Helen A. Cleugh FTSE is an atmospheric scientist. [1] She is currently the Chief Research Scientist in Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (Oceans and Atmosphere) where she leads the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub. [2]
Cleugh's research focuses on observing and predicting atmospheric, climate and marine systems and determining how they interact with human activities. [2]
Cleugh received her doctorate in Geography in 1987 from the University of British Columbia, and was a lecturer at Macquarie University School of Earth Sciences in Sydney from 1987 to 1994. [3] Cleugh has been a Scientist with the CSIRO since 1994 [4] where she has been working Earth systems research capabilities and climate modeling. [5]
Her research concentration is on interactions between climate and land surfaces, with a focus on the amount of carbon dioxide is taken up by ecosystems. [6]
Cleugh was the Deputy Director of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR) from 2007 to 2009. [5] She then went on to lead CMAR Climate and Atmosphere Theme where in collaboration with CAWCR, her team developed a long-term observation study on aerosols to predict the future trends of Australia's rainfall. [4] Speaking of the work she leads at CSIRO in developing climate models, in 2014 she said:
Because we’ve developed it here in Australia, it does as good as job as we can of representing factors that are important for Australia such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation-type phenomena, as well as representing Australian ecosystems and the oceanic systems that are around Australia. [6]
Cleugh was an Erskine Fellow at the Geographical Department in the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 2002. [7]
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research.
There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports.
The Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) is a global and multidisciplinary research project dedicated to understanding the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere. Further, SOLAS seeks to link ocean-atmosphere interactions with climate and people. Achievements of these goals are essential in order to understand and quantify the role that ocean-atmosphere interactions play in the regulation of climate and global change.
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research.
The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). CIRES scientists study the Earth system, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, and communicate these findings to decision makers, the scientific community, and the public.
The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is an organisation that seeks to quantify global greenhouse gas emissions and their causes. Established in 2001, its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — and complementary efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.
Steve Hatfield Dodds is an Australian philosophical economist, with notable work in the social cost of economic decision-making and particularly sustainable development and the economic impact of climate change.
According to non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace and global scientific organisations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the frequency and intensity of disasters brought about by greenhouse gas emissions and climate change will grow rapidly in the world. The risks are particularly severe in some regions of Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales. The Department of Climate Change said in its Climate Change Impacts and Costs fact sheet: "...ecologically rich sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Wet Tropics, Kakadu Wetlands, Australian Alpine areas, south-western Australia and sub- Antarctic islands are all at risk, with significant loss of biodiversity projected to occur by 2020". It also said: "Very conservatively, 90 Australian animal species have so far been identified at risk from climate change, including mammals, insects, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians from all parts of Australia." Australia is already the driest populated continent in the world.
The Australian Continuous Plankton Recorder (AusCPR) survey is a joint project of the CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division, DEWHA, to monitor plankton communities as a guide to the health of Australia's oceans.
A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range. Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect on planets. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (H
2O), carbon dioxide (CO
2), methane (CH
4), nitrous oxide (N
2O), and ozone (O3). Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F), rather than the present average of 15 °C (59 °F). The atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain greenhouse gases.
Garth William Paltridge is a retired Australian atmospheric physicist. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and Emeritus Professor and Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Oceans Studies (IASOS), University of Tasmania.
Megan Elizabeth Clark is an Australian geologist and business executive, former director of the CSIRO, and head of the Australian Space Agency.
The RV Southern Surveyor was an Australian marine research vessel. It was owned and managed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), with its operations funded by the Australian Government to undertake oceanographic, geoscience, ecosystem and fisheries research. It was built in the UK in 1972 and acquired by CSIRO in 1988. It was replaced in 2014 by the RV Investigator.
RV Investigator is an Australian marine research vessel which was designed by RALion. It was constructed in Singapore and is owned and managed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), through Australia's Marine National Facility, with its operations funded by the Australian Government to undertake oceanographic, geoscience, ecosystem and fisheries research. In May 2009 the Australian Government allocated A$120 million for a new ocean-going research vessel to replace the 1972 built RV Southern Surveyor, which has served as the principal research ship for Australia's Marine National Facility since 1988. RV Investigator was transferred from Sembawang Shipyard to the delivery crew on 5 August 2014 for pre-departure testing and setup. The vessel arrived at its home port of Hobart on 9 September 2014 and was officially launched on 12 December 2014.
In earth science, global surface temperature (GST) is calculated by averaging the temperature at the surface of the sea and air temperature over land. In technical writing, scientists call long-term changes in GST global cooling or global warming. Periods of both have happened regularly throughout earth's history.
Julie Michelle Arblaster is an Australian scientist. She is a Professor in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University. Arblaster was a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report.
Catherine Patricia Foley is an Australian physicist. As of November 2020 Foley is the Chief Scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and from January 2021, Chief Scientist of Australia.
Susan Elizabeth Anne Wijffels is an Australian oceanographer employed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); she formerly worked from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. Wijffels specialises in quantifying global ocean change over the past 50 years, including its anatomy and drivers. She is recognised for her international and national leadership of the Global Ocean Observing System. She is regarded as an expert in the Indonesian Throughflow and its role in global climate.
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) is one of the current 8 Business Units of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's largest government-supported science research agency.