In this study, CLEX researchers and colleagues showed that the North Atlantic sea-surface temperature response to ENSO is nonlinear with respect to the strength of the sea-surface temperature forcing in the tropical Pacific.
Maximum temperatures in Australia during spring have exceeded historic records on multiple occasions in recent years. Understanding what drives these high temperatures may lead to better forecasts of extreme heat in the future.
It has been an incredibly busy period for RP4, with a wealth of research, multiple international visits and many awards and honours for its students and researchers.
Antarctic sea ice had been growing in area since 1979, despite the influence of global warming. Then unexpectedly in the austral spring of 2016, there was a rapid decline. CLEX researchers used multiple runs of a coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model to investigate whether these distant influences played a role and, if so, the level of the contribution to the sea-ice decline.
This study employs a new statistical approach to reconstructing ENSO which enables researchers to identify times in the past when palaeo-ENSO reconstructions are most robust. They found that ENSO reconstructions are most reliable from 1580-1700, and from 1825 to present.
Weather and climate extremes occur on a wide range of time and space scales. Weather extremes occur on shorter timescales and are regionally or locally specific while climate extremes tend to be on longer timescales and can impact a region through to the whole globe. This note provides a statement on what we know about how weather and climate extremes might change in the future.
This project will examine ‘mixed teleconnections’ using coupled climate models. In particular, we will examine how El Nino and La Nina events can affect western boundary currents in the Pacific and Indian basin. It will involve using large model and observational datasets and require a background in either MATLAB or python. Some experience with linux is desirable.
The Climate Variability and Teleconnections Research Program has formed into three separate clusters – SAM, Tropical Variability and Oceans.