Dr Sophie Lewis

Adjunct Senior Lecturer
s.lewis@adfa.edu.au
+61 02 6268 8890
  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS

I use climate models, observations and palaeoclimate records to provide a long-term perspective on recent climate change. I have a particular focus on recent extreme rainfall and temperature events in Australia. My work also involves proxy-model comparisons to understand natural and anthropogenic influence on climate. 

 

Scholarships of AUD$35,000 are available for PhD students who achieved H1 /High Distinction in their UG program and/or have completed a Masters by Research. If you are interested, contact me at s.lewis@adfa.edu.au. 

 

Summer undergraduate research scholarship on Ethiopian rainfall and farmers. 

 

Climate change and East African rainfall: combining observations from local farmers and weather stations

Project

Climate change is already affecting weather patterns in many locations. In East Africa, changing rainfall would challenge the livelihoods of farmers. However, perceptions of local farmers and data from local weather stations differ. Is rainfall changing? How can we understand these two important information sources? In this project, you will re-analyse meteorological rainfall data, using an analysis approach based on metrics more familiar to farmers. This project will provide useful information for the 80% of Ethiopians living in rural areas, who are reliant on rainfall for their livelihoods. This project would ideally suit a student with some experience of/ or interest in developing skills in programming for example with MATLAB, R or excel, under guidance and supervision. Successful applicants will be provided with a weekly allowance at a rate of $500 (tax exempt) per week, up to a total amount of $5000 for the duration of a 10-week scholarship

 

Supervisory panel

Dr Sophie Lewis and Dr Alec Thornton, UNSW Canberra

Books

Lewis SC, 2017, A changing climate for science, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54265-2

Book Chapters

Colvin R; Crimp S; Lewis S; Howden M, 2020, 'Implications of climate change for future disasters', in Natural Hazards and Disaster Justice: Challenges for Australia and Its Neighbours, pp. 25 - 48, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0466-2_2

Lewis S; Karoly D; King A; Perkins-Kirkpatrick S; Donat M, 2017, 'Mechanisms Explaining Recent Changes in Australian Climate Extremes', in Climate Extremes: Patterns and Mechanisms, John Wiley & Sons, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119068020.ch15

Journal articles

Jyoteeshkumar reddy P; Sharples JJ; Lewis SC; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE, 2021, 'Modulating influence of drought on the synergy between heatwaves and dead fine fuel moisture content of bushfire fuels in the Southeast Australian region', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 31, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2020.100300

King AD; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; Wehner MF; Lewis SC, 2021, 'Reply to Comment by Mandel et al. on “Numerically Bounded Linguistic Probability Schemes Are Unlikely to Communicate Uncertainty Effectively”', Earth's Future, vol. 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001757

Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; Lewis SC, 2020, 'Increasing trends in regional heatwaves', Nature Communications, vol. 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16970-7

Dey R; Gallant AJE; Lewis SC, 2020, 'Evidence of a continent-wide shift of episodic rainfall in Australia', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 29, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2020.100274

Cochrane L; Lewis SC; Engdaw MM; Thornton A; Welbourne DJ, 2020, 'Using farmer-based metrics to analyze the amount, seasonality, variability and spatial patterns of rainfall amidst climate change in southern Ethiopia', Journal of Arid Environments, vol. 175, pp. 104084 - 104084, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104084

Lewis SC; Blake SAP; Trewin B; Black MT; Dowdy AJ; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; King AD; Sharples JJ, 2020, 'Deconstructing factors contributing to the 2018 fire weather in Queensland, Australia', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 101, pp. S115 - S122, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0144.1

Lewis SC; King AD; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; Mitchell DM, 2019, 'Regional hotspots of temperature extremes under 1.5 °C and 2 °C of global mean warming', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 26, pp. 100233 - 100233, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2019.100233

Lewis SC; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; King AD, 2019, 'Approaches to attribution of extreme temperature and precipitation events using multi-model and single-member ensembles of general circulation models', Advances in Statistical Climatology, Meteorology and Oceanography, vol. 5, pp. 133 - 146, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-5-133-2019

Dey R; Lewis SC; Arblaster JM; Abram NJ, 2019, 'A review of past and projected changes in Australia's rainfall', Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcc.577

Lewis SC; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; Althor G; King AD; Kemp L, 2019, 'Assessing Contributions of Major Emitters' Paris-Era Decisions to Future Temperature Extremes', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 46, pp. 3936 - 3943, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018GL081608

Goldie J; Alexander L; Lewis SC; Sherwood SC; Bambrick H, 2019, 'Correction to: Changes in relative fit of human heat stress indices to cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal hospitalizations across five Australian urban populations (International Journal of Biometeorology, (2018), 62, 3, (423-432), 10.1007/s00484-017-1451-9)', International Journal of Biometeorology, vol. 63, pp. 561, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00484-019-01697-y

Harrington LJ; Lewis S; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; King AD; Otto FEL, 2019, 'Embracing the complexity of extreme weather events when quantifying their likelihood of recurrence in a warming world', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf2dc

Lewis SC; King AD; Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; Wehner MF, 2019, 'Toward Calibrated Language for Effectively Communicating the Results of Extreme Event Attribution Studies', Earth's Future, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019EF001273

Dey R; Lewis SC; Abram NJ, 2019, 'Investigating observed northwest Australian rainfall trends in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 detection and attribution experiments', International Journal of Climatology, vol. 39, pp. 112 - 127, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.5788

Perkins-Kirkpatrick SE; King AD; Cougnon EA; Grose MR; Oliver ECJ; Holbrook NJ; Lewis SC; Pourasghar F, 2019, 'The role of natural variability and anthropogenic climate change in the 2017/18 tasman sea marine heatwave', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 100, pp. S105 - S110, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0116.1

King AD; Knutti R; Uhe P; Mitchell DM; Lewis SC; Arblaster JM; Freychet N, 2018, 'On the linearity of local and regional temperature changes from 1.5°C to 2°C of global warming', Journal of Climate, vol. 31, pp. 7495 - 7514, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0649.1

Dittus AJ; Karoly DJ; Donat MG; Lewis SC; Alexander LV, 2018, 'Understanding the role of sea surface temperature-forcing for variability in global temperature and precipitation extremes', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 21, pp. 1 - 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2018.06.002

King AD; Donat MG; Lewis SC; Henley BJ; Mitchell DM; Stott PA; Fischer EM; Karoly DJ, 2018, 'Reduced heat exposure by limiting global warming to 1.5 °c', Nature Climate Change, vol. 8, pp. 549 - 551, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0191-0

Blake SAP; Lewis SC; Legrande AN; Miller RL, 2018, 'Assessing the impact of large volcanic eruptions of the last millennium (850-1850ĝ€CE) on Australian rainfall regimes', Climate of the Past, vol. 14, pp. 811 - 824, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-811-2018

Wurtzel JB; Abram NJ; Lewis SC; Bajo P; Hellstrom JC; Troitzsch U; Heslop D, 2018, 'Tropical Indo-Pacific hydroclimate response to North Atlantic forcing during the last deglaciation as recorded by a speleothem from Sumatra, Indonesia', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 492, pp. 264 - 278, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.001

Goldie J; Alexander L; Lewis SC; Sherwood SC; Bambrick H, 2018, 'Changes in relative fit of human heat stress indices to cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal hospitalizations across five Australian urban populations', International Journal of Biometeorology, vol. 62, pp. 423 - 432, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00484-017-1451-9

Lewis SC; Mallela J, 2018, '28. A multifactor risk analysis of the record 2016 Great Barrier Reef bleaching', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 99, pp. S144 - S149, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0074.1

Lewis SC, 2018, 'Assessing the stationarity of australian precipitation extremes in forced and unforced CMIP5 simulations', Journal of Climate, vol. 31, pp. 131 - 145, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0393.1

Smerdon JE; Luterbacher J; Phipps SJ; Anchukaitis KJ; Ault T; Coats S; Cobb KM; Cook BI; Colose C; Felis T; Gallant A; Jungclaus JH; Konecky B; LeGrande A; Lewis S; Lopatka AS; Man W; Mankin JS; Maxwell JT; Otto-Bliesner BL; Partin JW; Singh D; Steiger NJ; Tierney JE; Zanchettin D; Zhang H; Atwood AR; Andreu-Hayles L; Baek SH; Buckley B; Cook ER; D’Arrigo R; Dee SG; Griffiths ML; Kulkarni C; Kushnir Y; Lehner F; Leland C; Okazaki A; Palmer J; Piovano E; Raible CC; Rao MP; Scheff J; Schmidt GA; Seager R; Widmann M; Xoplaki E, 2017, 'Comparing proxy and model estimates of hydroclimate variability and change over the Common Era', Climate of the Past, vol. 13, pp. 1851 - 1900, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1851-2017

Lewis SC; King AD; Mitchell DM, 2017, 'Australia's Unprecedented Future Temperature Extremes Under Paris Limits to Warming', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 44, pp. 9947 - 9956, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074612

Lewis SC, 2017, 'Mitigating the risks of rapid event attribution in the gray literature', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 98, pp. 2065 - 2072, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0320.1

Goldie J; Alexander L; Lewis SC; Sherwood S, 2017, 'Comparative evaluation of human heat stress indices on selected hospital admissions in Sydney, Australia', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 41, pp. 381 - 387, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12692

Lewis SC; King AD; Perkins-Kirkpkpatrick SE, 2017, 'Defining a new normal for extremes in a warming world', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 98, pp. 1139 - 1152, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0183.1

Lewis SC; King AD, 2017, 'Evolution of mean, variance and extremes in 21st century temperatures', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 15, pp. 1 - 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2016.11.002

Smerdon JE; Luterbacher J; Phipps SJ; Anchukaitis KJ; Ault T; Coats S; Cobb KM; Cook BI; Colose C; Felis T; Gallant A; Jungclaus JH; Konecky B; LeGrande A; Lewis S; Lopatka AS; Man W; Mankin JS; Maxwell JT; Otto-Bliesner BL; Partin JW; Singh D; Steiger NJ; Stevenson S; Tierney JE; Zanchettin D; Zhang H; Atwood AR; Andreu-Hayles L; Baek SH; Buckley B; Cook ER; D amp apos Arrigo R; Dee SG; Griffiths M; Kulkarni C; Kushnir Y; Lehner F; Leland C; Linderholm HW; Okazaki A; Palmer J; Piovano E; Raible CC; Rao MP; Scheff J; Schmidt GA; Seager R; Widmann M; Williams AP; Xoplaki E, 2017, 'Comparing proxy and model estimates of hydroclimate variability and change over the Common Era', Climate of the Past Discussions, pp. 1 - 70, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-2017-37

Gallant AJE; Lewis SC, 2016, 'Stochastic and anthropogenic influences on repeated record-breaking temperature extremes in Australian spring of 2013 and 2014', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 43, pp. 2182 - 2191, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067740

Dittus AJ; Karoly DJ; Lewis SC; Alexander LV; Donat MG, 2016, 'A multiregion model evaluation and attribution study of historical changes in the area affected by temperature and precipitation extremes', Journal of Climate, vol. 29, pp. 8285 - 8299, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0164.1

Lewis SC; Legrande AN, 2015, 'Stability of ENSO and its tropical Pacific teleconnections over the Last Millennium', Climate of the Past, vol. 11, pp. 1347 - 1360, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1347-2015

Lewis SC, 2015, 'Can public perceptions of Australian climate extremes be reconciled with the statistics of climate change?', Weather and Climate Extremes, vol. 12, pp. 33 - 42, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2015.11.008

King AD; Donat MG; Fischer EM; Hawkins E; Alexander LV; Karoly DJ; Dittus AJ; Lewis SC; Perkins SE, 2015, 'The timing of anthropogenic emergence in simulated climate extremes', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/094015

Lewis SC; Karoly DJ, 2015, 'Are estimates of anthropogenic and natural influences on Australia’s extreme 2010–2012 rainfall model-dependent?', Climate Dynamics, vol. 45, pp. 679 - 695, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2283-5

Lewis SC; LeGrande AN, 2015, 'Stability of ENSO and its tropical Pacific teleconnections over the Last Millennium', Climate of the Past Discussions, vol. 11, pp. 1579 - 1613, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cpd-11-1579-2015

King AD; Van Oldenborgh GJ; Karoly DJ; Lewis SC; Cullen H, 2015, 'Attribution of the record high Central England temperature of 2014 to anthropogenic influences', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/5/054002

Lewis SC; King AD, 2015, 'Dramatically increased rate of observed hot record breaking in recent Australian temperatures', Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 42, pp. 7776 - 7784, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065793

Dittus AJ; Karoly DJ; Lewis SC; Alexander LV, 2015, 'A multiregion assessment of observed changes in the areal extent of temperature and precipitation extremes', Journal of Climate, vol. 28, pp. 9206 - 9220, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00753.1

Herring SC; Hoerling MP; Peterson TC; Stott PA, 2014, 'Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 95, pp. S1 - S104, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477-95.9.s1.1

Lewis SC; Karoly DJ, 2014, 'THE ROLE OF ANTHROPOGENIC FORCING IN THE RECORD 2013 AUSTRALIA-WIDE ANNUAL AND SPRING TEMPERATURES', BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, vol. 95, pp. S31 - S34, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000344820500009&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1

Perkins SE; Lewis SC; King AD; Alexander LV, 2014, 'INCREASED SIMULATED RISK OF THE HOT AUSTRALIAN SUMMER OF 2012/13 DUE TO ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITY AS MEASURED BY HEAT WAVE FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY', BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, vol. 95, pp. S34 - S37, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000344820500010&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1

Lewis SC; LeGrande AN; Schmidt GA; Kelley M, 2014, 'Comparison of forced ENSO-like hydrological expressions in simulations of the preindustrial and mid-holocene', Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 119, pp. 7064 - 7082, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020961

Lewis SC; Karoly DJ, 2014, 'Assessment of forced responses of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) 1.3 in CMIP5 historical detection and attribution experiments', Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, vol. 64, pp. 87 - 101, http://dx.doi.org/10.22499/2.6402.001

Lewis SC; Karoly DJ; Yu M, 2014, 'Quantitative estimates of anthropogenic contributions to extreme national and State monthly, seasonal and annual average temperatures for Australia', Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, vol. 64, pp. 215 - 230, http://dx.doi.org/10.22499/2.6403.004

Dittus AJ; Karoly DJ; Lewis SC; Alexander LV, 2014, 'An investigation of some unexpected frost day increases in Southern Australia', Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, vol. 64, pp. 261 - 271, http://dx.doi.org/10.22499/2.6404.002

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