Melb02: A climatology of precipitable water for Australia

Term: Beginning after Feb. 1

Supervisors:

• Stacey Hitchcock (UniMelb; stacey.hitchcock@unimelb.edu.au),
• Rob Warren (Monash; rob.warren@monash.edu)
• Margot Bador (UNSW; m.bador@unsw.edu.au )
• Pandora Hope (Bureau of Meteorology; pandora.hope@bom.gov.au)

Precipitable water can be useful in gauging the potential for a particular storm or organized storm system to produce heavy or extreme rainfall. Both forecasters and researchers have noticed recent spikes in precipitable water and associated extreme events. However, there is no existing climatology of precipitable water to use as a background state with which to quantify these potentially significant departures.

The objective of the project is to use a combination of station-based measurements and reanalyses (e.g. BARRA, ERA-5) to create a climatology of precipitable water for Australia. After creating the dataset, the student will also analyse trends and variability.

This project will be based at The University of Melbourne but will require close collaboration with scientists across several different organizations and trips to the Bureau of Meteorology. Knowledge of a programming language (python, MATLAB, etc.) is desirable.