Award for UNSW climate researcher

July 21, 2008

The Banksia Environmental Foundation has named Professor Matthew England the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Australian Research Award Winner.

He was presented with the $30,000 award on Friday 18 July at the Banksia Awards ceremony held at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Co-director of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), Professor England was recognised for research revealing the link between variations in sea surface temperature and drought cycles for Australia and other Indian and Pacific Ocean rim nations.

Led by Professors Matthew England and Andy Pitman, the CCRC researches the physics of climate variability and climate change, and the ways oceans and terrestrial systems affect climate and rainfall patterns. Understanding the changes in the oceans and the impact they have on rainfall is core to the centre's research agenda.

Professor England's recent projects include measuring rainfall extremes over southwest Western Australia linked to climate variability in the Indian Ocean, and separating natural fluctuations from long-term change in the Southern Ocean.

"England points to warming sea temperatures as an unambiguous consequence of climate change. Increasing greenhouse gas emissions means that a greater fraction of outgoing longwave radiation is trapped by the atmosphere, causing ocean warming, melting ice-caps and rising seas."

The CCRC's study of sea temperature variations is yielding significant benefits, according to England. "In the south-west of Western Australia seasonal rain predictions have improved due to our research linking local rainfall variations to changes in heat circulating in the Indian Ocean. Farmers have taken advantage of the projections, resulting in better cropping outcomes worth hundreds of millions of dollars."

Late last year, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), predicted that production of wheat, beef, dairy items and sugar would fall by about 10 percent by 2030 as temperatures rise and rainfall declines.

By 2050, it warned that the nation's total economic output could have been shaved by as much as five percent as key agricultural exports are slashed by between 15 and 79 percent - placing Australia among the nations worst affected by climate change.

In December last year, Professors England and Pitman spearheaded the "Bali Declaration" at United Nations Climate Conference. Supported by more than 200 scientists from 20 nations, they warned of the need to act immediately to cut greenhouse gas emissions, with a window of 10-15 years for global emissions to peak and decline, and a goal of at least a 50 percent reduction by 2050.

Professor England said he was "delighted" to receive the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Australian Research Award.

"The ultimate goal for any climate scientist is to improve our ability to predict the world's future climate, both global and regional. For Australia, the biggest uncertainty is the future of our rainfall patterns, and how increasing greenhouse gases will change these.

"The work recognised by the Banksia Foundation is helping climate forecasters over in southwest WA by isolating a temperature pattern that precedes unusually dry and wet years. To be directly helping the state's water management and agriculture sectors is very satisfying".

In his acceptance speech, Professor England acknowledged the UNSW Dean of Science, Professor Mike Archer, and the DVC-Research, Professor Les Field, for their work in establishing the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre.

Professor Archer and Professor Field attended the Banksia Awards, which were hosted by celebrity environmentalist, Jamie Durie. Among the guests were Australian Deputy Prime Minister The Hon Julia Gillard MP and Federal Environment Minister, The Hon Peter Garrett MP.

Professor England holds a prestigious Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship, one of more than two-dozen scholarships and awards over the past two decades, and has received government grants totalling millions of dollars.

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