August 10, 2023 3:59 pm
Published by Climate Extremes
Marine heatwaves (MHWs), often referred to as discrete, prolonged, and anomalously warm water events, have drawn significant attention in both research circles and the broader community, due to their increasing intensity and duration under climate change and their resultant marine ecosystem and societal impacts. A typical MHW goes through phases of growth and decay, marking its temporal evolution. The diversity in these evolutions highlights the complexity of MHWs, encompassing their characteristics and mechanisms. Within this project, the student will utilise... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:54 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Ocean-driven melting of ice shelves in Antarctic and Greenland regions is accelerating, with substantial implications for future sea level rise and global warming. However, the ice shelf response to changing ocean temperatures is poorly understood due, in part, to lack of knowledge of the fine-scale ocean processes that bring heat and salt towards the ice. Double-diffusive layering is an interesting fluid dynamics phenomenon that has been observed around Antarctica and Greenland which may help to bring this heat and salt... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:53 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Improved resilience to extreme winds through the world can be helped by correcting the bias in climate projections. This project would test and apply a novel bias correction method (existing Python code) to make climate projections (CMIP6 simulations) consistent with observations-based data (ERA5 reanalysis data). This work will be useful for examining near-surface winds important for bio-physical processes (e.g., extreme values of 10-minute average winds are relevant for wildfire risk) and for wind gusts at various levels of the atmosphere... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:40 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy is a key part of Australia’s pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An energy system with more renewables, however, is susceptible to variations in the weather and climate. Extended periods of cloudy, wind-less weather can mean solar and wind production isn’t enough to meet demand. This can be compounded when hydropower reservoir levels are low. The extent to which solar, wind and hydropower droughts will co-occur in the coming decades is unknown, but... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:39 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Increasing urbanization, evolving urban landscapes, and growing populations require an accurate representation of urban areas and urban processes at the microscale, regional, and global scales and their feedback across the scales. This is mostly achieved in micro and regional scale models, but at the global scale, models are set up for big-picture analysis, leaving urban areas poorly represented. This project aims to assess the urban representation in the models included in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). In particular, we... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:31 am
Published by Climate Extremes
The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is the main mode of variability in the Southern Hemisphere. It manifests itself via a poleward shift of the band of strong westerly winds called the jet stream, and has known impacts on rainfall and surface temperatures throughout the Southern Hemisphere. This project will investigate whether the temperature structure in the lower stratosphere just above the tropopause has an influence on the SAM, and if so, tries to quantify its influence. This is based on... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:30 am
Published by Climate Extremes
The characteristics of numerically simulated clouds and convection depend on the resolution of weather and climate models. Subgrid clouds are parameterized in coarse-resolution models but are often resolved at higher resolutions. Such clouds are essential in understanding shallow convection and can significantly affect the radiation budget if unaccounted for in our current models. This project aims to quantify the characteristics of subgrid clouds by comparing several associated cloud and radiation fields simulated at different resolutions from a numerical weather prediction... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:29 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Complex flow patterns within the urban-canopy layer (UCL) are induced by the heterogeneities of urban morphology and the varying wind directions. The mean wind direction within an urban canopy changes with height when the incoming flow is not orthogonal to obstacle faces. However, current climate models are barely built to consider this fundamental mechanism until we have a comprehensive understanding of the wind direction effects. In this project, the student will contribute to enhance the understanding of varying wind direction... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:28 am
Published by Climate Extremes
Australia’s most hail-prone regions are on the east coast from north of Brisbane to south of Sydney. However, the largest hailstone ever recorded in Australia fell in the sub-tropics, just north of Mackay, and the possibility of hail occurrence extends well into the tropics. In particular, a region around Burketown in Queensland shows as a hotspot of hail probability in radar, satellite, and hail-proxy records. In this project, we will investigate hail occurrence in convection-resolving simulations of the atmosphere around... View Article
August 3, 2023 10:27 am
Published by Climate Extremes
During El Niño periods, characterized by elevated sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, Australia often experiences a significant alteration in its weather patterns. El Niño’s warming effect on the Australian climate can lead to more prolonged and intense heatwaves, posing significant challenges for communities, ecosystems, and policymakers alike. Understanding these connections is crucial for better preparedness and adaptation to the evolving impacts of climate change on Australia’s climate extremes. El Niño events can be broadly categorized into two... View Article
