A report outlining the current state of climate processes research in Australia was recently put together for the National Climate Science Advisory Committee. What follows is the Executive Summary – you can read the full report here. This […]
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New international research has found a worrying change in the Indian Ocean’s surface temperatures that puts southeast Australia on course for increasingly hot and dry conditions. The work led by The Australian National University (ANU) and the ARC […]
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After the intensely dry conditions of 2019, January and February have brought much-needed rain. Dams in many cities and towns were replenished and some farmers may be able to grow a crop for the first time in several […]
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Throughout summer, Sydney’s water storage level fell alarmingly. Level 2 water restrictions were imposed and the New South Wales government prepared to double the capacity of its desalination plant. But then it began to rain, and rain. Sydney […]
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Recent helpful rains dampened fire grounds and gave many farmers a reason to cheer. But much of southeast Australia remains in severe drought. Australia is no stranger to drought, but the current one stands out when looking at […]
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The past Australian summer was a season of two contrasting halves. So did the midsummer weather change make a dent in the drought, and is it likely to continue through autumn? The first half of summer was exceptionally […]
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Hydromorphological attributes such as river width, flow regime, water extent and gradient provide fundamental information for understanding river hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes in floodplain-river systems, identifying flooding-prone areas, assessing river conveyance capacity, estimating river depth and discharge, […]
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Nonperennial rivers are a major—and growing—part of the global river network. New research and science-based policies are needed to ensure the sustainability of these important waterways. As we make our way into the age of big data, there […]
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Jet stream appears to have stopped moving south and may be moving back towards normal International cooperation on ozone-depleting chemicals is helping to return the southern jet stream to a normal state after decades of human-caused disruption, a […]
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A stoush is brewing on the state’s inland rivers over the proposal for a new weir that could reduce flows to the “degraded” Macquarie Marshes just as the wetlands start to recover from drought. WaterNSW has begun consulting […]
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Acting inspector-general for the Murray-Darling Basin Mick Keelty is calling for a different kind of leadership to get the management of water right. Mr Keelty has been touring regional towns affected by the Murray-Darling Basin including Swan Hill, […]
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A $24 million deal made to help the Darling River flow again could now be “flipped” to allow the New South Wales Government to extract river water to spread on its own floodplain. Locals downstream of Toorale National […]
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Several dams hardest hit by the ongoing drought in New South Wales have experienced welcome reprieve with recent rainfall resulting in the first inflows in years and a minor increase to dam levels. But while widespread rain has […]
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Drought is a complex phenomenon due to its underlying physical interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere. Its creeping nature and potentially large spatial extent make drought a long-lasting and costly natural hazard. However, the onset of drought can unfold on […]
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Despite widespread interest in hydrologic variability, there is currently no general climatology of the variability of the water cycle over land. This has limited the development of the underlying science of hydrologic extremes. This paper uses a recently […]
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TERN and its partners are developing a revolutionary soil moisture information system, which will help land managers better monitor drought, predict bushfires and floods and make highly informed management choices to improve agricultural productivity. Understanding soil moisture matters. […]
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As the climate changes, past observations may no longer represent the future we’re trying to predict; this could invalidate models calibrated to observed data. Hydrologists have traditionally addressed this problem by looking to past climate variability as a […]
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Dave Hunt/AAP 2019 was the year Australians confronted the fact that a healthy environment is more than just a pretty waterfall in a national park; a nice extra we can do without. We do not survive without air […]
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Australia is no stranger to extreme heat, drought and flooding rains. Indeed, the last decade brought many extreme events, starting with the Big Wet and ending with the severe eastern Australian drought. This has prompted many to ask […]
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At least four of the state’s 13 water-sharing plans are not taking the Millennium Drought into consideration when calculating how much dam water to quarantine for towns at the expense of irrigators. A further four are planning to […]
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