In this project, we will investigate the clustering of thunderstorms using satellite observations of rainfall in the tropics. In particular, we will examine the question of whether rainfall in the tropics is becoming more clustered, and what effect this may have on heavy precipitation now and into the future.
The associations between rainfall variability, ENSO and temperature appeared to be stationary early in the record, but there was a hint that there was some evidence of a shift in the late 1990s. Has that shift continued? Alternatively, have the rainfall variance characteristics returned to what was observed earlier in the record? This project will use the latest observed datasets to explore these questions.
Several studies examining the change in extreme events with climate change focus on either single day events or on heatwaves but none examine the coincidence of the two.
The ARC Centre of Excellence Undergraduate Summer Scholarships in Climate Extremes are highly competitive scholarships intended to provide undergraduate students from Australian universities an introduction to cutting-edge climate science research at one of our five universities, or our national partners- CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology and Department of Environment.