Improving Australia’s climate and earth systems modelling

The Morrison Government is keeping Australians safe by investing in research to improve how we prepare for and respond to natural disasters and emergencies.

The Government will provide $7.6 million to upgrade the capability for the Australian Community Climate and Earth Systems Simulator (ACCESS) model.

ACCESS is a cutting-edge earth system model that provides a national weather, climate and earth system modelling capability for operations and research.

Minister for Education Dan Tehan said the ACCESS upgrade was part of the Morrison Government’s $157 million investment in Australia’s research infrastructure in this year’s Budget.

“This project will accelerate existing research and enable new research to be conducted into future climate and weather patterns,” Mr Tehan said.

“It will improve modelling capabilities and assist Australia to navigate and manage the risks presented by events like bushfires and floods.

“This investment in research will complement the additional $1 billion for university research announced in the 2020 Budget.

“The Budget also provides $5.8 million to design a scheme to accelerate turning university research into new products, job creation, productivity gains and economic growth.

“The $900 million Industry Linkage Fund, created as part of the Job-ready Graduates package, will incentivise university engagement with industry and focus on creating more STEM-skilled and job-ready graduates in areas of industry and community priority.

“The project will bring together scientific and research expertise with software development, high-performance computing and data management and analysis skills to improve Australia’s weather, climate and earth system modelling capability.

“Bushfires, floods and other natural disasters are an ongoing threat in Australia. This investment will make the current ACCESS model more accessible for researchers and will allow better predictions into future climate and weather patterns.

“This project is part of the 2020 National Research Infrastructure Investment Plan, which provides almost $160 million for national research infrastructure projects, supporting both existing and new research infrastructure capabilities.”

/Public Release. View in full here.