Dr Matt Gibbs is a Senior Research Scientist (hydrologist) in CSIRO’s Water Resource Assessment team. Matt is the project lead for the ‘Adaptation of the South-Eastern drainage system under a changing climate‘ and task lead for ‘Current and future water availability’ (see article). We asked Matt a few questions about his research and what his interests are.
Can you describe your project in two short sentences?
We have looked at where the water in the south east of South Australia goes and how that is projected to change into the future. How much rainfall is there likely to be, and how this is partitioned into runoff, recharge and evapotranspiration.
What impact/ benefit will this research bring to the region?
There have been numerous water balances developed for the region, but not at a high spatial and temporal resolution while representing the all the main components of the water balance concurrently. Water available in the region has been declining in recent decades, we report on declining trends in observed rainfall, runoff and recharge. The future climate projections indicate that this trend is only likely to continue. With wetlands of international importance and productive agricultural sectors dependent on the water available in the Lower Limestone Coast region, a more detailed understanding of where and when water is available, historically and into the future, is important to help manage this important resource.
Whereabouts in the region is the research being done.
We have developed the integrated water balance model for all of the Lower Limestone Coast and extending to include Padthaway and the catchments that have their headwaters in Victoria.
A little about you: What do you enjoy outside of work?
Most weekends I can be found running around after my two daughters or taking them to the beach or a walk in the many parks through the hills (much to their disgust). I’ve been getting into homebrew lately if anyone has a good IPA recipe out there!
For more information visit Dr Matt Gibbs at CSIRO
