Research program: Mechanisms explaining changes in Australian climate extremes

Australia has long been a land of extreme weather events but under climate change it is expected that at least some of these events could be more intense and may occur at profoundly different intervals than in the past. Extremes can include droughts and floods, or heatwaves, changes in the frequency of warm nights, increases in rainfall intensity etc.

This project will examine the key processes that effect long- and short-term weather and climate events, including determining the likely role that climate change plays as well as exploring how extremes may change in the future. As part of this research, the Centre will explore whether individual extreme weather events can be directly attributed to climate change. It will also explore the ways that year-to-year climate variations, such as El Niño, affect Australian weather extremes.

This research will reveal in more detail than ever before how extreme events are likely to change over Australia. It will dramatically improve the capacity of regional planners and policy makers to help vulnerable regions prepare for the future.

Chief Investigators

Professor David Karoly (University of Melbourne)
Dr Lisa Alexander (UNSW)
Professor Nathaniel Bindoff (University of Tasmania)
Professor Steven Sherwood (UNSW)
Professor Andrew Pitman (UNSW)

Partner Investigators

Dr Peter Stott (Hadley Centre, UK)
Dr Penny Whetton (CAWCR-CSIRO)

Latest news

Triple whammy: ocean warming, La Niña, and cyclone produced Queensland floods
17 May 2012
A record La Niña event coupled with tropical cyclone Tasha generated most of the record deluge of rain that devastated much of Queensland in December 2010, but a new study has found that another big culprit was also in play - record high sea-surface temperatures off northern Australia.

Air pollution may be driving expansion of tropics - black carbon and near-surface ozone most likely culprits
17 May 2012
Man-made pollutants are likely to be pushing the boundary of the tropics further polewards in the Northern Hemisphere according to new research by a team of scientists.

1000 years of climate data confirms Australia's warming
17 May 2012
In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years.

More news >>

Latest blog entries

John Allen's storm chasing: entry 1
17 May 2012
Is it time to leave yet?

Jackson Tan's Maldives research: entry 10
09 November 2011
And so here I am in the Male International Airport, waiting to board my plane back home. It was a wild ride on the 50-seater from Gan to Male, though I should've expected that from radar and satellite images revealing intense convective activity there over the past few days.

Jackson Tan's Maldives research: entry 9
03 November 2011
The radars deployed here on Gan Island run 24/7 until the end of the DYNAMO field campaign in March next year. Consequently, every day is a working day. This is the nature of fieldwork.

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