Australia is a continent defined by extremes, and recent decades have seen some extraordinary climate events. But droughts, floods, heatwaves, and fires have battered Australia for millennia. Are recent extreme events really worse than those in the past? […]
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The Coalition government’s ag leaders are putting climate change and sustainability on the agenda, but don’t expect new policies like emissions trading just yet – the solutions will be industry-led. Today Federal Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water […]
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Australia is a continent of extremes and has been inhabited by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Yet we know little about its past climate. Our new study uses tree rings, corals, ice cores and cave sediments from […]
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Sustainable and equitable water resources systems require managers to understand the pressures and changes affecting our catchments at a range of time scales and spatial scales. Managers need to balance the competing needs of agriculture, towns, the environment […]
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In an opinion piece in the prestigious scientific journal Nature, University of Wollongong researcher Dr Sarah Hamylton writes about the emotional challenges facing environmental scientists as the effects of climate change become more obvious and more widespread. She urges more scientists […]
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In recent years, scientists have successfully identified the human fingerprint on hot years, heatwaves, and a range of other temperature extremes around the world. But as everyone knows, climate change affects more than just temperature. The “signal” of human-induced climate […]
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Drought in the Murray River doesn’t just affect the river itself – it also affects the ecosystems that live in the ocean beyond. In a study published in Marine and Freshwater Research today, we found that the very low […]
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Remember the movie “Moneyball”? The Oakland A’s are struggling, financially and on the baseball field. Then they introduce an innovative system for figuring out which players will improve team performance. Moving away from observations by scouts, the A’s begin […]
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The year isn’t over yet, but we can already be sure that 2017 will be among the hottest years on record for the globe. While the global average surface temperature won’t match what we saw in 2016, it is […]
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Thunderstorms are set to become more intense throughout the tropics and subtropics this century as a result of climate change, according to new research. Thunderstorms are among nature’s most spectacular phenomena, producing lightning, heavy rainfall, and sometimes awe-inspiring cloud […]
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Increased focus on dynamic modelling in our agricultural decision support tools, rather than the traditional statistical analysis will continue to improve Australia’s long-term forecasting systems. That’s the good news on the forecasting front, according to CSIRO senior climate […]
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A new study led by ANU has warned that Melbourne and Sydney should prepare for 50 degree Celsius days under the Paris Agreement global warming limit of 2 degrees. Lead researcher Dr Sophie Lewis said the study assessed […]
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Misleading attacks on Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology by climate deniers in the Australian are “debilitating” to the agency and limiting its ability to predict risks and protect the community, the former head of the bureau has told the Guardian. […]
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Winter rains are in decline across southern Australia, and while it is too early to say beyond doubt it is due to climate change, scientists say it is not just about climate variability. According to the Bureau of […]
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Australia’s reputation as a world leader in water management is well-deserved, according to a Productivity Commission review. But it warned that there was more to do to implement the goals of the 2004 National Water Initiative, and to […]
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Has the Australian climate change debate changed? You could be forgiven for thinking the answer is no. Just this week The Australian has run a series of articles attacking the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather observations. Meanwhile, the federal […]
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As Texas recovers from the force of Hurricane Harvey and the Caribbean assesses its losses from Hurricane Irma, it is time for coastal communities to reflect on what makes a resilient community in the face of more frequent […]
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Winter hasn’t felt too wintry yet in much of Australia. Most of us have had more sunshine, higher temperatures, and less rainfall than is normal for the time of year. In fact, Australia just had its warmest average […]
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Extreme El Nino events will more than double in frequency, even with the most ambitious goals to curtail global warming, exposing large regions to severe droughts and placing coral reefs in peril, a team of scientists including Australians […]
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Land plants are absorbing 17% more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere now than 30 years ago, our research published today shows. Equally extraordinarily, our study also shows that the vegetation is hardly using any extra water to do […]
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