CLEX researchers have constructed the oldest daily historical climate dataset for Perth, southwestern Australia, to provide an extended record for analysing pre‐industrial climate variability and extremes for the region.
CLEX researchers have developed Australia’s longest daily temperature record, identifying a decrease in cold extremes and an increase in heatwaves around Adelaide since 1838.
This paper documents the efforts of the international weather data rescue initiative ACRE, the International Surface Temperature Initiative and researchers that took part in workshops held in Bern, Switzerland, in June 2018 to rescue and digitize meteorological measurements taken prior to 1850 from around the world.
As this newsletter goes to press, Bureau of Meteorology rainfall records show most of NSW and substantial parts of south-west Queensland remain in drought. Beyond the immediate agricultural, hydrologic and ecologic impacts, many small rural towns are starting to run out of water.
Extreme weather conditions and a changing climate are often recognised by their immediate effects. But as research coming out of the Heatwaves and Cold Air Outbreaks program has shown over the past four months, these events are often generated by distant influences and when they occur have further impact beyond their immediate vicinity.
The past four months have seen a lot of activity around workshops, the continuing submission of research briefs (which allows us to post about the research on social media), plenty of classic traditional media activity and a new social media account.
It has been a very active time for the Climate Variability and Teleconnections Research Program in terms of research and engagement activities right across the team, including two expeditions - one drilling coral cores in the tropics and another going south to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
This project provides an exciting opportunity to develop the longest homogenised daily climate record for Perth using newly digitised observations beginning in 1830. The project will involve working with BoM staff to conduct state-of-the-art quality control measures on the new historical observations to allow a reliable, long-term analysis of extremes and their possible dynamical causes.
Book launch: Sunburnt Country: the history and future of climate change in Australia by Joelle Gergis.