The Centre For Water Research

Over the last 30 years the Centre for Water Research, at The University of Western Australia, has made major contributions to the understanding of the transport and mixing processes in stratified lakes, estuaries and coastal seas. Our research has been funded by Australian Research Council grants, water utilities, international funding bodies and research agencies, industry and private individuals. [more information]

CWR delivers a strong postgraduate programme in natural systems engineering. Project areas range from environmental fluid dynamics, aquatic ecosystems dynamics, to sustainability. The tools employed include field experiments, numerical modelling and laboratory investigations. [more information]

Over the last 30 years, CWR's instrumentation and software development together with our deep understanding of fundamental process understanding have laid the foundations for adaptive realtime management. The fundamental understanding was made possible through the development of the fine-scale profiler, portable flux profile and a combined sensor chain and meteorological station, the Lake Diagnostic System (LDS). Our process understanding provided the basis for the development of three major models : the 3D Estuarine, Lake, Coastal Ocean Model (ELCOM), a hydrodynamic driver, the Computational Aquatic Ecosystem Dynamics Model (CAEDYM) and the Adaptive Realtime Management System model (ARMS).

ARMS is a decision support system to aid managers and operators of surface water bodies (reservoirs, lakes, rivers, estuaries, coastal oceans). Its underlying philosophy is to provide an automated software system that requires minimal maintenance to monitor and forecast the conditions of surface water resources and notify relevant staff of current conditions on a regular basis. [more information]