse climate change. Improved estimates of uncertainties in future regional climate changes due to increasing greenhouse gases will allow better quantifi ....Improving understanding of climate change and its impacts in Australia through detection and attribution of climate change. This research will quantify the contribution to Australian regional climate change due to greenhouse gases, which will assist policymakers in reaching decisions about policies on emission reductions or adaptation to greenhouse climate change. Improved estimates of uncertainties in future regional climate changes due to increasing greenhouse gases will allow better quantification of their likely impacts, estimation of the costs or maximising any benefits from regional climate changes. Through collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, this research enhances Australia's capabilities in diagnostic analysis of climate variability and change, and aids the development and evaluation of new Australian climate models. 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
Animals on the move - an integrated approach to selecting conservation reserves under climate change. Conserving biodiversity when faced with rapid changes in climate and land use is a major challenge facing conservation managers. Translocation - the process of moving species from one location to another - may be the best means of preventing species extinction, but the long-term climatic suitability of translocation sites is rarely considered. This project will develop and apply new methods for ....Animals on the move - an integrated approach to selecting conservation reserves under climate change. Conserving biodiversity when faced with rapid changes in climate and land use is a major challenge facing conservation managers. Translocation - the process of moving species from one location to another - may be the best means of preventing species extinction, but the long-term climatic suitability of translocation sites is rarely considered. This project will develop and apply new methods for identifying climatically suitable habitats for a critically endangered tortoise, with the aim of selecting sites where the species can persist long-term with minimum management. The approach will have utility not only for management of endangered species, but also in selecting future climatic regions for raising commercially valuable species. Read moreRead less
Water resource management of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme catchment and the Murray-Darling River system - a new perspective on system reliability from drought history reconstruction. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme assists in underwriting the production of $3 billion of agricultural products in the Murray-Darling Basin each year by providing a reliable source of water west of the Great Dividing Range, while Hydro-electric generation from the Scheme is worth annually severa ....Water resource management of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme catchment and the Murray-Darling River system - a new perspective on system reliability from drought history reconstruction. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme assists in underwriting the production of $3 billion of agricultural products in the Murray-Darling Basin each year by providing a reliable source of water west of the Great Dividing Range, while Hydro-electric generation from the Scheme is worth annually several hundred million dollars and provides 70% of the renewable energy supplied to the eastern mainland grid, thereby avoiding 5Mt of carbon dioxide emissions each year. This study will ensure the ongoing sustainable and efficient management of the Schemes water resources in response to predicted climate variability and most importantly, severe drought. Read moreRead less
New Techniques for Artificial Neural Network Modelling in Hydrology. In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have demonstrated the potential to provide improved predictions when compared with the more traditional hydrological modelling techniques in a number of areas. These include the prediction of rainfall, streamflow and water quality parameters. However, one of the major difficulties associated with the application of ANNs is the lack of an established methodology for their design ....New Techniques for Artificial Neural Network Modelling in Hydrology. In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have demonstrated the potential to provide improved predictions when compared with the more traditional hydrological modelling techniques in a number of areas. These include the prediction of rainfall, streamflow and water quality parameters. However, one of the major difficulties associated with the application of ANNs is the lack of an established methodology for their design and implementation. This research will develop new methods for constructing ANN models and test them on a number of case studies so that the full potential and genuine utility of ANNs for solving hydrological problems can be assessed.Read moreRead less