Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100087
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$328,075.00
Summary
Internal wave breaking and mixing in the ocean. This project aims to quantify turbulent mixing in the ocean using ultra-high-resolution numerical modelling. Turbulent mixing is caused by internal waves which transport energy from the ocean boundaries into the interior, where they drive mixing of cold, deep water with warmer water above. This mixing is crucial to the ocean circulation which controls the storage of heat and carbon in the ocean, but is inadequately represented in current climate mo ....Internal wave breaking and mixing in the ocean. This project aims to quantify turbulent mixing in the ocean using ultra-high-resolution numerical modelling. Turbulent mixing is caused by internal waves which transport energy from the ocean boundaries into the interior, where they drive mixing of cold, deep water with warmer water above. This mixing is crucial to the ocean circulation which controls the storage of heat and carbon in the ocean, but is inadequately represented in current climate models. The anticipated outcome of the project is an enhanced, global-ocean model incorporating an accurate description of turbulent mixing. This should provide significant benefits to the Australian community by improving the accuracy of future climate predictions.Read moreRead less
Eddy-resolving global ocean-sea ice modelling. Eddy-resolving global ocean-sea ice modelling. This project aims to develop a world-class global ocean-sea ice model framework through a nationwide consortium. The resulting high resolution models are expected to provide the foundation for the next decade of Australian ocean-sea ice modelling capacity. This research should lead to improved ocean and sea ice prediction, ocean reanalyses, and climate projections, enhancing Australia's capacity to pred ....Eddy-resolving global ocean-sea ice modelling. Eddy-resolving global ocean-sea ice modelling. This project aims to develop a world-class global ocean-sea ice model framework through a nationwide consortium. The resulting high resolution models are expected to provide the foundation for the next decade of Australian ocean-sea ice modelling capacity. This research should lead to improved ocean and sea ice prediction, ocean reanalyses, and climate projections, enhancing Australia's capacity to predict the ocean state on timescales of days to decades. This is expected to yield efficiencies in shipping, marine search and rescue and naval operations, and increase the accuracy of projected future changes in climate, sea level, ocean ecosystems and the cryosphere.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
Dynamics of the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is critically important to future global climate: it controls the natural global carbon cycle and the distribution of heat and nutrients around the ocean. This project will investigate key uncertainties in the Southern Ocean's response to climate change, and thereby improve our capacity to predict future climate.
Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo ....Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo-Pacific region. Expected outcomes include a 1000-fold increase in the observations of mixing in the Indonesian seas and new understanding of the ocean-atmosphere processes that control water property change along the ITF. This should lead to strong improvement in the skill of climate forecast models in the Australian region.Read moreRead less
Coupling tropical cyclone and climate physics with ocean waves. It is argued that without accounting for the wave effects directly, the physics of large-scale air-sea interactions is inaccurate and incomplete. The project will introduce explicit coupling of large-scale atmospheric and oceanic phenomena with the physics of surface waves which should lead to improved predictions of tropical cyclones and climate.
Disentangling climate and evolutionary controls over the temperature dependence of leaf respiration. The project will use field and laboratory studies to establish if there are systematic differences in the temperature responses of leaf respiration in plants adapted to hot and cold environments. The results will enable climate modellers to better predict impacts of climate change on carbon exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere.
A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to- ....A step change in modeling leaf respiration-photosynthesis relationships . This project aims to use innovative, high-throughput technologies to develop a novel framework that links daytime photosynthesis and starch/amino acid mobilisation to variations in night-time leaf respiration. Variations in leaf respiration can have large impacts on ecosystem functioning and the Earth’s climate. Although advances have been made in respiration modelling, current models are unable to predict dynamic, day-to-day variations in respiratory rates. Expected outcomes include equations that predict daily variations in night-time leaf respiration for environments across Australia and overseas. Benefits to planners include the ability to more accurately model vegetation-atmosphere carbon exchange and future changes in climate. Read moreRead less
The causes and effects of mortality in tropical Australian trees. Drought can cause the widespread death of tropical trees resulting in large emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but predictions of tree death during drought remain rudimentary. This project will combine new data and modelling on how Australian tropical trees respond to drought to improve estimates of tree mortality risk and its impacts.
Dissipation and relaxation in statistical mechanics. This project studies the mathematical conditions for relaxation either to equilibrium or to steady states, which is important in predicting behaviour in diverse fields including climate modelling, materials science, nanotechnology and biology. Early career researchers will be involved in the project, gaining valuable skills in theory and simulation.