Supervisors: Zak Baillie (zak.baillie@anu.edu.au) and Dr Joelle Gergis (joelle.gergis@anu.edu.au)
Anthropogenic climate change has been most clearly observed in the midlatitude regions of the world. However, the limited number of instrumental observations for the Southern Hemisphere has prevented the development of a long-term understanding of these changes. This is particularly important for placing contemporary changes to Australia’s climate into a long-term context.
This project aims to fill this critical gap by examining daily changes in Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation back to 1830. To do this, the project will build on recent efforts that have recovered daily instrumental weather observations for southern Australia. This allows past heatwaves, cold outbreaks and severe storms observed during the pre-industrial period to be compared with recent variability and extremes.
This project will be an excellent opportunity for a student interested in learning more about past changes to Australia’s climate, and how historical observations can help improve future climate change risk.
Timing: This project is available from September 2021
Desirable skills: some programming experience would be beneficial, though not essential.
To apply: the Undergraduate Scholarship application form can be found here