Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100042
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Long-term variability of the Australian monsoon. This project aims to address large uncertainties in Australia’s hydroclimate projections, by reconstructing Australian monsoon variability over the past three million years. The project expects to generate new knowledge to quantify the frequency and amplitudes of extreme rainfall and drought in Northwest Australia. By providing essential new information about the timing, frequency, and intensity of past drought and extreme rainfall, the project is ....Long-term variability of the Australian monsoon. This project aims to address large uncertainties in Australia’s hydroclimate projections, by reconstructing Australian monsoon variability over the past three million years. The project expects to generate new knowledge to quantify the frequency and amplitudes of extreme rainfall and drought in Northwest Australia. By providing essential new information about the timing, frequency, and intensity of past drought and extreme rainfall, the project is expected to enable more accurate climate projections required for effective adaptation and mitigation. This project will also benefit the Australian archaeology community, by providing a much-needed environmental context for mapping Australian pre-history.Read moreRead less
Oceanic gateways: a primary control on global climate change? The opening and closing of oceanic gateways, narrow passageways facilitating exchange between ocean basins, has been linked to major changes in Earth’s climate. This project will link the disparate fields of geodynamics and palaeo-climatology, for the first time, through an innovative methodology that models the changing width and depth of ocean gateways through time. It will address the role of gateways in modulating Earth’s climate ....Oceanic gateways: a primary control on global climate change? The opening and closing of oceanic gateways, narrow passageways facilitating exchange between ocean basins, has been linked to major changes in Earth’s climate. This project will link the disparate fields of geodynamics and palaeo-climatology, for the first time, through an innovative methodology that models the changing width and depth of ocean gateways through time. It will address the role of gateways in modulating Earth’s climate at key periods during the planet’s transition from a “Greenhouse” to “Icehouse” World.Read moreRead less
Utilizing the geological record to constrain the response of marine ecosystems and global carbon cycling to warming and de-oxygenation. Earth history is punctuated by a huge variety of transitions and perturbations in climate, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystems, some of which may hold direct future-relevant information. In the oceans, these are closely linked in a complex web of feedbacks, as well as to the oxygenation of the ocean and the ultimate geological fate of excessive carbon release ....Utilizing the geological record to constrain the response of marine ecosystems and global carbon cycling to warming and de-oxygenation. Earth history is punctuated by a huge variety of transitions and perturbations in climate, biogeochemical cycling, and ecosystems, some of which may hold direct future-relevant information. In the oceans, these are closely linked in a complex web of feedbacks, as well as to the oxygenation of the ocean and the ultimate geological fate of excessive carbon released into the atmosphere – burial of carbon in sediments. This project will develop a computer model representation of this coupled carbon-climate-life system and test this against the geological record, explore the causes and consequences of carbon release events and extinctions as well as how the ocean floor delivery and preservation of organic carbon responds.Read moreRead less
Carbon sequestration by mineral surface area as a feedback to climate warming in a greenhouse ocean. The project will investigate a previously unrecognised negative feedback to global warming resulting from sequestration of carbon to marine sediments by soil-formed clay minerals. By studying the past transitions to greenhouse periods, this project will assess the likely influence of this feedback in the present transition to a warmer climate.
Integrating biomechanics and ecology: moving from an individual- to population-level understanding of the effects of environmental change. Coral reefs, a key Australian resource, face an uncertain future due to environmental change. Up to now, environmental change research has focused on the individual level, severely limiting our predictive capacity. This project will develop a novel 'first principle' approach to solve this shortcoming and make population-level predictions possible.
New insights into abrupt climate change using isotope model-data fusion. There have been several episodes in the past 60,000 years during which carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere causing significant and rapid warming. This project aims to determine the source of the carbon responsible for these warming events. This project is significant because it will increase our understanding of the processes underlying abrupt past, and potential future changes. These processes are currently und ....New insights into abrupt climate change using isotope model-data fusion. There have been several episodes in the past 60,000 years during which carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere causing significant and rapid warming. This project aims to determine the source of the carbon responsible for these warming events. This project is significant because it will increase our understanding of the processes underlying abrupt past, and potential future changes. These processes are currently underestimated or missing in climate models. The expected outcomes include a better understanding of the non-linear responses in the climate system. This should provide significant benefits, such as an assessment of whether the smooth climate changes currently projected through to year 2100 are misleading.Read moreRead less
The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lac ....The effect of native invasions on Australian fisheries species. This project aims to forecast climate-related changes in the diversity, distribution and abundance of fisheries species. In a changing world where many people depend on oceans for food and livelihood, predicting the future distribution of fisheries species is a challenge. Native invasions and ocean warming are stressing inshore fisheries species, but rigorous empirical data and models that can reliably forecast these effects are lacking. This project intends to reveal the drivers of successful native invasions, evaluate their effect on fish diversity and productivity, and develop holistic models that forecast their effects on inshore fisheries species’ near-future distribution and stocks.Read moreRead less
Safeguarding coral reef fisheries for future food security. This Fellowship aims to address the vulnerability of coral reef fisheries in Australia and the Indo-Pacific by identifying fishery targets that benefit human nutrition and will persist despite declining coral habitats and rising water temperature. This project will advance knowledge on coral and fish responses to increasingly frequent marine heatwaves, using novel methodologies rooted in ecological modelling, experimental marine biology ....Safeguarding coral reef fisheries for future food security. This Fellowship aims to address the vulnerability of coral reef fisheries in Australia and the Indo-Pacific by identifying fishery targets that benefit human nutrition and will persist despite declining coral habitats and rising water temperature. This project will advance knowledge on coral and fish responses to increasingly frequent marine heatwaves, using novel methodologies rooted in ecological modelling, experimental marine biology and climate forecasting. Expected outcomes include (i) a comprehensive toolbox for improved management of coral reefs and associated fisheries in Australia and beyond, and (ii) an integrated socio-ecological model for predicting coral reef fishery responses under environmental change.Read moreRead less
When the ice melts: a new perspective on the causes of Quaternary glacial terminations. The project will assemble an unprecedented palaeoclimate time series extending back to 1.2 million years ago that will allow marine and ice core records to be placed onto an absolute time scale. This will allow testing of fundamental hypotheses on why the Earth's climate shifts from glacial to interglacial states, with flow-on effects to climate models.
Investigating the controls on the extent of tidewater glaciers. This project aims to improve our ability to model tidewater glaciers. The project will conduct studies of two iconic glacial systems in Alaska: Glacier Bay and Columbia Glacier. These glaciers have recently experienced rapid retreat and contributed to sea level rise. In particular, the Grand Pacific Glacier has retreated 100 kilometres up Glacier Bay, the greatest recorded glacier retreat in the last 200 years. The project will use ....Investigating the controls on the extent of tidewater glaciers. This project aims to improve our ability to model tidewater glaciers. The project will conduct studies of two iconic glacial systems in Alaska: Glacier Bay and Columbia Glacier. These glaciers have recently experienced rapid retreat and contributed to sea level rise. In particular, the Grand Pacific Glacier has retreated 100 kilometres up Glacier Bay, the greatest recorded glacier retreat in the last 200 years. The project will use geomorphic mapping, dating and climate reanalysis to better understand the long term behaviour of these glaciers and the drivers of recent retreat. An expected outcome from the project is a better understanding of the long term behaviour of tidewater glaciers and an improvement in our ability to predict sea level rise from them.Read moreRead less