Climate Change In Australia's Landscapes: Landscape Analysis

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Analysing the Effects of Climate Change on Australia’s Landscapes

The surface of the Earth is perpetually changing at varying rates and magnitudes across different regions of the planet, due to a range of lateral transport processes (Merali & Skinner. 2009). The most prevalent of these processes include water, mass movement, ice, and wind. As these lateral transport processes function under and are influenced by the current climatic conditions, the ramifications of climate change on the Earth’s surface processes are pervasive. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines climate change as “any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity” (IPCC. 2014). The

Global geomorphic provinces, thus, are key to understanding landscapes as the physical appearance and surface processes of the Earth are due to its location on a tectonic plate. Water transport processes are the primary geomorphic process in all areas of Australia encompassing temperatures above freezing point and rainfall, ranging from tropical, humid regions to arid desert. Mass movement is prominent in alpine and subalpine regions, with a high degree of slope and thick soil. Transport by ice, on the contrary, does not require a gradient and temperatures must be below freezing point, with the net snowfall being greater than the net melt. Hence, ice transport processes are most common in areas of high altitude and in the polar regions, whilst wind transport processes occur primarily in flat, arid desert regions of

Changes in water transport processes may decrease local slope stability, reduce rainfall infiltration rates, increase soil erodibility, and induce higher water loss and soil erosion problems, leading to an increase in land degradation throughout the continent and potentially altering agricultural production zones (Wei et al. 2009). It is, therefore, likely that this instability will play a crucial role in the occurrence and magnitude of mass movement events, particularly within mountain belts where erosion rates are higher. Hence, climate change will continue to reshape Australia’s alpine regions, as mass movement events lead to physical changes to Australia’s landscape and topography. Increased wind strength will also have a significant impact on the plain-lands of Australia, as well as coastal areas where erosion is on the rise. As a result, physical changes to coastal landscapes will become more pronounced, as sediments and bedrock are increasingly removed from the shoreline. Consequently, it is evident that Australia’s landscape zones will be greatly impacted by changes in climatic conditions, which will thereby alter the effects of lateral transport