Climate & Weather Impacts

CSIRO Plant Industry conducts research to promote profitable and sustainable agrifood, fibre and horticultural industries, develop new plant products and improve natural resource management.

CSIRO Land and Water is researching ways to better manage Australia's land and water resources, and improve the quality of our natural and built environments.

CSIRO has built a bushfire wind tunnel to research how bushfires spread and improve the safety and fire-fighting capabilities of Australian communities.

After eight years of near-zero growth in atmospheric methane concentrations, levels have again started to rise.

This project is identifying the biophysical, economic and social opportunities for remote communities relating to land management for greenhouse gas abatement, with a focus on fire management in tropical savannas.

CSIRO's Bushfire Dynamics and Applications group develops tools and models to better understand bushfire behaviour and to protect lives and property.

We focus on finding new, integrated ways to manage our water supply and water resources issues. This includes land use change, salinity, climate change, groundwater extraction and drainage schemes. 

CSIRO is developing tools to help catchment managers ensure the on-going environmental integrity of rivers, estuaries and floodplains.

Next time you turn off an outdoor light, look more closely at the moths around it. You’ll often see pretty colours and unusual markings, but what you won’t see is the essential role they played in preventing bushfires, even before they hatched. This vodcast explains the secret life of Australia’s moths. (3:06)

How do you know if a natural disaster will destroy your home? In this video podcast, find out how CSIRO technology can map the potential path of a tsunami or volcanic explosion. (1:18)

CSIRO Black Mountain laboratories in Canberra have facilities servicing insect, plant, atmospheric, land and water science.

Discover CSIRO’s hub of cotton research, which is breeding new cotton varieties, developing sustainable cropping systems and improving pest management for agribusiness.

Safe and Productive Bushfire Fighting with Hand Tools describes the main findings and recommendations of a major biomedical study examining the effects of wildfire fighting on firefighters’ physiology and behaviour

Stress, Strain, and Productivity in Men Suppressing Wildland Fires with Hand Tools examines the stresses firefighters experience, their physiological and subjective responses and their work behaviour and productivity.

Another successful CSIRO Complex Systems Science Annual Workshop was held at the Novotel Brisbane in June 2008.

The oceans are the largest repository of heat on Earth, with a capacity 1 000 times greater than the atmosphere. This heat is distributed around the globe by ocean currents referred to as the ‘conveyor belt’. This circulation influences, and is influenced by, the climate.