#Climate

Explainer: ocean acidification

The carbon sequestration service provided by the oceans comes at a price. The cost of carbon dioxide uptake is a gradual increase in the acidity levels of the oceans, which could have serious impacts on marine life.

The good-news El Niño story for Western Australia’s oceans

El Niño might provide the coastal waters of Western Australia (WA) with some welcome relief from the heat.

We need to get smarter to save shorebirds from rising seas

Every year five million shorebirds migrate between the Arctic and Australia along a bird superhighway known as the East Asian-Australasian flyway. Coastal development is destroying the tidal flats birds depend on, and sea level rise is emerging as an additional threat. A new artificial intelligence technique offers a conservation solution.

Will last year’s predicted El Niño happen this year?

This time last year we were preparing for a possible El Niño with potentially dire consequences from drought, extreme heat and bushfire in Australia. But then it all just fizzled out. So what happened?

Ocean and climate research has come a long way in thirty years

In 1985, when CSIRO's marine labs were launched, a seven-day weather forecast was little better than chance. Now, thanks to advances in our understanding of the oceans, our predictions are far better.

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.

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.