Using animal-borne sensors to unravel East Antarctic coastal productivity. This project will examine the mechanisms underpinning the high productivity in Antarctic coastal polynyas, which are ice-free oases within the sea ice supporting abundant marine life. The study expects to generate essential new biochemical and biological observations using autonomous platforms to understand phytoplankton dynamics in these inaccessible habitats along Australia’s Antarctic Territory. Expected outcomes inclu ....Using animal-borne sensors to unravel East Antarctic coastal productivity. This project will examine the mechanisms underpinning the high productivity in Antarctic coastal polynyas, which are ice-free oases within the sea ice supporting abundant marine life. The study expects to generate essential new biochemical and biological observations using autonomous platforms to understand phytoplankton dynamics in these inaccessible habitats along Australia’s Antarctic Territory. Expected outcomes include novel insight into the role of iron supply from melting glaciers in supporting marine production. This should reduce the high uncertainty in prognoses for polynya activity under anthropogenic climate change, and support Australia’s international leadership in conservation and management of important Antarctic ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Defining the biological boundaries to sustain extant life on Mars. Key challenges for life are access to water & energy, and in cold, arid environments trace gas chemotrophy is used by soil microbiomes to sustain life. Given the cold, hyper-arid conditions on the Martian surface are analogues to ice-free regions of Antarctica, atmospheric chemoautotrophic ecosystems are the most promising ecological model for Martian life in the present or recent past. This project is significant, as it aims to ....Defining the biological boundaries to sustain extant life on Mars. Key challenges for life are access to water & energy, and in cold, arid environments trace gas chemotrophy is used by soil microbiomes to sustain life. Given the cold, hyper-arid conditions on the Martian surface are analogues to ice-free regions of Antarctica, atmospheric chemoautotrophic ecosystems are the most promising ecological model for Martian life in the present or recent past. This project is significant, as it aims to define the limits to energy, water and carbon production via trace gas chemotrophy. We will integrate biology with astrophysics to identify at which point life ceases. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on the biological envelope, with benefits to include the identification of Martian regions for exploration.Read moreRead less
Cloud-climate interaction over the Great Barrier Reef and Southwest Pacific. This project aims to investigate cloud-climate interactions of the Southwest Pacific trade wind region from the regional scale to local forcing over the Great Barrier Reef. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the nature and variability of the trade wind clouds, including their impact on the surface radiative budget, ocean temperatures and coral bleaching events. Potential changes of these clouds due to glob ....Cloud-climate interaction over the Great Barrier Reef and Southwest Pacific. This project aims to investigate cloud-climate interactions of the Southwest Pacific trade wind region from the regional scale to local forcing over the Great Barrier Reef. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the nature and variability of the trade wind clouds, including their impact on the surface radiative budget, ocean temperatures and coral bleaching events. Potential changes of these clouds due to global warming and ensuing impacts on the environment will be studied. Expected outcomes include better modelling of the Great Barrier Reef environment and improved estimates of low-cloud feedback. This should provide significant benefits in developing warning systems for bleaching events, and regional land and water management. Read moreRead less
Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies an ....Understanding multi-scale dynamics of eddies in the East Australian Current. This project aims to provide the first rigorous quantification of the complex dynamics of rotating eddies (the weather systems of the ocean) and fronts on scales ranging from metres to 100s of kilometres and hours to weeks in the East Australian Current System. This project is at the frontier of oceanographic research and will provide significant new understanding of the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of eddies and their interactions across multiple spatio-temporal scales, revealing their impacts on productivity along Australia’s most populous coastline. This will provide significant benefits such as improved ocean forecasting and sustainable management of Australian marine industries and seafood sector, supporting economic growth. Read moreRead less
Southern Ocean Sea Ice – what happened and what happens next? This project will adress our lack of confidence in future projections of sea ice around Antarctica by elucidating the mechanisms controlling sea ice in the Southern Ocean.
There is low confidence is current sea ice projections, limiting our ability to predict ice shelf melt and sea level rise.
This project will lead to a detailed understanding of the future of sea ice in the Southern Ocean, improving our understanding of ocean dynam ....Southern Ocean Sea Ice – what happened and what happens next? This project will adress our lack of confidence in future projections of sea ice around Antarctica by elucidating the mechanisms controlling sea ice in the Southern Ocean.
There is low confidence is current sea ice projections, limiting our ability to predict ice shelf melt and sea level rise.
This project will lead to a detailed understanding of the future of sea ice in the Southern Ocean, improving our understanding of ocean dynamics, ice shelf melt, and sea level rise.
The results from this project will enhance projections of sea ice, and therefore also ice shelf melt and sea level rise. Improved sea level projections will aid policy decisions for coastal communities.Read moreRead less
Group orbits in garmonic analysis and ergodic theory. Researchers from many areas need a type of mathematical analysis which involves the behaviour of a system - which may be a set of data points - under repeated application of some operation or group of operations. The structures arising from this kind of process are known as group orbits. The project gives information about their nature. Two major types of orbits are considered, coming from actions of discrete groups on measure spaces, and fro ....Group orbits in garmonic analysis and ergodic theory. Researchers from many areas need a type of mathematical analysis which involves the behaviour of a system - which may be a set of data points - under repeated application of some operation or group of operations. The structures arising from this kind of process are known as group orbits. The project gives information about their nature. Two major types of orbits are considered, coming from actions of discrete groups on measure spaces, and from smooth actions of Lie groups on manifolds, where powerful geometric methods are available. The project will yield new understandings of entropy, and new approaches to Fourier analysis.Read moreRead less
Ergodic theory and number theory. Recent advances in the theory of measured dynamical systems investigated by the proponents include new versions of entropy, and the study of spectral theory for non-singular systems. These will be further developed in this joint project with the French CNRS. The results are expected to have interesting applications in physics and number theory.
Entropy and maximal entropy in Markov systems. Entropy is a measure of how well-ordered a system is: chaotic systems have high entropy. Two approaches to entropy are available, via the limiting behaviour of the orbits of points, which yields topological entropy, and via the behaviour of the distributions of measures of partitions, yielding measure-theoretic entropy. The topological entropy is the least upper bound of entropies of all possible measures. We study when there is a measure which real ....Entropy and maximal entropy in Markov systems. Entropy is a measure of how well-ordered a system is: chaotic systems have high entropy. Two approaches to entropy are available, via the limiting behaviour of the orbits of points, which yields topological entropy, and via the behaviour of the distributions of measures of partitions, yielding measure-theoretic entropy. The topological entropy is the least upper bound of entropies of all possible measures. We study when there is a measure which realises this bound, describing the structure of such systems via Markov and Bratteli diagrams. Our methods will be applied to new versions of entropy for non-singular systems. This will assist in the description of chaotic behaviour.Read moreRead less
Symmetries in analysis. Technical research is like an iceberg. The 10% you see in applications is supported by 90% hidden, long-term, sometimes abstruse or theoretical-sounding work. The area of mathematical analysis has, for over 200 years, proved its worth as part of the unseen 90%, giving us such important tools as Fourier analysis, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Australia is known as a world leader in mathematical analysis, and it is important for the country to maintain that e ....Symmetries in analysis. Technical research is like an iceberg. The 10% you see in applications is supported by 90% hidden, long-term, sometimes abstruse or theoretical-sounding work. The area of mathematical analysis has, for over 200 years, proved its worth as part of the unseen 90%, giving us such important tools as Fourier analysis, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Australia is known as a world leader in mathematical analysis, and it is important for the country to maintain that edge in a number of key disciplines, so we can continue to participate in global technological advance. The project has an international focus which will enable that to happen. It will also provide training for the next generation of mathematicians. Read moreRead less
Dynamical systems: theory and practice. Mathematical science has proven a crucial platform for science and technology: it may have a long lead-time to application but its impacts are more profound than glamorous technical developments. Australia has an economic imperative to maintain investment in fundamental mathematics. Dynamical systems underpin a wide range of applications in physics, engineering, information science, finance and economics. This project will improve our capacity to model sy ....Dynamical systems: theory and practice. Mathematical science has proven a crucial platform for science and technology: it may have a long lead-time to application but its impacts are more profound than glamorous technical developments. Australia has an economic imperative to maintain investment in fundamental mathematics. Dynamical systems underpin a wide range of applications in physics, engineering, information science, finance and economics. This project will improve our capacity to model systems and to study their evolution, giving us better predictive power. It will keep Australia in the forefront of international research, providing a basis of expertise not otherwise available to Australian researchers and industry. Read moreRead less