Tag Archive: heatwaves

RP3 Drought report: December 2018

November 30, 2018 11:01 am Published by Comments Off on RP3 Drought report: December 2018

The Drought program has been strongly focused on evaluating and improving climate models, and developing a drought database for documenting drought and for benchmarking model performance.

Research brief: How strong currents influence Tasmania’s marine heatwaves

October 8, 2018 12:09 pm Published by Comments Off on Research brief: How strong currents influence Tasmania’s marine heatwaves

An unusually strong East Australian Current extension leads to an increased probability of marine heatwave days around Tasmania. Conversely, a strong Zeehan Current during these seasons decreased the probability of marine heatwave days in this region.

Research brief: Influence of the Madden-Julian oscillation on Costa Rican mid-summer drought timing

September 27, 2018 9:56 am Published by Comments Off on Research brief: Influence of the Madden-Julian oscillation on Costa Rican mid-summer drought timing

The Central American mid‐summer drought (MSD) is the decline in rainfall during the middle of the wet season over Central America, which has been shown to have strong effects on agriculture and bushfires in Costa Rica. The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) has been shown to influence Costa Rican rainfall on intra‐seasonal time scales, and therefore may be important to the MSD. This research aims to find the connection between the MJO and MSD.

Research brief: Summertime Heatwaves in Brisbane

September 25, 2018 11:20 am Published by Comments Off on Research brief: Summertime Heatwaves in Brisbane

Heat waves are the deadliest natural hazard in Australia. Motivated by the prediction that the number of extremely hot days in subtropical Australia will increase in a warmer climate, this study aims to develop a comprehensive picture of the processes leading to extreme temperatures.

PhD opportunity: The attribution of heatwaves and compound events, UNSW Sydney

September 14, 2018 11:22 am Published by Comments Off on PhD opportunity: The attribution of heatwaves and compound events, UNSW Sydney

Heatwaves have increased in their intensity, frequency and duration. It is now well-established that heatwaves are not stand-alone events, but occur in the presence of other extremes, such as, droughts, extremely high atmospheric pressure, or teleconnections to other atmospheric phenomena. The PhD will undertake a novel examination of the attribution of heatwaves, coincident with other plausible extreme events.

Research brief: How well can climate models simulate interactions between cool and dry conditions under the current climate?

September 11, 2018 1:07 pm Published by Comments Off on Research brief: How well can climate models simulate interactions between cool and dry conditions under the current climate?

This paper shows that many models overestimate the interaction between hot and dry conditions in wet regions and therefore overamplify heat extremes. The study points to necessary model improvement to increase confidence in future projections of heat extremes.

UNSW15: Does the frequency, intensity or duration of heatwaves and droughts affect how people vote in elections?

August 14, 2018 6:27 pm Published by Comments Off on UNSW15: Does the frequency, intensity or duration of heatwaves and droughts affect how people vote in elections?

Using France as a case study, this project aims to create a climatology of heatwaves and droughts to investigate possible connections with voting patterns. The ultimate goal would be to help predict voting patterns in the future and to see whether the techniques could be applied more widely to other countries.