The nation’s pre-eminent science agency has cast doubt on the environmental benefits claimed under the Morrison government’s main climate policy, raising concerns Australia is overstating its contribution to the fight against global warming. Despite concerns over the scheme, […]
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The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant and most consequential climate variation on the planet. Answering the question of how ENSO may change under greenhouse warming has been plagued for decades by a persistent lack of inter-model […]
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Another summer, another drought. Sydney’s water storages are running on empty, and desalinisation plants are being dusted off. Elsewhere, shrunken rivers, lakes and dams are swollen with rotting fish. Governments, irrigators and environmentalists blame each other for the drought, or just blame […]
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New research in Nature Climate Change suggests droughts may not increase as a result of climate change. This finding resulted from researchers investigating an apparent climate model contradiction that saw climate change projections of the 21st Century produce […]
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“Nice hydrographs! Can you now compare your model to ‘that other hydrology groups model’?” The phd student suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. Her supervisor is asking her to go back into code-hell. That other model is […]
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A million fish have died in the Murray Darling basin, as oxygen levels plummet due to major algal blooms. Experts have warned we could see more mass deaths this week. Fingers have been pointed at poor water management […]
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The widespread deaths of fish in the Darling River – with more predicted to come – has raised serious questions about the allocation of water between agriculture and the environment. Water-hungry crops like cotton and rice are also […]
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The droughts of past decades have burnt the term El Nino into the Australian vocabulary, but after the drought of 2018, perhaps the IOD — short for Indian Ocean Dipole — might also become a household name. A […]
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The CSIRO has found serious flaws in Adani’s key water management plan to protect an ancient springs complex near its proposed Carmichael coal mine, threatening to further delay the controversial project. The ABC can reveal Australia’s peak scientific […]
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Delivery of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been secured with state and federal governments agreeing to terms about how environmental water will be returned to rivers. Up to 450 gigalitres will be returned to the environment, provided it […]
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New present-day and projected future global Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at a 1 km resolution are now freely available via http://www.gloh2o.org/koppen/. The present-day (1980–2016) map uses topographically corrected climatic maps as input. The projected future conditions (2071–2100) are […]
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Australian native plants show that leaf traits can be predicted from the growth environment, but that models should incorporate intra-specific variation. Vegetation models are used to help us understand observed vegetation patterns across the world and the underlying […]
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Water is essential for life. It shapes where and how we live, determines the availability of food and other services that underpin human well-being and is crucial for healthy natural ecosystems. Yet in Australia and globally the water […]
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Clearfell logging in the Thomson Catchment with the Thomson Reservoir in the background. (Source: Chris Taylor) Continued logging in Melbourne’s water catchments could reduce the city’s water supply by the equivalent of 600,000 people’s annual water use every […]
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Rain of biblical proportions, heatwaves, tornadoes and bushfires — extreme weather events happen around the world on a regular basis and Australian scientists are hoping to improve their forecasting with the help of citizen scientists. A new app […]
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Less than 1% of global river flows is used for irrigation, and only 1% of that occurs in Australia. That is the result of a high-resolution global model-data analysis we published recently. The importance of evaporation from wetlands, […]
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It has been well established that rising temperatures are increasing precipitation extremes. It is natural to hence assume that the risk of flooding will also increase. However, contrary to this popular belief most published literature finds more evidence […]
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Australia is facing more severe floods and droughts as rainfall patterns diminish over the past three decades, a new report has warned. Co-author Professor Will Steffen from the Climate Council said the report shows an intensification of drought and […]
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Drought is in the news here in New South Wales, Australia. But how are rainfall, drought and groundwater related? First, we need to understand what drought is. Is it a water shortage? Or a lack of rainfall? Or […]
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Two years ago we were celebrating just about the best year for farmers ever. Now many farmers – particularly in New South Wales and southern Queensland – are in the grip of drought. It underlines just how variable […]
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