The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes reduces Australia’s economic, social and environmental vulnerability to climate extremes.
2022 in Review
From the Director
“Our science continues to be published in elite international journals. The Centre published 207 papers in 2022, including 20 papers in Nature or Science family journals.”
Professor Andy Pitman
Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
From the Chair of the Advisory Board
“Without a doubt, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes offers its researchers and PhD scholars an unparalleled environment in which to conduct science and grow their careers.”
Dr Tony Press AO
Chair, Centre Advisory Board
Case Study: Finance Sector and Financial Risk
The Centre of Excellence has a long-term strategy to support an uplift in the understanding within the finance sector of climate risk.
Our Vision: Our Centre will transform the understanding and modelling of climate extremes, including their dependence on climate change and variability, to advance scientific understanding and assist decision-makers.
Case Study: Rapid Rain Bursts in Sydney
When researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes discovered that rapid rain bursts in Sydney had intensified by 40 percent in two decades, it caught the attention of the prestigious journal Science.
Climate science leaders of the future
The Researcher Development Program at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes develops national capacity in climate science by training and mentoring the next generation of researchers. It equips them with the intellectual and technical capacity required to take on the research challenges of the future. The program, which involves all Centre researchers, covers fundamental research and communications skills, professional development, mentoring and leadership opportunities.
Case Study: The State of Weather and Climate Extremes Report
The inaugural State of Weather and Climate Extremes report released by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes in March 2022 was a vital summary of the science behind Australia’s extremes in the year prior.
Climate extremes research in 2022
Weather and Climate
Interactions Research Program
What controls the strength, frequency and path of fronts in the Australian extratropics, and how do these factors affect extremes?
Attribution and Risk Research Program
How do the relative roles of large-scale, regional and local-scale processes and their interactions shape Australian extremes and govern their changes?
Drought Research Program
What determines the onset, persistence and termination of drought?
Ocean Extremes Research Program
How can we best model and predict marine heatwaves?
Modelling Research Program
Numerical models of the weather and climate system are key research tools.
Computational Modelling Systems
We facilitate other people’s research outcomes, with contributions which are sometimes small and sometimes big.
Research snapshot:
In an article for Frontiers for Young Minds, an open-access journal written by scientists and reviewed by kids and teens, Centre Chief Investigators Dr Amelie Meyer and Associate Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick joined forces with colleagues around the world to explain weather and climate extremes to young readers. The article highlights that extreme climate and weather events are unusual and rare events that often cause a lot of damage both to nature and to people.
Meyer, A., Bresson, H., Gorodetskaya, I., Harris, R., Perkins-Kirkpatrick, S., 2022. Extreme Climate and Weather Events in a Warmer World. Frontiers for Young Minds 10, 682759. https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2022.682759
Governance, Management and our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Our goal is to make the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes a forward-thinking organisation that enables all staff and students, regardless of background, to do their best work in a professional and compassionate environment.
Connecting climate science to Australians & beyond
Climate science is a fundamental part of protecting and preparing communities from the extremes of climate change. Floods, fires, heatwaves, storms, rising oceans – extreme events – need to be understood as part of a bigger picture.
Climate scientists are being asked to provide projections and advice to help governments, industry and decision-makers prepare for the decades to come. We need to be able to look ahead and plan for the future.
The Engagement and Impact team at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes brings together some of Australia’s most talented policymakers, media and communications specialists, science communicators, content makers, designers and more, to ensure that the essential science of climate extremes is heard by the people who need to know.
Case Study: Climate Science in Schools
The Centre of Excellence delivered a free Climate Classrooms workshop in April 2022 for teachers in Sydney as part of its commitment to empower high school teachers to bring the science of climate change – and its extremes – into the classroom.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes financial reports, Key Performance Indicators and credits are available in the PDF version of the report below.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes – Annual Report 2023
From the Chair of the Advisory Board
Climate Science Leaders of the Future
Weather and Climate Interactions Research Program
Attribution and Risk Research Program
Ocean Extremes Research Program
Computational Modelling Systems
Governance, Management and our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion