Australia has one of the biggest offshore zones in the world. Professor Chari Pattiaratchi, UWA oceanographer, is passionate about coastal physical oceanography and coastal sediment transport and has undertaken pioneering research off Western Australia's coastline.
The School of Environmental Systems Engineering's research capability has rapidly expanded through recent developments.
More than $20 million of research income has come through major initiatives including:
Expertise lies in the areas of:
UWA collaborates with and participates in a number of centres including:
The ARWA Centre for Ecohydrology is a partnership between the UWA and the WA Department of Food and Agriculture (DAFWA).
The centre is housed in the School of Environmental and Systems Engineering.
Researchers are based at the UWA campus in Crawley, and in DAFWA offices at Waroona, Bunbury, Northam, Geraldton, Merredin, Esperance and Albany.
The School of Environmental Systems Engineering is using Wesfarmers Premier Coal Western 5B lake in Collie to develop science and modelling tools for water quality in density stratified mine lakes. This will underpin decision-making for legislation, relinquishment, remediation and end uses of former mining areas.
UWA's involvment in WA Marine Science Institure node 6 is primarily driven by recognition of the research needs of the offshore oil and gas industry in the WA marine environment.
The research tools and model outputs from the node will be of direct relevance to the offshore oil and gas industry. It will also impact on coastal engineering, the fisheries industry and other environmental issues.
Gliders can be deployed for varying periods between three weeks (shelf gliders) to six months (deep ocean gliders) to acquire physical, chemical and biological properties from cross shelf and across ocean transects.
A typical ocean application would establish glider tracks to monitor boundary currents such as the East Australian (Ocean and eastern Australia), Flinders (southern Australia) and the Leeuwin Current (western Australia).
