Representing low-frequency variability in hydro-climatic simulations for water resources planning and management in a changing climate. Simulating local hydro-climatology under likely climate change allows risk assessment of existing and future water infrastructure, along with the planning protocols needed to adapt to the changes ahead. This study aims to develop the tools needed to simulate local hydro-climatology, providing a basis for securing water for the generations to come.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,079,069.00
Summary
Sea level change and climate sensitivity. This project will aim to improve understanding of climate and sea-level change on timescales relevant to longer-term planning, by characterising the relationship between past sea-level/ice-volume change and other key climate factors such as temperature and greenhouse gases, and by quantifying how rapidly sea level may adjust to climate change.
A Fourier approach to address low-frequency variability bias in hydrology. This project aims to develop a mathematical framework to better simulate the occurrence of sustained anomalies, such as droughts and long periods of flooding, into the future. These events increase water insecurity and result in loss of revenue, livelihoods and lives. Hydrological planning requires knowledge of how such sustained extremes will change in the future. Current alternatives for simulating such changes for futu ....A Fourier approach to address low-frequency variability bias in hydrology. This project aims to develop a mathematical framework to better simulate the occurrence of sustained anomalies, such as droughts and long periods of flooding, into the future. These events increase water insecurity and result in loss of revenue, livelihoods and lives. Hydrological planning requires knowledge of how such sustained extremes will change in the future. Current alternatives for simulating such changes for future climates are inadequate for catchment-scale planning to proceed. The project proposes a strategy for post-processing hydrological simulations of the future using an elegant frequency-domain approach. It expects to provide the tools needed to develop hydrologic infrastructure, such as water supply reservoirs, that secure our water resources for the generations to come.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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100668
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$351,805.00
Summary
The further back we look, the further forward we can see: 1,000 years of past climate to help predict future climate change in Australia. Reconstructing 1,000 years of Australia's past climate will greatly extend our understanding of natural climate variability currently estimated from weather observations. For the first time, Australian climate variations over the last millennium will be used to assess the accuracy of climate model simulations for our region.
Quantitative reconstructions of Australian climates since the last Interglacial. A crucial test of the models used to project future climate is how well they reproduce past climates. The project will reconstruct Australian regional climates, from vegetation, fire and runoff records, and use these for climate-model evaluation - helping to provide a more solid basis for management of Australian resources in the future.
The evolution of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in southeast Australia. El Niño events starve southeast Australia of rainfall, resulting in droughts and wildfires. El Niño activity is projected to amplify as global temperatures rise, heralding a serious threat to Australia's water security and the incidence and magnitude of wildfires. The key to understanding the potential effects of future changes in El Niño activity lies in the past. El Niño activity has varied substantially over the last 12 ....The evolution of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in southeast Australia. El Niño events starve southeast Australia of rainfall, resulting in droughts and wildfires. El Niño activity is projected to amplify as global temperatures rise, heralding a serious threat to Australia's water security and the incidence and magnitude of wildfires. The key to understanding the potential effects of future changes in El Niño activity lies in the past. El Niño activity has varied substantially over the last 12,000 years. This project will reconstruct the response of southeast Australian climate, vegetation and fire activity to changes in El Niño activity over this period using lake sediments located in El Niño sensitive locations in Tasmania.Read moreRead less
Impact of reforestation on the mitigation of climate extremes in eastern Australia resulting from global warming. This project will provide new information for climate change policy development and the goal of an Environmentally Sustainable Australia. It has a strong policy-management imperative, investigating the need for the maintenance and restoration of healthy native vegetation cover as part of Australia’s climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Our previous research has shown ....Impact of reforestation on the mitigation of climate extremes in eastern Australia resulting from global warming. This project will provide new information for climate change policy development and the goal of an Environmentally Sustainable Australia. It has a strong policy-management imperative, investigating the need for the maintenance and restoration of healthy native vegetation cover as part of Australia’s climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Our previous research has shown that land clearing has contributed to climate change, including more severe and persisting droughts, in eastern Australia. Successful implementation of the research findings will lead to an increased ability of regional landscapes to buffer against a more extreme future climate driven by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI110100019
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$199,742.00
Summary
Tracking the response of the Australian climate to abrupt climate change. This project will use cutting-edge climate proxy analyses to reconstruct the response of the Australian climate system to global climate change over the last 2,000 years. The results will provide significant insight in to how future global climate change will impact on social, biological and physical systems in Australia.
Equator to Pole: Reconstructing tropical and Antarctic climate variability over the last millennium and their impacts on southern Australian rainfall. Water resource management is one of the greatest challenges facing sustainable agriculture and urban populations across southern Australia. Key players driving catastrophic droughts in southern Australia are the tropical Indian Ocean Dipole and polar Southern Annual Mode climate systems, which affect moisture availability and transport pathways. T ....Equator to Pole: Reconstructing tropical and Antarctic climate variability over the last millennium and their impacts on southern Australian rainfall. Water resource management is one of the greatest challenges facing sustainable agriculture and urban populations across southern Australia. Key players driving catastrophic droughts in southern Australia are the tropical Indian Ocean Dipole and polar Southern Annual Mode climate systems, which affect moisture availability and transport pathways. This collaborative research project draws together a uniquely-skilled research team to develop targeted coral, ice and cave reconstructions of these climate systems and their impacts on Australian rainfall through the last millennium. This fundamental new knowledge of the drivers of Australian rainfall variability will aid improved predictability of future changes in our valuable water resources. Read moreRead less