Climate and meteorology of Earth's polar regions

Prof. Amanda Lynch and Dr Petteri Uotila, School of Geography and Environmental Science.
This project currently explores small (less than 2000km across) cyclones over the Southern Ocean,
which represents an important element in the global circulations of heat and moisture, and therefore  the maintenance of Southern Hemisphere climate. The primary objectives of this project are to advance the understanding of atmospheric processes responsible for the development and decay of small Southern Ocean cyclones, and to explore the interactions between these cyclones and the underlying surface conditions, including sea ice extent, thickness, concentration, motion and temperature. To attain these objectives the researchers in this projects utilise satellite imagery and datasets, archived climate output and run new experiments with a multiprocessor numerical weather prediction model, combined with many pre-existing in-situ observations. In order to accomplish this, the MSG HPC facilities are used to carry out the computational analysis.

A major work carried out previously using the Monash Sun Grid was the dynamical downscaling of global climate model projections over a region covering the metropolitan Melbourne and the South-west Victoria. The downscaling system consisted of an atmospheric circulation model and pre- and postprocessing components of data. The atmospheric model utilises multiple CPUs in parallel, and outputs large amounts of high resolution climate data. High resolution climate data was produced and further utilised as input for different biophysical models ranging from crop yield and land suitability analysis models to ecosystem and carbon flux models. For more information, please consult the Monash Universty Regional Climate Group page, and the Cyclone Study Project  page.

An atmospheric pressure field representing a circulation mode over the Southern Ocean