ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes

Calling all early career researchers! Join the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response's Early Career Researchers Workshop on October 16th. Led by researchers from UNSW Science, UNSW Business School and UNSW Law, the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response is offering a unique opportunity to share your interdisciplinary climate research, network with peers, and drive innovation in this growing field. They invite PhD students and early career researchers from all disciplines to submit a 100-word abstract on climate-related projects. The best presenters will receive prizes up to $600. Submission deadline: August 12th, 12pm AEST. Submit your abstract here: https://lnkd.in/dfQg6Jhb For more details, click here: https://lnkd.in/ggFwNZmt or visit the ICRR website: https://lnkd.in/db9wZiq6

Meet our Early Career Researchers! Tahereh (Nasim) Alinejadtabrizi is a PhD student at Monash University with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. (Read Nasim's story here: https://lnkd.in/gThB9cAj) In 2015, while working on her master's thesis in environmental engineering, Nasim was exposed to climate modelling for the first time, which sparked her interest in problem-solving as a climate scientist. “My project assessed the climate change impacts in South Iran to inform the design of a port in this region,” explained Nasim. “I was looking at how climate change will affect wind and, subsequently, the waves and sedimentation where the port was being built. It was my first time faced with biases and uncertainties in climate models, and I decided I wanted to work to better understand these processes to help fix the uncertainties in the climate models.” Nasim's interest in climate models led her to pursue a PhD at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. Her research focuses on low-level clouds over the Southern Ocean, one of climate models’ biggest sources of uncertainty. In her latest paper, Nasim examined how aerosols interact with shallow clouds over the Southern Ocean. These aerosol-cloud interactions are one important contributor to the uncertainties in this region. (The paper is accessible here: https://lnkd.in/g7xQ-bKT) “We found the cloud properties are really sensitive to the amount of aerosols over the Southern Ocean. We also saw that rain plays a role in washing the aerosols out of the sky. As the rain falls, it takes aerosols with them, removing them from the atmosphere." The findings from this study are useful for understanding the aerosol budget over the Southern Ocean, allowing the simulation of low-level clouds with much better accuracy. As part of her PhD, Nasim recently travelled to Cape Grim for the opening of the Cloud and Precipitation Experiment at Kennaook (CAPE-k). Located at the northwestern tip of Tasmania, Cape Grim is where her data is collected. The CAPE-k project aims to gather cloud and precipitation data to address the challenges of simulating these processes over the Southern Ocean. Based at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (CGBAPS) in remote Tasmania, this research initiative seeks to enhance scientists’ understanding of these dynamics and improve climate model accuracy. “The CAPE-k project is a dream for climate scientists working on climate model biases in the Southern Hemisphere. These observations give us the opportunity to better analyse all the data together and get a better understanding of what’s really going on there.” Read Nasim's full story here: https://lnkd.in/gThB9cAj #SouthernOcean #research Alice Wilson Victoria Tichá

A new study by Catherine Gregory, Prof. Neil Holbrook, Dr. Claire Spillman and Dr. Andrew Marshall shows that the combined influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can impact the weather over the Great Barrier Reef, contributing to coral bleaching events. Corals are particularly sensitive to weather conditions over the Great Barrier Reef. Sunny and calm weather usually lead to high ocean temperatures, increasing the risk of coral bleaching, while stormy, rainy weather can cool the ocean, providing some protection to corals. While ENSO influences weather over the Great Barrier Reef on a seasonal scale, researchers have found that the MJO – a slow eastward-moving storm pattern near the Equator – can alter these weather conditions on shorter, sub-seasonal timescales, leading to unexpected impacts on ocean temperatures and corals. While climate change remains the greatest threat to corals, this study underscores the importance of considering the impacts of climate modes like ENSO and MJO, including their compounding effects, to assess additional risks to corals. A summary of the study's findings is available here: https://lnkd.in/gHFqd2ZV The study can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/grHjki22 Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies University of Tasmania Bureau of Meteorology University of Southern Queensland #greatbarrierreef #meteorology #enso #research

Meet Ashley Huang, a passionate atmospheric scientist and alumna of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. Over the summer of 2022-23, Ashley completed an internship with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes at UNSW. (Read Ashley's story here: https://lnkd.in/g_eDguJZ.) Her project focused on how rainfall evolved during Australia's recent triple-dip La Niña from 2020-2023. This event, characterised by successive La Niña phases over three years, brought record-breaking rainfall and flooding across Eastern Australia, causing billions of dollars in damage. Ashley's research revealed that rainfall increased in the third year of the triple-dip La Niña event compared to the first and second years, even though La Niña did not strengthen over that period. Her findings were so significant that she and her supervisors A/Prof Andrea Taschetto and Dr Zoe Gillett published a paper (accessible here: https://lnkd.in/eeM6DVk5, a summary is accessible here: https://lnkd.in/eihEBcct). This project marked her first experience using a supercomputer to analyse data, coding in Python, and completing a manuscript. “It was really exciting, and I didn’t expect that a summer internship project would go to publication. It was my first paper, and I think I’ll always remember it,” Ashley said. “I learned a lot during the internship, and Zoe and Andrea were super helpful and guided me throughout the process. The skills I learned, like coding, calculating climatology, and analysing data, are fundamental for research.” In August, Ashley will begin her PhD in atmospheric science at Cornell University in the US. While her topic has yet to be decided, it will undoubtedly focus on atmospheric science. Ashley offers this advice for aspiring climate scientists: “Instead of just taking coursework, try research, as this experience is very important. If students have the time to do a short research project, give it a go because it is very different from learning from courses, and you can see if it’s something you enjoy.” Read Ashley's full story here: https://lnkd.in/g_eDguJZ UNSW Science The Australian National University #climatescience #research

New paper published! A recent study by Sarthak Mohanty, Martin Singh and Christian Jakob aims to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms driving the Australian Summer Monsoon (ASM). Spanning the extended summer months from October to April, the ASM brings vital rainfall to Northern Australia, significantly impacting local agriculture and ecosystems. A detailed understanding of the ASM and its variability is therefore of substantial importance to society. However, climate models show a wide range of skill in their ability to simulate the monsoon rainfall and its changes in a warmer climate, making the ASM's future very uncertain. In their study, the team of researchers evaluated models using moisture and energy budgets to see how they differ in terms of key mechanisms involved in the monsoon evolution. They found that models that are good at reproducing the seasonal evolution of precipitation do not consistently offer more accurate representations of dynamic processes. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gfRgehvB Monash University ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes https://lnkd.in/gfRgehvB

Meet our Early Career Researchers! Rachael Isphording became interested in meteorology and climate science after experiencing the passage of Hurricane Ivan (2004) and Hurricane Katrina (2005) over her hometown in South Alabama, USA. “While I think it’s every climate scientist’s and meteorologist’s dream to see the eye of a hurricane, and it was very cool, it was also incredibly destructive and quite devastating to my community.” Driven by the desire to study these powerful systems, Rachael’s dedication led her to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where she aspired to study meteorology and get her pilot’s license, so she could fly airplanes into hurricanes. But she soon realized that her calling was climate science. After completing a bachelor of science in Applied Meteorology, she completed three internships at NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where she used Earth Observational Systems and Earth Data to help stakeholders with their decision-making. She also had the amazing opportunity to work on the NASA Space Launch System. Rachael is now a PhD student at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, based at UNSW, and studies rainfall across Australia. “I use my expertise as a climate scientist to help stakeholders with their decision-making and help answer the questions of where are we going to build desalination plant so communities have access to clean and reliable drinking water in the case of droughts and where sea levels rise threatening coastal communities.” UNSW Science UNSW Climate Change Research Centre ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes #researcher #climatescience #climate #meteorology

Our Winter School Highlights are here! This week, our students participated in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and The ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather Annual Winter School. The Winter School is a week-long high-level education program for graduate students and consists of a series of lectures and interactive activities. The theme of this year’s Winter School was Weather and Climate Interactions. Students had the opportunity to attend lectures on fronts, potential vorticity, ocean dynamics, high-resolution modelling, and weather and droughts, among other topics. They also engaged in interactive activities such as weather chart discussions, spectral filtering labs, and a full-day visit to the Bureau of Meteorology. Thank you to all our Winter School attendees! And a big thank you to the Bureau of Meteorology for hosting us! Melissa Hart Angela Kaplish shankar sharma Rachael Isphording Xinyue Zhang Catherine Gregory Michael Barnes Lara Richards Alice Wilson Victoria Tichá Matt Grant Corey Robinson Dita Fatria Andarini Nathan Eizenberg Jarrah Harrison-Lofthouse Neelesh Rampal Juliana Neild Camille Mora Monash University University of Melbourne UNSW Climate Change Research Centre University of Tasmania The Australian National University #winterschool #students #climatescience

It's #ShowYourStripes Day! We asked Professor Ed Hawkins, the creator of the warming stripes and a professor at the University of Reading, what an increase in global temperature means for extreme events. Here's his answer. Want to know more about the stripes? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eYwuJm6 #warmingstripes #climatestripes #climatechange #globalwarming

Can nature help us mitigate climate change?    In recent years, nature-based solutions have gained considerable attention as a means to reach the Paris Agreement goals. Many governments and companies are incorporating them in their net-zero strategies. Some sectors strongly advocate for these solutions while others criticise them.   Nature-based solutions are actions that manage, protect, and restore ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, oceans, and grasslands. These actions can help ecosystems absorb and store CO2 from the atmosphere or prevent CO2 emissions associated with their loss or degradation.   But, how much CO2 can they save, for how long, and how risky are nature-based solutions?   In our new briefing note, we provide a comprehensive analysis of nature-based solutions, including their estimated mitigation potential, co-benefits, and associated risks and concerns, particularly regarding their use as carbon offsets.   We come to one major conclusion. While nature-based solutions can be environmentally worthy ambitions and present co-benefits such as biodiversity enhancement and local climate risk reduction, they cannot replace the urgent need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, they could contribute to removing the emissions that remain impossible to avoid. Read the briefing note here: https://lnkd.in/gEEfkX4r Andrew Pitman, AO, FAA Laure Poncet Angela Kaplish Georgina Harmer ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes #nature #climatechange

Australia may be severely underestimating bushfire risk. New research by Dr Danielle Udy and co-authors shows that southeast Australia has experienced bushfire weather as bad or worse than the devastating Black Summer bushfires at least seven times over the last two millennia.  With climate change increasing the frequency and severity of bushfire weather, climate scientists warn that Australia could face bushfires that are even more devastating than those of 2019/20. Lead author Dr Danielle Udy, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Tasmania and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, said: “We know how devastating the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires were but these new findings show natural climate variability can produce even more severe bushfire weather. On top of that, climate change is further adding to the intensity and frequency of severe bushfire weather.” “This isn’t just a future risk. We need to plan for bushfire seasons worse than the Black Summer.” Read the Conversation article here: https://lnkd.in/gzGdxMNa The full study is accessible here: https://lnkd.in/g65FRQ_H Tessa Vance Danielle Udy Anthony Kiem Neil Holbrook Nerilie Abram University of Tasmania ARC Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science Australian Antarctic Program Partnership Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies #bushfires #Australia #research https://lnkd.in/gTQnfFpi