Professor Nigel Tapper

Professor Nigel Tapper holds a Personal Chair in Environmental Science at Monash University where he is currently Head of the School of Geography and Environmental Science.  Until February 2007 he was Foundation Director of the Monash Sustainability Institute, a University research institute responsible for facilitating and coordinating Monash-wide research across the key themes of Climate, Water, Energy, Biodiversity and Transport.  He was also Joint Coordinator of the Monash Atmospheric Science Program until 2006.  Nigel has current research interests in surface- atmosphere interaction, climate change and variability and climate impacts, including urban environments and fire.  He is particularly known for his work on the meteorology and climatology of Australia’s arid zone and seasonally wet tropics and for his collaborative work on the climate dynamics of the maritime continent (the vast area of tropical ocean and islands lying to the north of Australia that plays a critical role in Australia’s climate). He has been a Chief Investigator/ Project Leader on a number of international meteorological field experiments in the region, including AMEX (Australian Monsoon Experiment), MCTEX (Maritime Continent Field Experiment), and more recently TWP-ICE (Tropical Warm Pool – International Cloud Experiment), CAFÉ (Central Australian Fronts Experiment), GLEX (Gulf Lines Experiment) and SAFE (the Savanna Fire Experiment) that has demonstrated the strong links between fire and climate in the Australian tropical savannas.  In October 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with former US Vice-President Al Gore). Nigel, along with many other scientists contributed to the work of the IPCC that lead to the award of that prize.  Nigel is co-author of the classic text on Australian climate and weather (Sturman, A. and Tapper, N., The Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand, Oxford University Press, 2nd edn. 2005), and recently co-edited Bridging Wallace's Line: Environmental and Human History and Dynamics of the Southeast Asian-Australian Region (Springer-Verlag, 2002).  He has also had two other books, ten book chapters and over 100 research publications in an academic career spanning nearly 25 years.  He has held ARC competitive funding almost continuously since 1985.

I contribute to eight graduate/undergraduate units in climatology/applied climatology/sustainability/physical geography in most years, including:

1. GES3370/ATM3370 Applied Environmental Climatology. Covers climate-health interactions, integrated assessment and climate change, air quality and the built environment.  Coordinated by Prof. Tapper 2006, contribute most years
2. ENV4040/ENV5040 Frontiers in Environment and Sustainability. This unit provides students with a fundamental technical understanding of a range of contemporary and emerging environmental issues affecting the human condition such as water quality and scarcity, global warming and climate extremes, waste management, etc.  Coordinated by Prof. Tapper 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
3. GES2190/ATM2211 Climatology:Surface-Atmosphere Processes and Interactions.  Covers energy balance principles and boundary layer processes and provides an understanding of topoclimatology. Coordinated by Prof. Tapper 2008, contribute most years.
4. GES3260/ENV4260 Cultural Landscape, Environment and Sustainability in Italy.  Introduces students to the unique environment and cultural landscape of the Cinque Terre region and discusses sustainability practice in the context of an environment under considerable social, economic and environmental pressure as a consequence of tourism. Coordinated by Prof. Tapper 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

1. Department of Human Services, Victoria, 2007.  Development of a heat watch warning system for Melbourne.   Nicholls, N., Skinner, C., Loughnan, M. and N. Tapper “A simple heat alert system for Melbourne [production of a system based on relationship between mortality and climate extremes for Melbourne that can be used in conjunction with B.O.M. weather forecasts]
2. Australian Greenhouse Office, 2006. The scope for the palaeorecord to evaluate the historical climate regime and its effects on fire regimes in Australia. A. Lynch, N. Tapper and others.

Books and Book Chapters

Sturman, A. and N. Tapper 2005, The Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 541 pp.  (ISBN 9 78019558 4660 ISBN 0 19 558466 X).
Kershaw, A., B. David, N. Tapper, D. Penny and J. Brown (eds.) 2002, Bridging Wallace's Line: Environmental and Human History and Dynamics of the Southeast Asian-Australian Region, Advances in Geoecology 34, Catena, Germany, 360 pp. (ISBN 3-923381-47-6)
Tapper, N., 2002,  “Australia and New Zealand”, p.407-412 in McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9th  edition, Volume 2,  McGraw-Hill, New York (in 20 Volumes).
Beringer, J., N. Tapper, I. McHugh, T. Chapin and A. Lynch, 2002, “The role of treeline in the location of the Arctic Front”, p.133-136 in Holland, P. Stephenson, F and A. Wearing (eds.) 2001, Geography a Spatial Odyssey.  New Zealand Geographical Society Conference Series No.21, 438pp. (ISSN 1174-7250).
Tapper, N., 2002,  "Climate, climatic variability and atmospheric circulation patterns in the Maritime Continent region." Chapter 2, p.5-28 in Kershaw, A., B. David, N. Tapper, D. Penny and J. Brown (eds.).  Bridging Wallace's Line: Environmental and Human History and Dynamics of the Southeast Asian-Australian Region, Advances in Geoecology, 34, Catena, Germany, 360 pp. (ISBN 3-923381-47-6)
David, B., A. Kershaw and N. Tapper, 2002 “Bringing home the Antipodes”,  Chapter 1, p.1-4 in Kershaw, A., B. David, N. Tapper, D. Penny and J. Brown (eds.).  Bridging Wallace's Line: Environmental and Human History and Dynamics of the Southeast Asian-Australian Region, Advances in Geoecology, 34, Catena, Germany, 360 pp. (ISBN 3-923381-47-6).
Applegate, G., R. Smith, J. Fox, A. Mitchell, D. Packham, N. Tapper and G. Baines, 2002  Forest and Forest Land Fires in Indonesia: Impacts and Solutions.  Chapter 13 (p293-308). in Colfer, C and I. Resosudarmo (eds)  Which Way Forward? Forests, Policy and People in Indonesia, RFF Press, Washington D.C., USA, 433pp.

Articles Submitted, Accepted and Published

Loughnan, M., N. Nicholls and N. Tapper  2008 “The impact of unseasonable temperature on AMI admissions to hospital in a city with a temperate climate, Melbourne, Australia.”  International Journal of Biometeorology (submitted June 2008)
Tapper, N. and F. D’Aprile 2008 “Incendi, siccità e inondazioni: brevi riflessioni su alcuni cambiamenti climatici. implicazioni per il settore forestale in Australia [Fire, drought and flood : brief reflections on some climate change implications for the Forestry Sector in Australia].” Annals of the Italian Academy of Forestry Science (submitted May 2008)
D’Aprile, F. and N. Tapper 2008  “Approchio allo studio degli effetti delle alterazioni climatiche sull’ Abete Bianco (Abies Alba mill.) in Toscana [Approaches to the study of the effects of climate change on Silver Fir (Abies Alba mill.) in Tuscany],”   Annals of the Italian Academy of Forestry Science (submitted May 2008)
DeDeckker, P., Abed, R., de Beer, D., Hinrichs, K, O’Loingsigh, T., Schefuss, E., Stuut, J., Tapper, N., and S. van der Kaars 2008, “Geochemical and microbiological fingerprinting of airborne dust that fell in Canberra, Australia in October 2002.”  Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (submitted May, 2008  http://gcubed-submit.agu.org/cgi-bin/main.plex?el=A7BX5DwPY7A7JTz4F2A9IKhESMaWk7NwINawXhQiwZ)
Kanniah, K. ,Beringer, J., Tapper, N., Long, C., Hutley, L. and Zhu, X., 2008, “Interactions between aerosols, solar radiation and net ecosystem productivity in northern Australian savannas.” Journal of Geophysical Research (submitted December 2007)
Loughnan, M., Nicholls, N. and N. Tapper  2008, “Demographic, seasonal and spatial differences in Acute Myocardial Infarction admissions to hospital in Melbourne Australia.”  (accepted June, 2008 http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/imedia/1572380848198596_article.pdf
Packham, D., Tapper, N., Griepsma, D., Freidli, H., Hellings, J., and S. Burns, 2008, “Mercury in the Australian environment: a preliminary investigation of biomatter and soils.” Clean Air.  (accepted March 2008)
Coutts, A., Beringer, J. and N. Tapper, 2008, “Investigating the climatic impact of urban planning strategies through the use of regional climate modelling: a case study for Melbourne, Australia”, International Journal of Climatology (accepted December 2007)
David, B., Araho, N., Kuaso, A., Moffat, I., and N. Tapper 2008  The Upihoi find: wrecked wooden Bevaia (Lagatoi) hulls of Epemeavo village, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.  Australian Archaeology 66, 1-14.
Coutts A.M., Beringer J., Tapper N., 2008 Changing urban climate and CO2 emissions: implications for the development of policies for sustainable cities.  Urban Policy and Research. (accepted March 2008).
Burns, S., Tapper, N., Packham, D., Orlove, B. and Nicholls, N.,  2008  The relationship between fire activity, rainfall and ENSO indices in northern Australia.  International Journal of Wildland Fire (accepted April 2008)
Nicholls, N., Skinner, C., Loughnan, M. and N. Tapper  2007  A simple heat alert system for Melbourne, Australia.  International Journal of Biometeorology. (pre-published online) doi:10.1007/s00484-007-0132-5
Curl, A., Dunkerley, D. and N. Tapper, 2007, “Willy-willies in the Australian landscape: Sediment transport characteristics”, Journal of Arid Environments (pre-published online) doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.03.014
Curl, A., Tapper, N. and D. Dunkerley, 2007, “Willy-willies in the Australian landscape: the role of key meteorological variables and surface conditions in defining frequency and spatial characteristics”, Journal of Arid Environments (pre-published online) doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.03.008
Wendt, C., Beringer, J., Tapper, N. and Hutley, L., 2007, “Local boundary-layer development over burnt and unburnt savanna: an observational study”, Boundary-Layer Meteorology 124, 291-304, DOI 10.1007/s10546-006-9148-3
Arcari, P., Tapper, N. and Pfueller, S. 2007, “Relationships between dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and climate in Indonesia”, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (accepted July 2006)
Coutts, A., Beringer, A. and N. Tapper, 2007, “Impact of increasing urban density on local climate: spatial and temporal variations in the surface energy balance in Melbourne, Australia”, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 47 (4) 477-493, DOI: 10.1175/JAM2462.1
Lynch A., Beringer J., Kershaw P., Marshall A., Mooney S., Tapper N., Turney C. and Van Der Kaars S., 2007 “The scope for the palaeorecord to evaluate climate and fire interactions in Australia”, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 35, 215-40
Beringer, J., Hutley, L., Tapper, N. and Cernusak, L., 2007, “Savanna fires and their impact on Net Ecosystem Productivity” Global Change Biology, 13, 990–1004, Doi: 10.1111/J.1365-2486.2007.01334.X
Coutts, A., Beringer, J. and N. Tapper, 2006, “Characteristics influencing the variability of urban CO2 fluxes in Melbourne, Australia”, Atmospheric Environment, 41, 51-62, oi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2206.08.030.
Cernusak, L. Hutley, L., Beringer, J. and N. Tapper, 2006, Stem and leaf gas exchange and their responses to fire in a north Australian tropical savanna.” Plant, Cell and Environment 29, 632-646.
Burns, S., Tapper, N. and D. Packham, 2005, “The spatial and temporal distribution of dry season fire on Indigenous lands of north-central Arnhem Land: A feasibility study using MODIS satellite imagery.”  Spatial Science Biennial Conferenece: Spatial Intelligence, Innovation and Praxis, Melbourne, p.89-98.
Beringer, J., Hutley, L., Tapper, N., Coutts, A., Kerley, A. and O’Grady, A.  2003, “Fire impacts on surface heat, moisture and carbon fluxes from a tropical savanna in northern Australia.”  International Journal of Wildland Fire, (Special Issue, Fire and Savanna Landscapes in Northern Australia, Regional Lessons and Global Challenges)12:333-340.
De Deckker, P., N. Tapper and S. Van der Kaars, 2002, “The Status of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool and adjacent land at the Last Glacial Maximum.”   Global and Planetary Change, 35, 25-35.
Beringer, J. and N. Tapper, 2002, “Surface energy exchanges and interactions with thunderstorms during the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (MCTEX).”  Journal of Geophysical Research, 107 (D27), AAC 3-1 – AAC3-13.

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