Climate Projections Research Scientist

Duty statement

1. Analyse historical cyclone data to develop statistical models of cyclone behaviour.
2. Analyse global climate simulations to understand the processes controlling regional cyclone behaviour and their likely changes.
3. Contribute to the validation, design and running of the hydrodynamic model experiments of extreme sea level events.
4. Contribute to the statistical analysis of model simulations.
5. Communicate results in technical reports and scientific journals as well as through conferences and stakeholder meetings.
6. Contribute to development of external funding opportunities for this research area.
7. Contribute to meeting program and divisional objectives as required.

Additional Position Information

The Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) is part of the Australian Government’s International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative to meet high priority climate change adaptation needs in vulnerable countries in our region.  The PCCSP will provide improved climate change science information for planners and decision makers in the Pacific and East Timor.

The lead science agencies for the PCCSP will be the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO through their research partnership in The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research. The Centre will provide a collaborative research environment for developing the PCCSP with countries in the region, regional organisations, other international science agencies and Australian universities. 

The PCCSP provides a strategic framework for climate change research in the Pacific and East Timor through four research components:

• Recent and current climate and trends to underpin improved projections of future climate change (Component 1);
• Major regional climate phenomena (South Pacific Convergence Zone, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the monsoon) which drive seasonal and year-to-year variations in rainfall, winds and tropical cyclones (Component 2);
• Regional and country level climate projections through more detailed climate projections and fine-resolution modelling (Component 3); and
• Ocean processes including sea level rise and ocean acidification (Component 4).

The appointee will join the PCCSP component 4 examining regional projections of sea level change and the effects of climate variability and climate change on extreme sea-levels caused by extreme weather events.  The component will also examine the relationship between complex ocean dynamics in the tropical equatorial Pacific and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon and provide improved assessments of how acidification and CO₂ uptake in the region will evolve over the 21st century.