Postgraduate students

John is investigating the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on severe thunderstorms. As part of his research he has produced the first analysis of the relationship between severe thunderstorms and their associated environments and a new climatology of these environments for the period 1979-2011. He is currently exploring the application of the environmental relationship to climate models for the late 20th and 21st centuries.

Researcher ID: A-4483-2012
Email: johnterallen@gmail.com

Rachel is researching the processes that control the lifetime and intensity of convective systems (e.g., thunderstorms). In particular, she is examining how tropical storms transport momentum and how these transports contribute to the storms’ evolution. Such transports also affect the atmosphere on larger scales and this process must be parameterized in climate models. Rachel’s work will help develop new parameterizations that will improve the representation of tropical convection and precipitation.

Researcher ID: A-3998-2012
Email: r.badlan@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

Chris studies the way the climate in the Southern Hemisphere changes over "shortish" periods of time (from a few months, to a few years).  In particular, Chris is investigating the variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), a series of currents in the Southern Ocean that make up the strongest current system on Earth.  This current system is an extremely important player in the climate system.  He is using very simple computer models, theoretical pen and paper work, and data collected from ships and satellites to understand how small scale turbulence, called "eddies", drive changes in the ACC over months and years.

Researcher ID: A-4264-2012
Email: chris.chapman@anu.edu.au

Annette is investigating the feedback relationship between terrestrial processes (e.g. soil moisture, land cover change) and precipitation and how this is represented in the hydrological cycle. The aim is to improve the coupling between the land surface and atmosphere in existing models to contribute to more realistic representations of the present global climate and increase our understanding of how this will evolve with climate change.

Dörte is particularly interested in effects of climate change on rainfall extremes and is currently undertaking a part-time PhD on the topic at the University of Melbourne
She is currently the Manager of the Hydrometeorological Advisory Services in the National Climate Centre at the Bureau of Meteorology after completing a degree in Meteorology at the Humboldt-University in Berlin. She joined the Bureau of Meteorology in 2003, where she has been leading a pilot study to revise techniques for design rainfall estimation in preparation for a revision of the national guidelines, the ‘Australian Rainfall and Runoff’ and another project to explore the potential effects of climate change on estimates of Probable Maximum Precipitation. She has also contributed to research undertaken as part of the Australian Climate Change Science Program (ACCSP) and the Indian Ocean Climate Initiative.

Researcher ID: A-4251-2012
Email: D.Jakob@bom.gov.au

Andrew is investigating the teleconnections between climate drivers and extreme precipitation. As part of his PhD he will analyse observed statistical relationships between the drivers and extreme rainfall before examining the physical mechanisms behind these relationships. He will then use a climate model to see if it can capture these relationships and study model projections of extreme rainfall over Australia.

Email: andrew.king@student.unsw.edu.au.

Born in Sarawak, Wee Ho Lim holds a first class honours degree in Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University and is currently undertaking a PhD degree at The Australian National University in Ecohydrology and Environmental Physics.

Researcher ID: A-4765-2012
Email: Wee-Ho.Lim@anu.edu.au

Adele uses eddy resolving numerical models to understand the dynamics of the ocean's overturning circulation. In particular she has been investigating the driving forces behind changes in upwelling and outgassing of CO₂ in the Southern Ocean, both during glacial-interglacial cycles and under future climate change scenarios.
Researcher ID:

Researcher ID: C-1774-2012
Website: http://people.rses.anu.edu.au/morrison_a/
Email: adele.morrison@anu.edu.au

Nina is interested in the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle. She evaluates the influence of selected mechanisms andboundary conditions on the carbon uptake and storage characteristics of the ocean. Special attention is paid to the separation of the contributions of changes in the physical state of the ocean, e.g. ocean temperature and salinity, as well as changes in marine biology and biological processes within the ocean. Through the choice of specific boundary conditions that are representative for past, present and future climates, Nina investigates the evolution of the carbon cycle in the ocean and the exchange of carbon between atmosphere and ocean through various states of the Earth's history.

Researcher ID: C-1772-2012
Email: n.ridder@unsw.edu.au

Isa is investigating the dynamics and vertical transport of nutrients in the ocean, by running numerical simulations at very high resolution. The aim of the project is to identify key processes involved in the biophysical coupling at different spatial scales and to quantify the role that these play in ocean carbon uptake and primary production.

Researcher ID: A-4761-2012
Email: isa.rosso@anu.edu.au

Jackson’s PhD aims to understand the mechanisms that determine the organisation of large-scale tropical convection, which will help scientists to evaluate its representation in models. To do this, he uses cloud regimes - a set of recurring cloud patterns derived from global satellite data by cluster analysis - and investigates their properties.

Researcher ID: A-4261-2012
Email: jackson.tan@monash.edu

Nicholas is investigating the land-ocean warming contrast. The thermal inertia of the ocean causes higher amplitude warming and cooling over land than ocean. However the ocean is also able to modulate and amplify land temperatures. Observational and climate model data will be used to determine what feedbacks may be responsible and a coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model will be used to test these mechanisms.

Researcher ID: A-5169-2012
Email: nicholas.tyrrell@monash.edu

Gang is investigating ocean-atmosphere coupled modes of variability in the Southern Hemisphere on decadal time-scales and the mechanisms of low-frequency variability in the Southern Hemisphere in coupled climate model simulations.
He first became fascinated by large-scale air-sea interaction and climate change during his Masters of Science in Physical Oceanography at Ocean University of China. During this time he became interested in how the ocean dominated Southern Hemisphere played a significant role in the global climate. Gangs current research is investigating the little-studied climate modes in the Southern Ocean.

Email: gang.wang@monash.edu