Please see below for a chronological list of my grant funded research projects as a Chief Investigator:
2020 ARC Linkage Project: “An Australian Consortium for Eddy-Resolving Global Ocean-Sea Ice Modelling”.
Ocean and sea ice models are used for predicting future ocean and climate states, and for climate process research. This project aims to bring the next generation of ocean and sea ice models to Australia and configure the models for our local priorities, with the ultimate goal of creating a new ocean-sea ice model for Australia that will include coupled surface waves and biogeochemistry. The models will be optimised and evaluated on Australian facilities, and will be released to the community under an open-source license. These developments underpin future operational needs, including ocean state forecasting, sea ice forecasts, wave forecasts, decadal climate prediction, future climate projections and climate process studies. 2020 ARC Special Research Initiative: “Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science”.
The Centre will revolutionise predictions of the future of East Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Changes in the Antarctic will be profoundly costly to Australia, including sea-level and fisheries impacts; but the speed and scale of future change remains poorly understood. A new national-scale and interdisciplinary Centre is required to understand the complex interactions of the ocean, ice sheets, atmosphere and ecosystems that will govern Antarctica’s future. The Centre will combine new field data with innovative models to address Australia’s Antarctic science priorities, train graduate students, develop leaders, engage the public, and enable major economic benefit as Australia adapts to climate change in the coming years and beyond. 2019 ARC Future Fellowship: “The Antarctic Slope Current in a warming climate”.
Melting Antarctic ice sheets are responsible for 28% of global sea level rise in recent decades, and can contribute more than 1 metre of sea level rise by year 2100, and a staggering 15 metres by 2500. Increased glacial melt rates are best understood by studying changes in the circulation of water around the Antarctic coastline. The combination of physical processes that must be resolved in this region places a high demand on ocean observations and modelling systems. This project uses a series of high-resolution ocean and ice experiments, cross-validated with observations, to provide a deeper understanding of how waters at the Antarctic margin respond to both anthropogenic and natural climate forcing. 2019 ARC Discovery Project: “Risks of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic continental margin”.
The risk of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic margin is profound, with marine terminating ice-sheets locking up many meters of potential global sea-level rise. Change has already been detected via deep ocean warming, landice melt, and ice shelf collapse. Yet this region remains poorly understood, with only limited observations due to both a harsh environment and a lack of standard data streams (e.g. satellite altimetry and Argo floats). This study will use high-resolution global and regional ocean/sea-ice models to examine mechanisms for rapid warming of Antarctic continental shelf waters via both large-scale drivers and fine-scale processes, including mesoscale eddies, tide-topography interactions, and bottom boundary flows. 2016 ARC Linkage Project: “An Australian Consortium for Eddy-Resolving Global Ocean-Sea Ice Modelling”.
This project aims to develop a new world-class global ocean-sea ice model framework through a nationwide consortium. The resulting high resolution models will improve the representation of critically important processes. These models will provide the foundation upon which the next decade of Australian ocean-sea ice modeling capacity can be built, leading to improved ocean and sea ice prediction, ocean reanalyses, and climate projections, enhancing Australia's capacity to predict the ocean state on timescales of days to decades. This will yield efficiencies in shipping, marine search and rescue and naval operations, and will increase the accuracy of projected future changes in climate, sea level, ocean ecosystems and the cryosphere. 2015 ARC Discovering Early Career Researchers Award: “Dynamics of Southern Ocean abyssal flows”
Changes in the Southern Ocean abyssal circulation are linked with dramatic climate events, yet the associated dynamics are poorly understood. This project aims to determine the fundamental dynamic processes driving abyssal flows, and diagnose impacts of recent and projected climate change. The project also aims to bridge the large gap between conceptual and observational understanding of this vital limb of the ocean's overturning circulation. A significant innovation is that it will be the first study of the Southern Ocean abyss using realistic global-scale models capable of simulating all the key dynamic processes. Results will guide Southern Ocean observation programs, explain observed changes, and reduce uncertainties in climate projections. 2015 ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Project:
“Connecting big data with high performance computing for climate science”.2012 ARCCSS Early Career Research Grant:
“Southward wind shifts in the classic recharge oscillator theory for the termination of ENSO events”.2012 Australian Academy of Science France/Australia Science International Collaboration Grant:
“Development of high-resolution global ocean simulations: an assessment and optimization of French and Australian modeling efforts”.2005 National Science and Engineering Foundation Grant, Canada for PhD Research.
