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Research: Atmospheric sciences
CCRC personnel aim to better understand atmospheric processes and large-scale dynamics. One reason is to reveal the behaviour of a fascinating and important component of the planet, about which many things remain surprisingly mysterious. The work also helps to develop better models for weather and climate prediction, of clear importance for agriculture, power and other industries, water management, aviation, tourism and of course the general public. Achieving a fundamental understanding based on sound mathematical and physical principles has become ever more pressing in light of climate change, which will cause future weather and climate patterns to be different from past ones, making it harder to get by on empirical "rules of thumb."
Our investigations range from questions of global importance to particular issues affecting Australia. Projects ongoing at the CCRC vary, but an area of current focus is the factors that control Australian rainfall and drought. This includes study of the physics of storms and clouds and how they interact with
climate, atmosphere-ocean dynamics and teleconnections to regional rainfall variability and change associated with climate patterns like El-Nino and the "Indian Ocean Dipole," and regional modeling of the Australian climate system. We also study changes in atmospheric extremes such as heat waves and heavy precipitation events, and investigate theories to explain these changes.
CCRC academic staff currently active in this area of research
CCRC research staff currently active in this area of research
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Chinese Academy of Sciences visits CCRC
07 May 2012
A delegation from the Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research For Temperate East Asia (RCE-TEA), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science recently visited the CCRC/CoECSS. |
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Willem's mystery interval study awarded CCRC prize
27 April 2012
Willem Huiskamp’s Honours research project on the “Mystery Interval” during the last deglaciation has won the 2011 Silicon Graphics Prize for Climate Research Using High Performance Computing. |
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Detailed study reveals workings of major oceanic pathway
16 April 2012
Researchers from the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) and CSIRO have used a state-of-the-art ocean model to conduct the first detailed investigation of oceanic water flow between the Pacific and Indian Oceans via the south of Australia. |
More news...

The Copenhagen Diagnosis
On 25th November 2009 members of The Climate Change Research Centre, as part of a group of 26 international climate scientists, were part of a major international release of a new report synthesizing the latest climate research to emerge since the last IPCC Assessment Report of 2007.
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The Big Engine 2: oceans and weather
Federation Fellow and 2008 Eureka Prize winner, Professor Matthew England of CCRC, on the latest research into the role oceans play on weather.
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The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers
Co-authored by Professor Steven Sherwood and Professor Matt England of CCRC, this new Academy of Science report aims to summarise and clarify the current understanding of the science of climate change for non-specialist readers.
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The Big Engine 1: oceans and weather
Federation Fellow and 2008 Eureka Prize winner, Professor Matthew England of CCRC, on the latest research into the role oceans play on weather.
Read more...


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