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Soil and Landscape Science
Surface Water Hydrology
Groundwater Hydrology
Environmental Information Systems
Environmental Earth Observation
Catchment Biogeochemistry and Aquatic Ecology
Contaminant Chemistry and Ecotoxicology
Water Reuse and Environmental Process Engineering
Urban Water Systems Engineering
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 Canberra Laboratory - Public Seminar Series Abstracts 2009Wednesday 4 February at 11am Abstract: Since 1 August 2008, Soil Moisture (SM) time series are being computed in near real time at 6989 sites in South Africa, covering approximately 1 million sq km, at 3 hour intervals. We believe this is a first for RSA and has potential to inform flood forecasters, planners and agriculturalists on a daily basis with up-to-date information. Professor Pegram is author and co-author of 57 full-length publications in refereed journals, one book, 23 technical reports & 100 papers at conferences and symposia. Professor Pregram has been invited by the Environmental Earth Observation Group in CSIRO Land and Water to share his expertise and experiences in establishing a near real-time regional-scale soil moisture monitoring system for South Africa. The work is directly relevant to CSIRO's Water Forecasting, Water Accounting and Assessment, and Precipitation and Actual Evapotranspiration Products projects undertaken as part of a water information research and development alliance between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology. Professor Pegram's seminar is likely to shed some important light on the feasibility of establishing similar systems in Australia. Wednesday 25 February at 11am Abstract: The Fitzroy Estuary in Queensland, Australia, receives highly episodic flows and is the largest estuary feeding into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. To understand the impact of changes in land use on coastal systems, we need to know not only how much sediment and nutrient material is generated within the catchment, but also how this material is affected by physical and biochemical processes in the river and estuary before it reaches the sea. A coupled, 3D hydrodynamic, sediment dynamic and biogeochemical model, supported by process studies and satellite-derived estimates of total suspended solids and chlorophyll a, has been used to quantify this impact for the Fitzroy Estuary. The results suggest that (a) the estuary and immediate coastal zone tend to accumulate material during flood events but export more than is delivered from the catchment in non-flood conditions; (b) the estuary tends to dampen the immediate impact of changes in land use, but this may not be so in the longer term; (c) the bioavailability of particulate nitrogen has a substantial impact on nitrogen export from the estuary. Monday 23 March at 11 am Abstract: Modern natural resource management need conceptual holistic systems approaches towards analyzing complex environmental systems. The JESAT concept and software toolset offers the potential for integrated water resource and land management. It has been developed at Department of Geoinformatics, Hydrology and Modelling (GHM), University of Jena, Germany for the past 8 years. The JESAT concept consists of a fully distributed hydrologic and solute process model coupled with DBMS, GIS and Web-interfaces. The concept will be introduced here and examples from successful research studies, e.g. in Thuringia, Germany, the Eastern Cape of South Africa and the Brahmaputra river basin in Asia will also be demonstrated. Wednesday 6 May at 11am Abstract: Pattern recognition and prediction models use meaningful properties obtained from the historical and current data sets. Conventional feature extraction algorithms may be not always efficient when applied to observations pertinent to the complex systems. In this presentation four examples will be shown to demonstrate the applicability of a nonlinear approach based on topological dynamics and fractal methods for extracting specific features from the observed datasets. Two of the examples will demonstrate the embedology and correlation dimension techniques applied for a time-delay reconstruction of a phase space using time series from nonlinear systems. The scaling properties of the phase space attractor were employed as:
Both the classification of seismic events and the Caspian Sea level prediction models were implemented using an artificial neural network. The other examples will illustrate how fractal geometry may help understand complex forms and patterns in spatial and image datasets using About the speaker: Dr Irina Emelyanova is a Spatial Analyst at CLW, Floreat. She obtained a M.Sc. in Mathematics from the Kazakh State University of Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the State University of Irkutsk, Russia. After graduating, Irina worked as a Research Scientist at the USSR Research and Industrial Institute of Prospecting Geophysics, then as a Senior Research Scientist at the Kazakh National Nuclear Centre, and later as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Edinburgh University and a Research Fellow at University of Western Australia. Irina’s professional skills are in the area of time series and image/spatial data analysis, pattern recognition and modelling nonlinear dynamical systems from observed data. At CLW she is currently involved into the “South West Sustainable Yields” project. Within the project she is in charge of land cover mapping employing remote sensing and ArcGIS technologies and predicting future groundwater level trends in the north Perth Basin of Western Australia using hydrograph analysis. Wednesday 27 May 2:00 - 3:30pm Abstract: The fate and effects of emerging contaminants, in particular biologically active consumer product chemicals, in surface waters impacted by municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents is a topic of growing concern as demands on aquatic ecosystems increase due to factors such as population pressures and climate change. There are a number of chemicals, such as alkylphenolic compounds and steroidal hormones, in WWTP effluents that have been shown to impact the endocrine system of fish and other aquatic organisms. Dr Larry Barber will summarise research conducted by USGS on the fate of organic and inorganic contaminants of consumer-product origin in WWTP effluents and receiving streams. These field-based, process-level investigations provide insight into the occurrence and sources of the compounds, the rates and mechanisms controlling their transport and attenuation, and their effects on aquatic ecosystems. As part of the Land & Water Australia International Fellowship, Dr Larry Barber has presented seminars in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. He will also be a guest speaker at the Environmental Water Forum to be held in Canberra on the 28th and 29th May. About the speaker: Dr. Larry B. Barber is a research geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Boulder, Colorado. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Colorado and his BS degree in Geology at the University of Arkansas. For the past twenty five years he has conducted research on the fate of organic and inorganic chemicals in natural water systems, with a focus on consumer-product derived contaminants in treated wastewater and the implications for water reuse. His research involves field and laboratory studies that quantitatively integrate chemistry, biology, hydrology, and geology in evaluating the environmental fate of contaminants. Further details of project work and publications by Dr Barber are available at: http://water.usgs.gov/nrp/proj.bib/barber.html Friday 29 May at 11am Like Sim City but with an environmental angle, the game Catchment Detox was built by ABC Online and the CSIRO as an education tool. CSIRO’s Dr Stuart Minchin walks us through the game with feedback from a panel of CSIRO experts, and talks about the challenge of bringing science online. Tuesday 14 July at 11am Abstract: Following extensive wildfires in 2001, we used a multi-method approach to determine the impacts of this disturbance event on soil erosion and sediment dynamics in SE Australian sandstone terrain near Sydney. Methods included (i) soil water repellency assessments, (ii) hillslope micro-profiling and survey of natural erosion indicators, (iii) sediment tracing techniques using fallout radionuclides, mineral-magnetic and geochemical properties. Investigations focused on three small (>1km2) catchments with contrasting burn severity, and downstream river and lake deposits within Sydney’s main water supply catchment. The fires were followed by intense rainfall, but the longer-term post-fire period experienced below-average rainfall. This summarizes the key outcomes from this multi-method approach and compares these with initial findings from contrasting terrain obtained following the 2009 wildfires in Victoria. About the speaker: Stefan Doerr is Professor of Geography at Swansea University (UK) and Editor in Chief of International Journal of Wildland Fire. He holds a Diplom (MSc) in Geography (with Botany and Geology) from Universität Tübingen (Germany). His PhD (Swansea University, UK) was on the effects of forest fires on hydrological processes in Portugal. His research focuses on (i) the environmental impacts of wildfires, and (ii) the origin and implications of soil water repellency. He has held recent collaborative research positions at the CSIRO in Canberra (Australia), Universitat de València (Spain) and the US Geological Survey (Denver, USA). Thursday 23 July at 1-3.30 pm (tbc) The purpose of the FRST(Foundation of Science, Research & Technology) funded Creating Futures project is to develop and apply planning and communication tools to make informed choices for the future, including a dynamic, integrated spatial decision support system (ISDSS). The four-year Creating Futures project will be completed by the end of 2010. An alpha-version of the regional ISDSS has recently been completed to demonstrate its application to potential users and to provide feedback to the project team on improvements. During the workshop the prototype will be demonstrated and its use to identify impacts of different policy options will be explored. The aim of the workshop is to: 1. provide an overview of the project and inform participants about progress made so far Wednesday 29 July at 11am Abstract: Intense rainfall events caused by tropical cyclones crossing the north eastern coast of Australia result in seasonal inflow of large river plumes of terrestrial organic and inorganic material into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. These river plumes may lead to a decline of water quality, which beside climate change and and coral bleaching is a key threat to the reef. Good water quality is important for the health of the GBR and for the communities, industries and ecosystems that rely on good water quality. Satellite remote sensing is becoming a cost-effective method of monitoring temporal and spatial variations of water quality parameters, such as chlorophyll-a (CHL), total suspended solids (TSS), coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and diffuse light attenuation (Kd). In-situ measurements in the GBR have shown a large variability of inherent and apparent optical properties during these flood events. As a result, global standard remote sensing algorithms frequently fail or show a poor performance for these highly scattering and absorbing coastal waters. To enable a reliable mapping of water quality parameters under these extreme conditions, we developed an improved physics-based inversion scheme for spectral data of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) on-board of the NASA Earth Observation Systems (EOS) Terra and Aqua platforms. By coupling an artificial neural network atmospheric correction scheme with a semi-analytical model with a variable parameterisation of GBR specific inherent optical properties, we are able to significantly improve the accuracy of the water quality parameter retrieval compared to NASA's standard algorithms. With a special emphasis on atmospheric correction, first results of the development validation and application of these algorithms to extreme flood plumes events of the Great Barrier Reef are presented. Monday 3 August at 11am Abstract: Over the past year Nicky has worked on three projects that each required simple models for a range of purposes including data analysis and diagnoses, knowledge integration, scenario testing or communication with non-scientists. The first was an ecological assessment of stormwater harvesting options in the ACT, the second was the derivation of nutrient budgets in the Coorong and the third was a preliminary investigation into human decision-making in natural resource systems. They were very different projects with very different motivations and objectives, with model approaches reflecting these differences. In presenting insights from each she will draw general conclusions about the ever-growing use of models and their various roles. The discussion will include comments on the role of data, sensitivity analyses, modelling for knowledge integration and qualitative modelling. The intention is to trigger some discussion about the ways in which we view and undertake modelling, and she will welcome all with opinions on this matter. About the speaker: Nicky Grigg is a research scientist in CSIRO Land and Water. She holds Bachelor degrees in Environmental Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Australia. In her PhD (Australian National University) she modelled the impacts of burrowing animals on aquatic sediment biogeochemistry. As a postdoctoral fellow she worked with the CSIRO Centre for Complex Systems Science on nonlinear model dynamics. More recently she has worked on projects in the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship and eWater. Tuesday 28 July at 11am Abstract: Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of topography are widely used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to derive information for the modeling of hydrologic processes. This seminar will present a general method for recursive flow analysis that builds upon the D-infinity model for the representation of downslope flow used in the Terrain Analysis Using Digital Elevation Models (TauDEM) package to enable the calculation of a broad set of flow-based derivative surfaces. This general method which we refer to as Flow Algebra, extends flow accumulation approaches commonly available in GIS through the integration of multiple inputs and a broad class of algebraic rules into the calculation of flow related quantities. The potential of flow algebra is illustrated with examples of new functions that are useful for hydrologic and environmental modeling. A new weighted flow distance to stream function averages the "weight" moving through multiple flow paths from each point in the domain to the stream or other downslope reference point. This is an example of a general function which can specifically be used to estimate potential for sediment and nutrient filtering by streamside vegetation, by specifying vegetation cover as the weight. This function can also be used to provide a definition for connectivity in the context of multiple flow paths and identify areas that are connected to streams. Other new functions that examine elevations on upslope and downslope flow paths have been developed determine the average rise to ridge and drop to stream which together determine hillslope position useful for soil depth modeling. A new avalanche runout function determines the zone with downslope gradient greater than a critical angle (alpha) and is useful for mapping avalanche or potential landslide hazards. These new tools have been packaged as an ArcGIS toolbox so that they may be used in Model Builder within the ArcGIS geoprocessing framework. Algorithms for some of these tools have also been modified to take advantage of parallel processing architectures, thereby enabling the rapid processing of large About the speaker: David Tarboton is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah State University. He received his Sc.D. and M.S. in Civil Engineering (Water Resources and Hydrology) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his B. Sc Eng in Civil Engineering from the University of Natal in South Africa. His research and teaching is in the area of surface water hydrology. His research focuses on advancing the capability for hydrologic prediction by developing models that take advantage of new information and process understanding enabled by new technology. This includes the use of hydrologic and geographic information systems and digital elevation models that take advantage of spatially distributed information for hydrologic prediction. His work has contributed to advances in terrain analysis for hydrology, terrain stability mapping and stream sediment inputs, geomorphology, stochastic and nonparametric statistical methods in hydrology, and snow hydrology. He has developed software that includes geographic information system software for terrain analysis and channel network extraction, terrain stability analysis, and a snowmelt model. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Water Resources Association and is a Registered Professional Engineer (Utah). He serves as deputy leader of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. Hydrologic Information System Project that is developing internet based systems and technology to support the sharing of hydrologic data. Wednesday 5 August at 11am Abstract: Lake characteristics are to a large extent determined by regional climatic conditions. Changes in climate patterns like increasing air temperature or decreasing cloudiness will lead to a shift in lake characteristics thus changing the physical basis for live in the aquatic system. Here we look at three different aspects of aquatic systems influenced by variations in climate. Time scales: The appearance of some nuisance cyanobacteria species in lakes of temperate regions is believed to be a consequence of global warming. Using a dynamic model for nostocale cyanobacteria allows the prediction of their seasonal development over decades. This tool is used to extract time-scales of development under different temperature scenarios and subject to extreme events. Stratification and mixis: Here we have a deeper look into the effects of climate on lake stratification and the development of Microcystis populations. For an artificially mixed deep lake in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, a coupled hydrodynamic-competition model was used to predict the seasonal development of Microcystis blooms under extreme events. We then checked for the impact of different physical parameters (turbulent mixing, water temperature, cloudiness) on plankton development. Here it can be seen that the combined effect of changes in all three parameters will non-additively boost Microcystis blooms due to higher water temperatures, more stable stratification, and higher irradiance. Global change in lake characteristics: Using numerical simulations with a k-epsilon turbulence model the seasonal hydrodynamics of lakes on a global scale, Europe, are simulated. To account for hydrodynamic differences due to lake morphometry and trophic state, we use several model lakes differing in depth and absorption, respectively. The model lakes are forced by meteorological data given as gridded fields over Europe for current climate condition as well as for future climate scenarios. This results in several tens of thousands simulations of lake temperature and turbulent diffusivity profiles, from which we extract cardinal events and values such as the onset of stratification, thermocline depth or ice cover duration. Our simulations provide predictions for differences in lake hydrodynamics and ecology across the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal gradients. About the speaker: Klaus Jöhnk is a research scientist at the Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Germany. He is a geophysicist/environmental physicist by training, originally working on fluid motion in the Earth's outer core and avalanche dynamics. 15 years ago he changed focus to lake hydrodynamics coupled to biogeochemical processes. His interest is in the interactions between climate and aquatic systems from a modelling perspective. He has worked on transport processes in Lake Constance, Germany, double-diffusive mixing in post-mining lakes of Lusatia, Germany, artificial mixing to prevent Microcystis blooms in Lake Nieuwe Meer, The Netherlands, and recently on the spread of originally tropical cyanobacteria to lakes of Northern Germany. Basis of these research themes are one-dimensional coupled biogeochemical-hydrodynamic models. In the last years another topic gained his attention, nonlinear analysis of ecohydrological time-series. Further details on work and publications are available at: Tuesday 25 August at 4 pm (Room N101, CSIT Building 108, Australian National University) Abstract: A central problem that arises when integrating unfamiliar database systems or constructing queries over them, is to identify relationships between tables and attributes. As manual comparison of attributes is expensive, this process should be automated as far as possible. Of particular interest here are relationships between attributes which allow us to join tables, such as foreign keys, as this is fundamental for further integration steps. For exploration purposes, knowledge of such relationships allows quick identification of similar data sets, and make it easier to understand a new system. In this talk we will present a prototype which matches attributes across multiple distributed databases, and allows users to explore these by following join paths, examining samples and providing feedback for future use by others. Our system employs a newly developed sampling approach, which allows matching of clean as well as 'dirty' data (i.e., where the content is the same but may contain typos or be formatted differently), without compromising efficiency. About the speaker: Dr Henning Koehler is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, and part of the Data and Knowledge Engineering group. He obtained his Master in Mathematics in 2003, and his PhD in Information Systems in 2007. His research interests include graph algorithms, database design, dependency theory, data integration, sampling, multi-dimensional search/indexing and data provenance. This work is part of a CSIRO Water For A Health Country Flagship Collaboration project with Prof Xiaofang Zhou. Tuesday 25 August Projecting Impacts of Climate Change at the Local Scale is What Matters The Estimation of Daily Penman-Montieth Based Reference Crop Evapotranspiration at One Arc Minute Resolution About the speaker: Professor Roland Schulze from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa has had a long and distinguished career and is an internationally recognised expert in hydrology. He has worked and lectured in several countries around the world and is particularly well know for his work on the ACRU hydrological model, the South African Atlas of Agrohydrology and Climatology, and more recently on climate change impacts on the water resources of South Africa. Professor Schulze has many accolades to his name, including the SA Institute of Agricultural Engineers Gold Medal for "outstanding contributions to hydrology in SA", Fellowship of the University of Natal in recognition of “distinguished academic achievement”, Fellowship of the Royal Society of South Africa for "distinguished contribution in the furtherance of science in South Africa", Life membership of the International Water Academy of Norway, and Agricultural Researcher of the Year for KwaZulu-Natal. Thursday, 10 September 2009 at 11am Abstract: A prototype Australian water resources assessment model-data system has been developed and will be presented. Stream flow gauging and flux tower evapotranspiration data as well as satellite observations of greenness were used in model development, parameter estimation and cross-validation. On-ground metering of water use, active and passive microwave satellite observations of soil moisture and satellite measurements of total water storage were used for system evaluation. Examples analyses will be discussed, including regional trends in water availability over the period 1980-2008. As a hypothetical case study, it will be considered whether the existence of this observing system 15 years ago would have given earlier warning of the drought in southeast Australia. Thursday, 22 September 2009 at 11am Abstract: About the speaker: In 2001, Hugh joined a Hobart-based environmental consulting firm as a GIS analyst while completing his PhD at the University of Tasmania. Following graduation in 2003 Hugh joined the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute as a Research Fellow examining estuarine flow dynamics. Hugh was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2005 focussed on understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of rock lobster movement and foraging behaviour and the ecosystem effects of fishing in eastern Tasmania. During his fellowship Hugh became involved with the Hobart-based Myriax Software as a beta-tester for the Eonfusion project. Following a second postdoctoral fellowship in the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub Hugh joined Myriax to head up the Eonfusion sales team for Australasia and provides professional advice for R&D. Hugh holds an Honorary Research Fellowship with the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute where he continues his research and supervision of postgraduate students. Monday, 28 September 2009 at 1.45pm Abstract: In this seminar, Dr Dennis Lettenmaier will describe the detailed methodology behind the experimental forecast system, demonstrate its forecast capability, and outline the challenges facing the further development and applications of seasonal streamflow forecasting About the speaker: Thursday, 8 October at 10.45am Abstract: About the speaker: Wednesday 21 October at 11am Abstract: Three of the most mystifying interactions are presented that provide evidence for either hydrological control of the ecology or vice versa. These are (i) cloud interception, (ii) rainfall interception and (iii) transpiration. Understanding these will help us predict what might happen to these rainforests under a future climate and this is demonstrated both in situ and downstream of the forests. Does the hydrology control the ecology?; does the ecology control the hydrology?; or are they both at the mercy of climate? About the speaker: Thursday 22 October at 11am Abstract: About the speaker: Monday 16 November at 11am (Please note: Butler Lab Seminar Room) Abstract: About the speaker: He has worked on research projects for the European Commission, British National Space Centre, and UK Research Councils looking at environmental law applications for satellites, how they might influence regulatory compliance and their use as evidence in court. Ray is currently on a research visit to Australia as part of an 18-month Economic and Social Research Council UK research grant entitled: 'Smart Enforcement in Environmental Legal Systems: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Regulatory Satellite Monitoring in Australia'. Monday 7 December at 11am (Please note: Butler Lab Seminar Room) Abstract:
About the speaker: His first interest was in forest hydrology, he then moved to hydrological modelling. Most of his and his colleagues work in recent years has focused on operational issues of rainfall-runoff modelling, mostly flood forecasting. He has also worked on the issues of model evaluation. Vazken Andréassian has published several books on water and floods for the general public (even one book for children!) and a number of scientific papers on hydrological modelling issues. Monday 14 December at 11am Abstract:
About the speaker: After completing his PhD, Dr Viscarra Rossel undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Rennes, France. When he returned to Australia in 2002, he worked as a senior research fellow in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at The University of Sydney. He joined CSIRO Land and Water in March 2008. Dr Viscarra Rossel is chair of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) Working Group on Proximal Soil Sensing (WG-PSS) and the treasurer of the NSW branch of the Australian Society of Soil Science (ASSSI). In recognition of his work, Dr Viscarra Rossel has been invited to make keynote addresses, join scientific committees, author publications, and teach in a series of invited lectures and workshops. He received the ‘Best Paper’ award from the International Union of Soil Sciences Commission on Pedometrics in 2003 and 2007.
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