CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Program 1: Predicting Catchment Behaviour
Program Leader: Mr Geoff Podger, Dept.
of Infrastructure Planning & Natural Resources
Program
Projects
Click
here for the current list of Projects for this Program
(2003-2006)
Click
here for completed Projects and their outcomes for this
Program (1999-2002)
Program Overview
Detailed Information about current projects in
this program is available here
This program delivers the key objective
of the Centre: to provide land and water managers with
the tools and skills to make informed decisions on whole
catchments. It will involve many of Australias
leading catchment modellers and a number of focus
catchments.
Goals
- To predict water and pollutant balance in catchments
of varying size and complexity, subject to a range
of land uses, land and water management strategies,
and climate variability
- Consolidation (into one tool-kit of software and
documentation) of several modelling systems, spanning
a continuum of scale, issues, and complexity
- Practical guidance for addressing the scale, complexity,
parameterisation, and validation issues in hydrologic
modelling
- National leadership in catchment hydrologic modelling,
and training in this area.
Activities
- Conduct national and international workshops on
catchment modelling needs and methods
- Link hydrologic, pollutant-transport, ecologic,
geomorphic, meteorologic and socio-economic models
to enable holistic analyses of catchment behaviour
- Develop new modelling approaches to take advantage
of the latest data-integration products such as rainfall
radar, laser altimetry, airborne geomagnetics, and
hyperspectral scanners
- Develop procedures for dealing with spatial variability
of system properties, the input data vacuum,
uncertainty in model predictions, and the stochastic
behaviour of systems.
Outcomes
- A (demonstrated) ability to plan changes in catchments,
and the way we manage them, to maximise environmental,
economic, and social values
- A tool-kit of packaged models, data products, and
high-quality user documentation.
- A community of model literate catchment
managers, equipped with the right models and the skills
to apply them judiciously
- When adopted, sustainable land management.
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