Weather patterns

A sun on the horizon with electricity pylon and cables in the foreground

An El Niño looms over Australia’s stressed electricity system – and we must plan for the worst

09 Jun 2023

The likely El Niño is bad timing for the electricity sector, and means Australians may face supply disruptions and volatile prices.

satellite image of bushfire smoke off eastern australia

Smoke from the Black Summer fires could have made the triple La Nina more likely

11 May 2023

Could plumes of smoke from the Black Summer of fire have cooled regions of the Pacific and triggered a La Niña? New research suggests it’s possible.

Two stalagmites in Yonderup Cave, Yanchep, Western Australia

‘Like a metronome’: stalagmite growth found to be surprisingly constant

23 Apr 2021

To look inside a stalagmite is to look back in time tens of thousands of years to see how the Earth’s climate patterns have shaped the world we live in today.

To understand how storms batter Australia, we need a fresh deluge of data

14 Nov 2016

Improving our understanding of severe storms requires a lot of data but research resources are limited and spread across many different storm types. Christopher J. White, Jason Evans and Kevin Walsh think citizen scientists could help fill the gaps.