Research
The program of research for Phase 2 of SEACI builds on the outcomes of Phase 1, in which progress was made on understanding climate impacts and developing predictions for the region.
The research program includes studies of climate variations on time scales from weeks to decades. This range of scales is relevant to the stakeholders, which include water managers and policy makers. Issues on short-term time scales (weeks and months) arise in the operational management of water, while horizons for planning and policy for water availability are of a long-term nature (years and decades).
Theme 1
Research in Theme 1 will lead to a better understanding of the factors that drive changes in both the climate and streamflow within the region. The projects will aim to understand and attribute observed climate change in south-eastern Australia, as well as diagnose the relationships between climate variability and the water balance.
Theme 2
Improving future hydroclimate projections for south-eastern Australia will be a major objective of Theme 2. Projects under this theme will define appropriate scenarios for modelling future climate and determine an approach for generating future climate series for driving hydrological models. Further, this theme will aim to describe hydrologic sensitivity to climate variation and improve hydrological modelling, with a view to producing future hydrological projections.
Theme 3
Theme 3 will explore predictability of streamflow in south-eastern Australia, aiming to develop experimental products for prediction of streamflow. It will assess the skill of models to produce useful predictions of streamflow. Additionally, it will further develop modelling approaches and assess the utility of seasonal forecasts, to improve the skill of hydrological modelling for south-eastern Australia.