G3. Detecting and attributing change in natural hazards

Anthropogenic climate change, natural climate variability, land use change and many other factors can cause changes to the risk of natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and wildfires. The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (2013) report has cited numerous studies that found significant change to the risk of many natural hazards, however the large number of potential causes of change can make attribution extremely difficult. Nevertheless, attribution studies serve an important purpose, by providing insight into the direction and/or magnitude of future changes, and by informing policy options to reduce the risk of natural hazards in the future.

The Australian Energy and Water Exchanges (OzEWEX) “Trends and Extremes” working group is currently focusing on synthesising and promoting research that improves our understanding of change to Australian natural hazards. Submissions for this session are therefore sought on the following topics:

• Studies that focus on detecting changes (e.g. trends) to one or more natural hazards;
• Studies that seek to attribute change in natural hazards to one or more causes;
• Studies that develop, improve or evaluate methods to detect and/or attribute change in natural hazards; and
• Efforts to collect and/or compile datasets that will facilitate detection and/or attribution of change in natural hazards.