Hobart

Seminar Abstract

Friday 4 April 2008, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Neil Holbrook
Associate Professor in Climatology and Climate Change
School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania

Understanding mechanisms to improve climate prediction

Choosing an appropriate model for a particular marine science application is not necessarily easy. Considerations in this choice include: identifying and resolving the processes that are important and/or that we want to understand, the relevant time and space scales of these processes, the modelling approach/philosophy (e.g., conceptual, statistical, deterministic (most commonly, numerical models)), model complexity (a hierarchy from simple box models through to state-of-the-art eddy-resolving ocean general circulation models), and available computer resources. Simple to intermediate-complexity ocean-atmosphere models can be very useful in understanding the important mechanisms that underpin climate variability and change. This presentation will discuss findings from recent observational and intermediate-complexity modelling studies within Neil’s group investigating mechanisms of Pacific Ocean climate variability. We find that while Rossby-Kelvin wave dynamics plays a critical role in interannual to decadal scale climate variability in the Pacific Ocean, an understanding and appreciation for the role that geographic variation in the first baroclinic mode (gravity) wave speeds plays is essential in order to more accurately time climate changes in this region. The role and relative importance of extra-equatorial Rossby waves and higher order modes will also be discussed.

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Bernadette Sloyan, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5152
Thomas Kunz, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5076
Natalie Dowling, (Fisheries Modelling) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5148
Jillian Enraght-Moony, (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5320
Jess Tyler, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 2265
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 28/03/08