Ms. Jen McWhorter

Universities of Queensland and Exeter

Ms. Jen McWhorter’s joint PhD between the Universities of Queensland and Exeter (QUEX) explores a unique methodology for improving climate projections on coral reef environments. She began her PhD following 8 years of experience in marine spatial planning, ocean observations, and marine policy, most recently from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Commonly seen in the literature, downscaling General Circulation Models over coral reef environments tend to lack important coastal complexities for climate projections.

Ms. McWhorter has been developing a unique method using a vertical 1-D physical-biogeochemical model to drive various 21st century climate change projections over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). By calculating many 1-D individual profiles, the model accounts for key drivers of vertical mixing using local bathymetry, tides, and atmospheric inputs then outputting various water column properties such as surface and bottom temperature, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). These projections provide a more detailed analysis of the frequency and severity of warming events into the future while using relatively simple computing.