CSIRO's environmetrics specialists provide insights into human impacts
Environmetrics
Australia's largest team of environmental statisticians is working on the big issues that face environmental managers, policymakers and ... all of us.
Will we have enough water in the future? Are heatwaves becoming more frequent? How can we check the health of our estuaries and rivers? The sustainable use of natural resources and the relative impacts of people on the environment are central issues in public debate in Australia.
Environmetrics seeks to develop and use modern statistical science and thinking, and other quantitative methods, to monitor, model, assess and understand our important marine, freshwater, terrestrial and atmospheric systems, and the complex interactions between them and human influence.
Environmetricians in CSIRO work closely with specialists in other science fields, both within CSIRO and from other organisations.
What we do
Our team of 30 plus environmetricians works on large-scale issues facing Australia such as:
- Drying and warming climate
- Growing urban demand and coastal pressures
- Water scarcity and usage
- Invasive species
- Sustainable management of fisheries and marine resources
- Protection and restoration of key ecosystems
We aim to be international leaders in developing innovative statistical and quantitative methodologies to manage the risks associated with the use, protection and sustainable economic development of Australia's natural resources.
We are key contributors to research in these areas managed by the following National Research Flagships:
- Water for a Healthy Country
- Wealth from Oceans
- Climate Adaptation
- Sustainable Agriculture
We aim to be international leaders in developing innovative statistical and quantitative methodologies to manage the risks associated with the use, protection and sustainable economic development of Australia’s natural resources.
How we do it
Environmetrics works on the basis that mathematical and statistical models and design can often provide deeper insight into environmental problems and their solutions. They also provide an objective basis for risk-informed decision making.
Our approach relies on rigorously applying statistical techniques that emphasise data, modelling, inference and uncertainty. We characterise and make inferences about environmental processes that vary over space and time. We have specialised skills in:
- Spatio-temporal modelling
- Survey monitoring and design
- Statistical computation
- Integrating model and data
- Risk assessment
Partnerships and facilities
We have access to world-class high performance computing facilities including the CSIRO GPU cluster, Australia’s greenest supercomputer, and are leading users and developers of R statistical software.
Our partners are mostly large-scale natural resource management agencies such as:
- Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE)
- Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPAC)
- State government departments (Queensland, NSW, WA)
- Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)
- National Water Commission (NWC)
- Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA)
- Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA)
- Marine & Tropical Science Research Facility (MTSRF)
- Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
- International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
- Australian Centre for Excellence in Risk Assessment (ACERA)
With these agencies we:
- inform environmental policy and/or management strategies
- identify science challenges
- design surveys and monitoring schemes
- build models to make inference about status, trends and patterns
- examine risks and assess alternative courses of action
- and provide advice and tools to environmental managers in the form of reports and software.
Past Projects
Past projects include:
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