In this study, CLEX researchers and colleagues tested the ability of 10 terrestrial biosphere models to reproduce observed sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to rainfall changes (rainfall exclusion/irrigation) at ten sites across the globe.
This study looks at the average climate in the northern hemisphere with a simplified climate model. It considers the atmospheric effects of mountain ranges (Tibet, Rockies), contrasts between land and ocean surface, and ocean currents at the surface (such as the Gulf Stream) and their impact on winter climate.
New international research has found a worrying change in the Indian Ocean’s surface temperatures that puts southeast Australia on course for increasingly hot and dry conditions.
Using a simplified climate model, researchers forced the south polar winds to reverse arbitrarily and found that the final impact at the surface is indistinguishable from events where the winds reverse in response to natural phenomena.
New research shows, contrary to expectation, the inter-annual variance in evapotranspiration is much smaller than for precipitation, runoff and soil storage. Accounting for hydrologic covariances explains why it is possible for variability in the principal sink (e.g., streamflow) to exceed variability in the source (precipitation).
Drought can unfold on sub-seasonal to seasonal time scales, meaning weeks to months, posing a particular risk to the agricultural sector. This type of drought has recently been recognized and given the name “flash drought”.
In recognition of International Women’s Day, the chief investigators at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEX) have signed up to the Male Champions of Change Panel Pledge. This commits the chief investigators to bring gender balance to every forum
Kim Reid had a very fruitful conference at AMOS 2020, but she also had two panic attacks. Here she talks about living with these attacks and how someone in a similar situation can navigate and still get plenty of benefits from crowded conferences.
This paper is a review article that stemmed from a debate within the Southern Ocean community. The paper explains how “fronts”, sharp boundaries between water masses, are defined, and what their effects might be on the biology of the Southern Ocean.
In this study of drought and rainfall over the Murray Darling Basin, CLEX authors find that the length of time between La Niñas and negative-IODs is an important indicator of the likelihood of drought for this region.