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SEMINAR: SEE Future Fellow Seminar Series: Professor Ryan Lowe

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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
SEE Future Fellow Seminar Series: Professor Ryan Lowe : Physical processes in complex coastal reef environments: the dynamics of wave- and tide-dominated systems along Australia Other events...
Abstract

Coastal reefs are ubiquitous features of Australia's coastline, yet their hydrodynamics (waves, currents and water levels) are still poorly understood relative to other coastal environments such as beaches. Along Australia’s coast, the large regional-scale gradients in incident wave energy and tidal forcing interact with the complex morphology of both tropical and temperate reef structures, resulting in extremely complex and variable circulation patterns throughout these systems. Understanding these fundamental physical processes is ultimately the foundation for assessing numerous ecological processes within reef ecosystems, the movement of sediments through the coastal zone, and the longer-term morphological development of our reef-protected coastlines. This seminar will summarize ongoing and future research efforts designed to help elucidate and accurately predict the complex physical processes operating within a broad class of reef environments (both wave- and tide-dominated), through a number of regional field programs and the development and application of new numerical modelling approaches. The improved process-understanding of coastal hydrodynamics developed through this effort is leading to significant advances in our ability to predict the impacts of extreme events (e.g., storms and tsunamis), sea level rise, and other environmental changes to reef-protected coastal regions, both within Australia and globally.

Biography

Lowe received his PhD in coastal oceanography in 2005 from Stanford University. After completing postdoctoral research and lecturing position at Stanford, he commenced at UWA in 2007 with support from an ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. In 2008, Lowe moved to the School of Earth and Environment to establish teaching and research programs in the area of coastal processes within physical geography. Lowe applies his background in nearshore oceanography to study a range of physical and coupled biological processes in the coastal zone using a combination of field work and numerical modelling. His research has, in particular, helped to advance our understanding of how oceanic and meteorological forcing drive hydrodynamic and biophysical processes within a range of tropical coastal environments such as coral reefs. Currently Lowe serves as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans (the leading multidisciplinary oceanographic journal) for topics related to tropical coastal oceanography and reef dynamics. In 2012, Lowe received a four-year Australian Council Future Fellowship to further expand his research on both tropical and temperate reef processes across Western Australia, with focus including the wave-dominated systems along Perth and at Ningaloo Reef, as well as within the unexplored tide-dominated reef systems along the Pilbara and Kimberley coasts.
Speaker(s) Professor Ryan Lowe
Location Woolnough Lecture Theatre (Geography & Geology building, room 1.07)
Contact Andrew Lo <[email protected]> : 08 64881189
Start Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:00
End Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:00
Submitted by Andrew Lo <[email protected]>
Last Updated Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:48
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