Climate change science

• Overview
• Climate change projections and scenarios
  • State of the Climate
  • Projected impacts
  • Scenarios

Overview

There are three possible aspects to climate change that engineering practioners might need to be familiar with:

• The way the climate is changing, including what climate change is, how the Earth's climate system works, the mechanisms by which it is changing, and the difference between climate change and climate variability.
• Projections and scenarios that describe how the climate might change in the future, links to which are given on the rest of this page.
• The science behind the climate change projections, including the climate models used to produce projections, their accuracy and the substance of existing disputes about the causes of climate change.

Climate change projections and scenarios

Climate change projections and scenarios are continually being updated by a wide range of agencies. For detailed information on Australian climate change projections and scenarios, refer to the following websites:

State of the Climate

State of the Climate reports are produced jointly by the CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and show how the Australian climate is currently changing:

• State of the Climate report, at http://www.csiro.au/resources/State-of-the-Climate.html
• Climate Snapshot, updating the most recent State of the Climate report, at http://www.csiro.au/resources/State-of-the-Climate-Snapshot.html

Projected impacts

1. Australian national and regional climate change projected impacts

• An overall summary of climate change projections for Australia is contained in the report Climate change in Australia: observed changes and projections produced by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology in 2007. This is available at http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/
• Summary national and regional projections are available from the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/impacts/national-impacts.aspx
• Impacts of climate change on Australia's coasts, including a section on impacts on the built environment and sections specfic to each state, can be found in the DCCEE report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/publications/coastline/climate-change-risks-to-australias-coasts.aspx

2. Industry based climate change projections

Summaries of climate change’s potential impacts and costs on the Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources industries are also available from the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/impacts/national-impacts.aspx

3. State-provided regional climate change projected impacts

• Victorian Climate Change Program, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment http://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/greenhouse/wcmn302.nsf/LinkView/EB9215BD28EB34D3CA257199001712CBDD9889C3EA78A7C8CA25702D001AF7DA
• New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/climateChange/nswreports.htm
• South Australian Sustainability and Climate Change Division, Department of the Premier and Cabinet http://www.climatechange.sa.gov.au/index.php?page=climate-change-in-sa
• Western Australian Office of Climate Change,Department of Environment and Conservation https://www.dec.wa.gov.au/our-environment/climate-change/the-greenhouse-effect-in-wa.html
• Queensland Office of Climate Change, Environmental Protection Agency http://www.climatechange.qld.gov.au/about/projections.html
• Northern Territory Climate Change site, Department of the Chief Minister http://www.dcm.nt.gov.au/dcm/legislation/climatechange/impacts.html/
• Tasmanian Climate Change Office, Department of Premier and Cabinet http://www.climatechange.tas.gov.au/climate_class_room/what_does_this_mean_for_tasmania

4. Customised projections

Organisations can generate their own climate change projections via http://www.csiro.au/ozclim/home.do

Scenarios

1. Australian and regional climate change scenarios for risk assessment

Australian scenarios are contained in the 2006 report Climate change scenarios for initial assessment of risk in accordance with risk management guidelines. This report is available from the Australian Government Deparment of Climate Change at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/impacts/publications/risk-scenarios.html

2. National organisations

• The Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) at http://www.climatechange.gov.au
• The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts at http://www.environment.gov.au/index.html
• CSIRO at http://www.csiro.au/science/ClimateWeather.html - General site or http://www.csiro.au/org/ClimateAdaptationFlagship.html - Climate Adaptation Flagship program
• Bureau of Meteorology at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/
• Australian Security Research Centre (ASRC) climate change adaptation program at http://www.climatechangeadaptation.org.au
• The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility at http://www.nccarf.edu.au/

3. Australian State-based agencies

• Victorian Climate Change Program, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/index.html
• New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change www.environment.nsw.gov.au
• South Australian Sustainability and Climate Change Division, Department of the Premier and Cabinet www.climatechange.sa.gov.au
• Western Australian Office of Climate Change, Department of Environment and Conservation http://portal.environment.wa.gov.au
• Queensland Office of Climate Change, Environmental Protection Agency www.climatechange.qld.gov.au
• Northern Territory Climate Change site, Department of the Chief Minister www.dcm.nt.gov.au/dcm/legislation/climatechange/
• Tasmanian Climate Change Office, Department of Premier and Cabinet www.climatechange.tas.gov.au