Magnetic minerals are almost ubiquitous in nature, which means magnetic techniques can be used to understand Earth’s magnetic field and deep-Earth dynamo processes, and act as proxies for system processes in palaeoclimate, paleoceanography, pollution tracing, and archaeology.

Changes in mass balance (or the amount of ice that has melted) can be measured using space-geodetic techniques that detect variations in the Earth's gravity field and changes in ice height. Both satellite altimetry (used to measure ice topography heights) and GRACE (measures changes in potential) are sensitive to...

This project addresses the pressing need to understand the growing disequilibrium between today’s fast climate changes and slow ice-volume adjustments, which is significant because this is a key determinant for potential acceleration of sea-level rise. This is a major concern to society, because climate change and...

Signals transmitted from satellites orbiting the Earth are delayed as they pass through the troposphere of the Earth. This is measurable by GPS and so it is possible to measure how much water vapour is actually in the atmosphere using GPS. This is a new area of research that will involve the student learning about...

The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica, dividing the polar regions from the warm tropical ocean. It is home to the world's strongest ocean current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and is the primary location where ancient, deep ocean water is upwelled to the surface.  The Southern Ocean controls the natural...

The Southern Ocean is a key contributor to global climate. It regulates the absorption of CO2 into the ocean, plays a key role in ocean heat uptake and most likely influenced abrupt climate variability in the past. However, the processes that limit Southern Ocean circulation occur at very fine scales,...

The ocean-atmosphere interface is a highly complex and extremely important part of the climate system. The dynamics and thermodynamics of the sea surface govern fluxes of heat, momentum and CO2 between the atmosphere...

Understanding present-day melting patterns of polar ice caps and the contribution to present-day sea level variations requires first unravelling the puzzle of how the continents are still adjusting after the melting that has occurred since the Last Glacial Maximum around 10,000 years ago. This is a complicated...

Understanding present-day melting patterns of polar ice caps and the contribution to present-day sea level variations requires first unravelling the puzzle of how the continents are still adjusting after the melting that has occurred since the Last Glacial Maximum around 10,000 years ago. This is a complicated...

Figure 1. The tropical waters around Indonesia are an important source region for Australia’s rainfall.
The warm tropical waters around Indonesia are an important source of rainfall for Australia. When the temperature of the water in this area is warmer than usual Australia receives more rain...

With the onset of warmer global temperatures, an increase in precipitation is predicted for low-latitude regions of northern Australia, while the southern parts are predicted to become drier. Water is a critical resource, yet little is currently known about the actual amount of groundwater available, let alone how...

Tide gauges are used to measure the rate of change of the ocean surface relative to the land (relative sea level). The vertical movement of the tide gauge itself needs to be considered before such observations can be used to estimate variations in regional or global sea level. Space-geodetic techniques such as the...

Paleogeographic reconstructions indicate that parts of the Australian continent have been exposed above sea level for hundreds of millions of years. Paleomagnetic dating of giant weathering profiles (up to 100 m deep) in open pit mines reveals three major periods of deep oxidation: Late Cenozoic (20 Ma to present...