We are seeking an enthusiastic student with a background in physics, climate science or environmental science who is also interested in science education and outreach, to help further improve our online climate model.
This project will use satellite and flux tower observations to characterise the response of Australian ecosystems to water stress. These data will then be used to evaluate how well the Australian climate model predicts droughts. The successful candidate will obtain skills in programming and analysis of spatial datasets and model outputs.
The past four months since out last newsletter has been tightly packed with the official launch of CLEX, the legacy event for ARCCSS and an acceleration in important research across all of our programs.
Research has now begun in earnest in the Drought Research Program with all key staff finally in place. This has proved timely. At the time of writing (August 2018) most of NSW has been drought declared and forecasters suggesting little sign of drought-breaking rains over coming months.
The Climate Variability and Teleconnections Research Program has formed into three separate clusters – SAM, Tropical Variability and Oceans.
The Heatwaves and Cold Outbreaks Research Program is in full swing, welcoming a new associate investigator in Debbie Hudson from the Bureau of Meteorology and pressing ahead with research across a range of areas.
Steefan Contractor attended the ARCCSS/CLEX winter school from June 25-29, 2018. The theme of the school was climate extremes. It involved lectures in the morning on various climate extremes (such as heatwaves and rainfall extremes) and also a group activity in the afternoons.
It is hoped this proposed synthesis of two ENSO structures, their interaction with each other and how they respond to external forcing, will be the catalyst for future research and practical applications for forecasting and determining the impacts of present and future ENSO events.
This study highlights the importance of simulating global and regional warming responses correctly, to enable more accurate estimates of how the occurrence probability of climate extremes may change in a warming climate.
When Chilean researcher Dr Erasmo Macaya from Universidad de Concepción and Centro IDEAL stumbled upon foreign kelp washed up on an Antarctic beach, he knew he had found something significant. Research by an international, multidisciplinary team of scientists reveals just how important that finding was.