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Research on the Antarctic stratospheric polar vortex is important for Australia’s seasonal forecasts

April 7, 2020 2:51 pm Published by Comments Off on Research on the Antarctic stratospheric polar vortex is important for Australia’s seasonal forecasts

Research has established a link between Antarctic stratospheric winds and an increased risk of weather conducive to bushfires from late spring to early summer. Further research on the relationship between winds and ozone in the Antarctic stratosphere could improve seasonal forecasts for Australia.

Research on heatwaves and droughts by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes supports a major international report on Climate Change and Land

December 11, 2019 11:11 am Published by Comments Off on Research on heatwaves and droughts by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes supports a major international report on Climate Change and Land

This research brief examines how research from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes informed the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land.

Does global warming cause droughts, drying or increased aridity?

September 20, 2019 3:06 pm Published by Comments Off on Does global warming cause droughts, drying or increased aridity?

In an hour-long talk to a business forum, Andy Pitman said: “there is no link between climate change and drought”. Given the audience were not climate scientists, or interested in the physics of the climate, this statement was one word too brief. Andy fully admits he should have said: “there is no direct link between climate change and drought”.

Briefing note 008: Global crop yields are strongly affected by extreme climate conditions

August 14, 2019 11:39 am Published by Comments Off on Briefing note 008: Global crop yields are strongly affected by extreme climate conditions

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes has contributed to a new scientific study that reveals that extremely hot and cold temperatures, drought and heavy rainfall strongly affect the year-to-year variation in the total global yield of four important crops.

Recent El Niño behaviour is unprecedented in the last 400 years

June 5, 2019 3:47 pm Published by Comments Off on Recent El Niño behaviour is unprecedented in the last 400 years

In a world first, CLEX researchers have produced a 400-year-long record of El Nino activity. This gives us an entirely new insight into the behaviour of these high impact events and reveals unprecedented changes over the past 30 years.

Future weather and climate extreme events

February 13, 2019 3:40 pm Published by Comments Off on Future weather and climate extreme events

Weather and climate extremes occur on a wide range of time and space scales. Weather extremes occur on shorter timescales and are regionally or locally specific while climate extremes tend to be on longer timescales and can impact a region through to the whole globe. This note provides a statement on what we know about how weather and climate extremes might change in the future.

Briefing note 003: Why are we uncertain about how extremely wet conditions will change in Australia in the future?

February 11, 2019 4:08 pm Published by Comments Off on Briefing note 003: Why are we uncertain about how extremely wet conditions will change in Australia in the future?

Computer models used to simulate global climate agree the climate will warm in response to increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases. However, a recent paper by Bador et al. (2018)1 includes results that highlight our uncertainty about exactly how extremely wet conditions will change in Australia. Further development of Australia’s national climate model, ACCESS, may help reduce this uncertainty.

How useful are the Australian FLUXNET (Ozflux) data?

January 24, 2019 11:14 am Published by Comments Off on How useful are the Australian FLUXNET (Ozflux) data?

The Australian FLUXNET data provide perhaps the world’s most valuable observations for building and evaluating the land models needed for projecting future droughts and heatwaves.