Summer might be more than six weeks away, but out-of-control bushfires have already torn across parts of eastern Australia in recent days, destroying homes and threatening lives. Firefighters battle bushfires in Angourie, northern New South Wales, on September […]
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Daily water consumption has soared in south-east Queensland despite the severe drought, prompting the early rollout of water conservation campaigns. Seqwater, which manages almost 90 per cent of south-east Queensland’s water supply across 12 dams, reported that daily […]
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Efforts are underway in Menindee, in far-west New South Wales, to try to lessen the impact of conditions that are expected to bring more mass fish kills. The community is still reeling from the devastation of last summer, […]
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Groundwater is the drinking water source for more than two billion people in the world, and provides over 40% of water for irrigated agriculture. Yet in many parts of the world groundwater has become depleted or polluted, risking […]
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Australia has one of the most sophisticated water markets in the world, particularly notable for the ways in which government can return water to the environment. Water markets allow the return of this water through two main mechanisms. […]
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The level of water stored by Australia’s capital cities has steadily fallen over the last six years. They are now collectively at 54.6% of capacity – a decline of 30% from 2013. We’re going into a hot summer […]
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A grim summer is likely for the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin and the people, flora and fauna that rely on it. Having worked for sustainable management of these rivers for decades, I fear the coming months will […]
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There is an urgent need to understand and predict how the world around us is affected by climate change and the extremes of droughts and flooding rains. The Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy NCRIS addresses this […]
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Rainfall observations are important inputs for hydrometeorological applications. However, preparing a spatially and temporally consistent rainfall dataset is still a challenge because of sparse point measurements. One potentially valuable source of rainfall data with consistent spatial and temporal […]
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From 3-14 February 2020, the 2020 Australian Climate and Water Summer Institute took place at the Australian National University (ANU). The unique two-week event brought together 17 of the most talented early-career professionals, researchers and PhD students from Australia and […]
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The Murray-Darling Basin’s ‘top cop’ says corruption scandals are eroding trust in the $13 billion plan to recover water for the environment. Mick Keelty, the interim inspector-general for the basin, finished a tour of its southern reaches on […]
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A lack of understanding about how Indigenous Australians value water has led to a lack of justice in decision-making. This is an issue Professor Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy at the […]
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The Victorian government has ruled out new dams, saying climate change means not enough water would flow into them to make them worthwhile. Water Minister Lisa Neville says water in the state’s rivers will halve by 2065, citing […]
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The OzEWEX community mourns the passing of eminent climate change scientist Dr Penny Whetton. The article that follows was published in newspaper “The Age”. Renowned climate scientist Dr Penny Whetton, the wife of Victorian Greens senator Janet Rice, has died […]
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The susceptibility of vegetation to wildfire depends on its water content relative to its dry mass: the live fuel moisture content (LFMC). The higher the LFMC, the longer vegetation will take to ignite and for wildfire to spread. […]
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The FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 constellation, launched this June, will provide the most accurate data yet on tropical weather, climate, and space weather. In the dark, early morning hours of 25 June 2019, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched a constellation […]
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In Australia, dead kangaroos and a scandal called Watergate are results of flawed plan for water market Australia’s Darling River was once filled with fleets of paddle steamers carrying wool to ships bound for England. For nearly two […]
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Cliche sensitive citizens might be experiencing politician-induced nausea after Water Minister David Littleproud’s branding of new the new Murray Darling Basin Inspector General Mick Keelty as the new “tough cop on the beat”. But the new water compliance […]
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Winter still has a few days to run, but it’s highly likely to be one of Australia’s warmest and driest on record. While final numbers will be crunched once August ends, this winter will probably rank among the […]
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There’s broad support from communities and farmers for proper water audits. John/Flickr, CC BY-SA In the wake of a damning royal commission and an ABC Four Corners investigation, the federal government has created an Inspector General for the […]
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