Scheduled downtime:

None

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Unscheduled Outages:

None known

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Bugs:

1. Thresholds Calculator downloads: Downloads from the Thresholds Calculator are currently failing. A fix is in progress.
2. Climate Futures Detailed Projections: A small number of models are failing to display results for evapotranspiration and/or windspeed for certain settings. We are working to resolve the issue.
3. Map Explorer: Related to the above problem, displaying evapotranspiration or windspeed data from some models (certain settings only) fails to generate the Contextualiser. We are working to resolve the issue.

The Bureau of Meteorology has released the Annual Climate Statement for 2019. The key messages are:

1. Australia's warmest year on record, with the annual national mean temperature 1.52 °C above average
2. Both mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures above average for all States and the Northern Territory
3. Annual national mean maximum temperature warmest on record (2.09 °C above average)
4. Widespread warmth throughout the year; January, February, March, April, July, October, and December all amongst the ten warmest on record for Australian mean temperature for their respective months
5. Significant heatwaves in January and in December
6. Australia's driest year on record
7. Nationally-averaged rainfall 40% below average for the year at 277.6 mm
8. Rainfall below average for most of Australia
9. Rainfall above average for parts of Queensland's northwest and northern tropics
10. Much of Australia affected by drought, which was especially severe in New South Wales and southern Queensland
11. Widespread severe fire weather throughout the year; national annual accumulated Forest Fire Danger Index highest since 1950, when national records began
12. One of the strongest positive Indian Ocean Dipole events on record; El Niño–Southern Oscillation neutral throughout the year

For more detail, including the summary video, visit http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/aus/

We're very pleased to announce the release of a new set of climate change projections for Victoria: Victorian Climate Projections 2019 (VCP19).

The Victorian Government partnered with CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre to do new high-resolution climate modelling and incorporate these into an updated set of climate projections for Victoria.

The project developed a comprehensive set of 5 km datasets for use in impact/risk assessment. The datasets are accompanied by a set of products designed to build the capacity of state and local government, business and the community to understand and apply climate change data and information.

Find out more here!

If you're looking for examples of climate change impacts assessments, you may find these case studies useful:

1. Hydrology case study
2. Biodiversity case study
3. Human health case study

We're pleased to announce that we've upgraded the Thresholds Calculator.

Version 2.0 brings you:

1. More temperature threshold choices
2. Data on extreme rainfall
3. Data on dry years
4. Localised results on first load

The Climate Change in Australia team would like to wish everyone a relaxing, safe and enjoyable Xmas/New Year break.

We look forward to bringing you some web-tool enhancements, more training opportunities and continuing to support your climate change work in 2019.

Pamphlets for Adaptation Planning

We have developed a set of pamphlets to help decision-makers interpret climate trends data in the various NRM regions. They help decision makers understand the potential changes that may occur and at different time-frames in the future. The pamphlets also offer information on levels of change under different emissions scenarios as well as seasonal changes.

You can access the pamphlets here or from the Publications Library.

Climate Projections for Impact Assessment, 2^nd to 3^rd October, Melbourne

We are pleased to be able to offer another of our two-day intensive course, Climate Projections for Impact Assessment.

What is the course?

Climate projections for impact assessment is a two-day intensive course that takes participants through the process of identifying, understanding and applying climate change projections for impact assessment.

The course, developed by the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in conjunction with the CSIRO Climate Science Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology, consists of eight modules:

1. An overview of the Climate Change in Australia website
2. Climate change science key concepts
3. Understanding internal consistency and the Climate Futures Framework
4. Understanding the Climate Futures matrix
5. Obtaining and understanding summary data
6. Accessing results for multiple variables from individual models
7. Obtaining fit-for-purpose data for impact assessments
8. Putting learning into practice in your own work.

Each module includes discussion sessions and hands-on activities. Participants will be required to complete and submit a short pre-course activity prior to the start of the course.

Who should attend?

This course has been designed for people who have had some experience working on climate change related projects and who need to assess the impacts of the changing climate on their areas of interest. Some familiarity with the concepts of climate change science would be useful.

Cost

Standard registration: $500

Student registration: $250

To register, please email climatefutures@csiro.au

For more information, please visit the NESP ESCC Hub Training page .

The popular Climate Analogues Explorer tool has been updated. The new features are:

1. Initial results upon first view: The tool now displays results as soon as you load the page to get your exploration started. By default, results for 2030 under the high emissions scenario and the 'Maximum Consensus' Climate Future are shown - for either your browser location or Sydney, depending on your settings.
2. Location-aware: if you have permitted location-aware browsing in your web browser, the Analogues Explorer automatically displays results for your location. If you prefer not to have location awareness enabled, you will see results for Sydney.
3. Automatic region selection: in v1.0, you were required to choose the "Cluster" (region) corresponding to your location of interest. This is now set automatically based on the location chosen.
4. New default settings give more refined results: In v1.0, the default settings for locating matching locations used annual temperature and rainfall only. In v1.1, the default settings now include seasonal rainfall differences. This means a more refined match in most situations. Of course, you can still tailor the settings in the Advanced Settings panel (look for the chevron button in the top-right of the map window).
5. Other updates: We've made some minor tweaks to the layout and help text.

We hope you enjoy v1.1.  If you wish to provide feedback or suggestions, please contact us .

Following the success of last year's event, the Actuaries Institute in collaboration with the NESP Earth System and Climate Change (ESCC) Hub will host part two of the Climate Risk Fluency Series on Wednesday 4 April 2018.

The purpose of the series is to bring together leaders in scientific research and business in order to discuss current climate risk issues affecting businesses today, part two of the series will focus on risks relating to changes in the frequency of extreme heat including:

1. Plenary 1: Heatwaves - The impact of more frequent events
2. Plenary 2: Bushfire risk - Future changes and quantifying the increase in cost
3. Plenary 3: Mitigation - Reducing heat in urban areas
4. Plenary 4: The impact of the changing frequency of heatwaves on mortgage risk (workshop)

The Organising Committee has brought together an excellent range of  industry experts from the University of New South Wales, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Finity, Monash University and Climate Policy Research.

For more information and/or to register, please visit the Actuaries Institute CFRS page .

We've been overwhelmed by the response to our forthcoming Climate Projections for Impact Assessment courses in May and September .  Both courses are fully booked.

If you missed out, please add your name to one of the waitlists.  We are exploring opportunities to offer more courses in the near future and will give priority to those on the waitlists.

Thanks

Registration is now open for our two-day intensive Climate projections for impact assessment course in Melbourne. We have scheduled two offerings – 15–16 May and 5–5 September.

The course, developed by the NESP Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in collaboration with the CSIRO Climate Science Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology, is designed for people who have had some experience working on climate change related projects and who need to assess the impacts of the changing climate on their areas of interest.

For full details and registration, please visit the course page on the ESCC Hub website .

Please note, courses are strictly limited to 20 participants, so register now to secure your place.

Did you know there is Online Training available on CCIA?  There are four modules and we've recently updated Module 4: The Climate Futures Framework.  Please take a look!

The four modules are:

1. The Climate System
2. Climate Projections Science
3. Using Projections Data
4. The Climate Futures Framework (recently updated)

There is also an Online Quiz if you want to test your skill!

A big thank you to everyone who participated in our user survey. The survey is now closed and a summary of the results will be published here shortly.

Best wishes from the CCIA Team

Australia’s Changing Climate is a brochure that summarises how our climate has changed in recent decades, how it may change in future, potential impacts and solutions.

Drawing on the wealth of understanding underpinning the 2015 region-based projections, this brochure gives the ‘whole of Australia’ perspective. The brochure is designed to be easy to read, with extensive use of illustrations and figures to convey the information.

Download a PDF copy from the Publications Library

The Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO have released the fourth, biennial State of the Climate report. It draws on the latest monitoring, science and projections information to describe variability and changes in Australia's climate, and how it is likely to change in the future.

Observations and climate modelling paint a consistent picture of ongoing, long-term climate change interacting with underlying natural variability.

Read the details online or download a copy from the BoM website

As previously indicated, we have switched to a new user sign-in and account management system.

If you are a registered user, you should have received an email from us with instructions for switching your account over.

If you did not receive the email for some reason, please follow the instructions below. However, if the email address you used to register is no longer current, you will need to do a new registration.

If your registered email is still valid:

1. 1. Go to http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/account/login/
2. 2. Click on the "Forgot your password? Reset it" link (note that your old password will not work).
3. 3. You will receive an email with a link to activate the password reset process. Follow the link by clicking on it (or copying & pasting it into your browser) and follow the instructions.

If your registered email is no longer valid:

1. 1. Go to http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/account/login/
2. 2. Click on the "Don't have an account? Register" link at the bottom of the page.
3. 3. Complete the form by entering a valid email address and setting a password.
4. 4. When you click 'Submit' an email will be sent to the address you entered.
5. 5. Check your email for the message "Account Activation on Climate Change In Australia".
6. 6. Follow the link by clicking on it (or copying & pasting it into your browser).
7. 7. You will see a page confirming your account activation. Click the link on this page to sign in using the email and password you set in step 3.
8. 8. Complete the Registration form, tick the box to indicate your acceptance of the Terms of Use. Clicking on the 'Save' button will complete the registration process and take you to the Climate Change in Australia (aka CCIA) home page. Happy browsing!

If you haven any trouble, contact us at climatefutures@csiro.au

Best wishes,
The CCIA Team

Please check out the latest addition to the Climate Campus: new and/or updated guidance on Using Climate Projections for impact assessment. The new material covers:

1. Approaches to Climate Change Impact Assessment
2. Using climate projections
3. Application-ready data  - what it is and how to decide which data are appropriate
4. Regional projections data pathway  - a flowchart showing decision pathways for choosing regional datasets
5. Case studies - hypothetical case studies on biodiversity , human health and water resources .

The NESP Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub is committed to using our understanding of Australia’s past, present and future climate to supply useful and accessible climate information for Australia. The research will help address major challenges for water, food, natural resources, coasts, natural disasters and greenhouse gases. There are 11 projects , one of which will maintain and improve the Climate Change in Australia website and deliver better climate products and services – see http://nespclimate.com.au/regional-projections/

The ACT Climate Change Adaptation Strategy - Living with a warming climate' is focused on five key sectors – disaster and emergency management, community health and wellbeing, settlements and infrastructure, water, and natural resources and ecosystems. It and draws on the regional climate projections jointly developed by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology in 2015.

A recent journal paper that might be of interest: Whetton et al. (2016) 'A short history of the future: Australian Climate Projections 1987-2015'

22nd December 2015

Today we added a new page within the Publications Library section of the website. This page provides links to published peer-reviewed journal papers detailing the scientific research that underpins aspects of the 2015 Climate Change in Australia projections.

Relevant publications will be added over time and whenever possible we will provide a direct download (copyright provisions permitting).

Take a look a the new Journal Papers page.