2015

A long view of ecosystem health in the Murray-Darling Basin

New research has examined over 100 years of historical data on Murray-Darling Basin ecosystems to provide an indication of long-term trends in the Basin’s ecological condition.

Cowabunga! Tracking our teenage turtles

The Dampier Peninsula on the western edge of Western Australia’s Kimberley region is Bardi Jawi country. It’s also green turtle […]

Explainer: the models that help us predict climate change

What will the weather be like next week, next season, or by the end of the century? In the absence of a second Earth to use in an experiment, global weather and climate model simulations are the only tools we have to answer these questions.

Farming carbon can be a win for wildlife, if the price is right

Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are two of the greatest environmental issues of our time. Is it possible to address both of those problems at once?

Five seasons in Australia? Meet sprinter and sprummer

It’s autumn – or so you may think. But did autumn really start on 1 March? And why do we observe four seasons, each exactly three months long?

Warmer, wetter, hotter, drier? How to choose between climate futures

Some climate models show that, under high greenhouse gas emissions, Sydney could be up to 4.8C hotter and have 20% less rainfall by 2090. Others show the Harbour City could warm only by 2.3C and become 25% wetter. How do we deal with such large uncertainty?

A new website shows how global warming could change your town

What will Australia look like in 2050? Even if we significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as under an intermediate scenario, Melbourne’s annual average climate could look more like that of Adelaide’s, and Adelaide’s climate could be more like that of Griffith in New South Wales.

Paul Fraser: the Air Man of Cape Grim

Paul Fraser looks at things that aren’t there, and at invisible things. He came up with the idea of having a library of air. But it’s not because he’s a bit odd – he’s not. He’s doing these things as part of some vitally important science.

Despite decades of deforestation, the Earth is getting greener

A new investigation of satellite records reveals that the Earth is getting greener, despite ongoing deforestation in Indonesia and South America.