Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia

Australia’s large extent and relatively low population density, as well as its range of climates, means that it is heavily dependent upon satellite observations to identify the extent and magnitude of climate change. This work examines three types of satellite missions that are used to assess differ...

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Main Authors:	Fleming, Kevin, Awange, Joseph, Kuhn, Michael, Featherstone, Will
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften 2010
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20794

id	curtin-20.500.11937-20794
recordtype	eprints
spelling	curtin-20.500.11937-207942017-01-30T12:21:13Z Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia Fleming, Kevin Awange, Joseph Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will Australia’s large extent and relatively low population density, as well as its range of climates, means that it is heavily dependent upon satellite observations to identify the extent and magnitude of climate change. This work examines three types of satellite missions that are used to assess different aspects of climate change. The first involves the use of radio occultation measurements based on signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) spacecraft made by low-Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites to identify changes in the height of the tropopause, a sensitive indicator of climate change owing to its response to temperature changes in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The second deals with rainfall over Australia, as measured by the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM), in conjunction with other satellite- and ground-based observations. Such observations are invaluable, given the scarcity of ground-based observations over vast areas of Australia.While a comparison between the TRMM product and existing ground-based data is very good, there appears to be a decrease in the correlation between datasets, the reason for which is still being investigated. Finally, we examine the state of terrestrial water storage over Australia as determined from variations in the regional gravity field as measured by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin-satellite mission. The loss of substantial volumes of ground water from the Murray-Darling River Basin in the southeast corner of the continent is very apparent, as is an increase over the northern parts of the country. Together, such satellite missions provide a continental-scale picture of climate change over Australia, with temperature and rainfall variations, as well as water resources, able to be monitored, providing valuable information to natural resource managers and climate modellers who endeavour to predict future changes. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20794 Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften fulltext
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Curtin University Malaysia
building	Curtin Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
description	Australia’s large extent and relatively low population density, as well as its range of climates, means that it is heavily dependent upon satellite observations to identify the extent and magnitude of climate change. This work examines three types of satellite missions that are used to assess different aspects of climate change. The first involves the use of radio occultation measurements based on signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) spacecraft made by low-Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites to identify changes in the height of the tropopause, a sensitive indicator of climate change owing to its response to temperature changes in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The second deals with rainfall over Australia, as measured by the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM), in conjunction with other satellite- and ground-based observations. Such observations are invaluable, given the scarcity of ground-based observations over vast areas of Australia.While a comparison between the TRMM product and existing ground-based data is very good, there appears to be a decrease in the correlation between datasets, the reason for which is still being investigated. Finally, we examine the state of terrestrial water storage over Australia as determined from variations in the regional gravity field as measured by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin-satellite mission. The loss of substantial volumes of ground water from the Murray-Darling River Basin in the southeast corner of the continent is very apparent, as is an increase over the northern parts of the country. Together, such satellite missions provide a continental-scale picture of climate change over Australia, with temperature and rainfall variations, as well as water resources, able to be monitored, providing valuable information to natural resource managers and climate modellers who endeavour to predict future changes.
format	Journal Article
author	Fleming, Kevin Awange, Joseph Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will
spellingShingle	Fleming, Kevin Awange, Joseph Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
author_facet	Fleming, Kevin Awange, Joseph Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will
author_sort	Fleming, Kevin
title	Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
title_short	Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
title_full	Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
title_fullStr	Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
title_full_unstemmed	Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia
title_sort	satellite observations for identifying continental-scale climate change over australia
publisher	Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften
publishDate	2010
url	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20794
first_indexed	2018-09-06T20:13:01Z
last_indexed	2018-09-06T20:13:01Z
_version_	1610890379938234368

Satellite Observations for Identifying Continental-Scale Climate Change over Australia

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