Observed changes in flooding across Australia
There is a growing body of evidence for increases in extreme rainfall both globally and across Australia. However flooding does not appear to be universally increasing. Here, trends in historical flooding across Australia are presented both in terms of seasonality and magnitude. It is argued that changes in soil moisture are modulating the smaller flood events that are more commonly studied, with increases in flooding only observed for the most rare events.
Conrad Wasko is currently a McKenzie Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Conrad has over ten years’ experience in both consulting and research. Conrad’s research has won him numerous awards including the MSSANZ Early Career Research Excellence Award and the Lorenz G. Straub award for best PhD thesis globally in water engineering. He has contributed to the Australian national guidelines on flood estimation and his current research focuses on understanding the effects of climate change on precipitation extremes and flooding.