Researcher profile: Monsoon Madness

 

The RV Investigator is Australia’s 94-metre ocean research vessel. It performs the major role of data collection within Australia’s National Marine Research capabilities. Everywhere the Investigator goes it maps the sea floor. Researchers from all over Australia and indeed the world conduct research on the ship. Each voyage has a new team of researchers and every voyage has a different focus. On the last voyage of 2019 we asked a few of them to tell us their story. There were quite a few surprises but they all had two things in common, curiosity and a desire to keep on learning.

Dr Chen Li Alain

Monsoon Madness

Occupation: Post Doctorate

Fields: Climate modelling

Organisation: Monash University

Enjoys: Hiking, Yoga, Cycling

My main focus is on Monsoon modelling. Weather observation runs in my family. My dad and my dad’s dad were all weather forecasters. At first, I didn’t want to be a weather forecaster but wanted to do something different but after my first year at Uni I thought that I might like it. Christmas in Darwin is often the time for monsoons but they are notoriously fickle and I am collecting data to improve our models. The opportunity to work on this project on the Investigator is a fantastic experience.

Quick facts

• The word “monsoon” comes from the Arabic word for season.

• Monsoon refers to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase.

More information

Dr Chen Li’s profile