The Weather and Climate Interactions Research Program is now bedded down, and work is beginning apace. We have also started to see our researchers bring their expertise to a range of stakeholders, peer networks, and the broader community.
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.
Recent studies have debated whether the two types of sudden stratospheric warming – displacement events when the vortex is displaced off the Pole and split events when the vortex splits into two smaller vortices – have differing near-surface impacts.
Research has established a link between Antarctic stratospheric winds and an increased risk of weather conducive to bushfires from late spring to early summer. Further research on the relationship between winds and ozone in the Antarctic stratosphere could improve seasonal forecasts for Australia.
Research over the past few months has given the RP2 team significant insights into sudden stratospheric warming events, modelling of marine heatwaves, the impacts of transient warming, how drying tends influence heatwaves, and future energy use in cities as the globe warms.
Using a simplified climate model, researchers forced the south polar winds to reverse arbitrarily and found that the final impact at the surface is indistinguishable from events where the winds reverse in response to natural phenomena.