Dr Rachel Law
Group Leader
Contact details:
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PRIVATE BAG NO 1
ASPENDALE VIC 3195 AUSTRALIA
Biography
Dr Rachel Law co-leads the 'Modelling the Earth System' group in the Climate Science Centre. The group comprises four teams with skills in coupled climate modelling, data assimilation, land surface modelling, Australian and global carbon assessments, integrated assessment modelling and micrometeorology. A major focus for the group is developing and running two versions of the ACCESS model for participation in the World Climate Research Programme's Coupled Modelling Intercomparison Project (CMIP6).
Rachel helps to coordinate land surface and climate model development across the Australian research community. She was previously coordinator of the CABLE land surface model management committee and is a member of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) Oversight Committee.
Rachel's research interests include:
* extending the capability of the ACCESS climate model to also simulate the carbon cycle
* using ACCESS experiments to explore interactions between the carbon cycle, climate and atmospheric aerosols
* contributing to submission of carbon-related ACCESS simulations to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6)
* interpreting the atmospheric measurements of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, to better understand where anthropogenic carbon is taken up by the land biosphere and oceans
Professional Areas
- 2020, current, CSIRO representative, UM partnership board
- 2017, 2019, editor, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics special issue from 10th International CO2 conference
- 2017, 2019, CSIRO representative, UM partnership communication review group
- 2016, current, member, Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Experts Group on Land Surface Processes
- 2019, current, member, ACCESS Oversight Committee
- 2015, 2018, member, ACCESS Research Leaders Group
- 2014, 2017, member, Scientific Organising Committee, 10th International CO2 conference (Interlaken, Switzerland, August 2017)
- 2012, 2017, chair, CABLE (land surface model) cross-organisational management committee
Current Roles
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ACCESS group leader
Managing 5 teams focussed on modelling multi-annual to centennial climate variability and change, interactions with the carbon cycle and process studies supported by ocean observations and wind tunnel experiments. -
Principal Research Scientist
Using ACCESS-ESM to explore carbon-climate interactions. Interpreting atmospheric measurements of greenhouse gases. -
Aspendale Site Leader
Provides local leadership for the CSIRO Aspendale Site
Academic Qualifications
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1993
PhD
University of Melbourne -
1988
B. Sc. (Hons)
University of Melbourne
Professional Experiences
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2015-2016
Land surface modelling team leader
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere -
2003-2009
Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research -
2000-2003
Research Scientist
CSIRO Atmospheric Research -
1994-2000
Research Fellow
CRC for Southern Hemisphere Research, Monash University
Achievements and Awards
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2019-current
Fellow
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Other highlights
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1996-2008
Leadership role in TransCom project, an international project assessing transport model uncertainty for greenhouse gas emissions estimates. Multiple publications including highly-citied 2002 Gurney et al., Nature paper
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2009-2013
Contributing to REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) project with co-authorship of 4 papers.
