Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi

Beginning his academic career at UWA more than 30 years ago, Professor Pattiaratchi researches ocean mysteries to improve the future of our seas.

He studies climate change effects in WA’s coastal regions and how it links to ocean currents, wind and wave climate, sea level variability, coastal flooding and beach stability.

Much of his research looks at analysing data to forecast ocean weather and issue warnings for tsunamis, storm surges and coral bleaching.

As part of this research, Professor Pattiaratchi was a member of the international team behind the development of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, which was built to alert nations within the Indian Ocean region about impending tsunamis.

Over his research career, Professor Pattiaratchi has received more than $25 million in funding for his studies on coastal physical oceanography and coastal sediment transport, with an emphasis on field experiments and numerical modelling.

In recent years, Professor Pattiaratchi has been studying ocean currents to determine where the plane wreckage of flight MH370 might be. His research includes modelling the locations debris has floated to, based on the ocean’s currents and making predictions on where it is thought the plane crashed.

Another area of Professor Pattiaratchi’s research is examining underwater ocean gliders from around Australia to see how the ocean is changing. The gliders are controlled by satellites, collecting real-time data on temperature, salinity, density, chlorophyll, oxygen and suspended sediment.

Professor Pattiaratchi has supervised more than 30 PhD students and more than 100 honours students, and has been published in more than 300 journals on topics relating to coastal oceanography. These publications include in excess of 100 in peer-reviewed international journals. He also teaches the units, Environmental Engineering Design Project 1 and Environmental Systems.