In relation to the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5°C and 2°C, new research shows the differences in results between pattern-scaling and climate model output were primarily due to forcings other than changes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Short, extreme rainfall events will increase in a warming climate, according to observations and climate models. Australian observations suggest these storms become smaller in size, with increased rainfall concentrating even more around the centre of the storm cell. However, there has been recent contradictory climate model research that suggests storm areas may become larger. To understand this contradiction the researchers compared two different model types to real world observations of storm cell changes that occurred with rising temperatures. An area... View Article
This research suggests some trees and in particular, Australian trees, may be more resilient than expected to future warming and extreme events. These findings have implications for planning around which species to plant in “green cities” to help mitigate future climate extremes.
Asthmatics and those affected by polluted environments living around major cities along Australia’s east coast could find life much harder over the next 50 years as stronger inversion layers caused by climate change trap more pollution.
Past observations suggest future global warming may eventually be twice as warm as projected by climate models under business-as-usual scenarios and sea levels may rise 6m at 2°C.
The application of a simple carbon balance model, combined with a data assimilation approach, has the potential to improve the process understanding embedded in models, which is used to predict responses of the carbon cycle to climate change.
This study evaluated GCMs for common drought metrics during the past 55 years. It found different models can produce very different simulations of drought, depending on the type of drought and metric analysed. The study points to a need to improve GCMs for droughts to reduce uncertainties in future projections.
This interdisciplinary project will apply methods from statistical physics, which are only beginning to be used in the environmental sciences, to better exploit such data, advance our basic understanding, and produce more useful models for weather and climate changes.
With major developments in climate modelling we are significantly closing the gap that used to exist between what business needs to know and what climate science/engineering can provide. This project will merge climate science and engineering to address the key question industry asks – what is the future economic viability of renewable projects?
This PhD will use sophisticated alternatives for removing systematic biases in the lateral boundary conditions of such experiments, with the aim of assessing the extent of change that results in the resulting extreme storm. Outcomes here can help define how we design Civil Engineering infrastructure in warming climates.