The Australian bushfires of the 2019/2020 summer had far-reaching effects. It has now been revealed in new research published in Nature that the smoke produced a phytoplankton bloom larger in area than all of Australia, thousands of kilometres away in the Southern Ocean between New Zealand and South America.
An unusual southern stratospheric warming event amplified the conditions that led to the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20. CLEX researchers explored how frequently these rare warming events may occur with climate change.
Welcome to the first Weather and Climate Interactions RP report. The new program name is simply a result of rationalising CLEX’s continuing research program under new headings that more clearly delineate the focus of the work we do.
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.
Errors in identifying the fire scar - the portion of a long-lasting bushfire that is actively burning or smouldering, are the largest errors in forecasting emissions from these events. This project will develop and analyse fire progression tracking using data from the 2019 - 2020 bushfire season.