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Research brief: Latrobe Valley soil contamination some of the worst in the world
Researchers report gaseous elemental mercury observations from Churchill, in the heart of the Latrobe Valley’s coal power generation fleet from June of 2013. Mercury values both day and night were significantly higher than the Southern Hemispheric average values.
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Research brief: Extreme events in SE Australia to increase in frequency by 2100
This paper used statistical techniques to investigate changes in extreme climate events that currently occur, on average, only once every 20 years. These techniques are applied to data related to heat, rainfall, drought and conditions conducive to bushfires and thunderstorms from detailed climate modelling commissioned by NSW and ACT Governments.
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Research brief: What causes the world’s deepest low-pressure system
In this study, researchers combine techniques from climate modelling and aircraft aerodynamics software to uncover mechanisms responsible for generating the Amundsen Sea Low pressure near Antarctica.
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Research brief: The mystery of vertical mixing in the eastern Pacific cold tongue
In this study, the researchers used a high-resolution numerical simulation of the cold tongue region to show that strong turbulent mixing occurs not only on the Equator, but also off the Equator on the edge of the cold tongue associated with passing energetic oceanic waves with periods of 15-40 days known as Tropical Instability Waves.
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Research brief: How Central Pacific El Niños affect rainfall over the Murray Darling basin
This research around central Pacific El Niños is important for agricultural and water resources planning efforts in the Murray Darling Basin region and may help with seasonal prediction efforts to predict drought‐breaking rain such as occurred in early 2020.
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Research brief: Do aerosols produced by coral reefs influence climate?
Coral reefs are known to produce a chemical called dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which, when released into the atmosphere, can help form or grow tiny particles known as aerosols. Currently, this source of aerosols produced by coral reefs is unaccounted for in climate science and hence the impact of coral reef extinction on aerosols and climate…
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Research brief: How climate change impacts Marine heatwaves around Australia and New Zealand
This study uses a high‐resolution climate model to investigate how and why marine heatwaves would change for the Australian region. The relative impacts of increases on background ocean temperature and changes to intrinsic temperature variations are compared.
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Research brief: What drives extreme heat events in spring?
Maximum temperatures in Australia during spring have exceeded historic records on multiple occasions in recent years. Understanding what drives these high temperatures may lead to better forecasts of extreme heat in the future.
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Research brief: How El Niños impact climate in the southwest Indian OCean
El Niño effects are communicated to the Indian Ocean via both large‐scale atmospheric circulation changes over the southern tropical ocean basin and via disturbances to sea‐levels along the coast of Western Australia. CLEX researchers investigated these remote ENSO influences in a state‐of‐the‐art climate model.
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Research brief: Unlocking the keys to ocean literacy
As part of the Future Seas project, this paper summarizes knowledge and perspectives on ocean literacy from a range of disciplines, including but not exclusive to marine biology, socio-ecology, philosophy, technology, psychology, oceanography and human health.
