Updates on Cave Climate Data Collection in Australia

Back in 2020, in the depths of COVID lockdowns here in Australia, the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association organised a cave climate ‘baseline monitoring’ project. The cave climate monitoring of Australasian caves continues. I last provided an update in July 2025. Six months on...

http://andy-baker.org/2026/01/08/updates-on-cave-climate-data-collection-in-australia/

#caves #climate #research #ACKMA

Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association Conference, Wellington Caves

Last week, the ACKMA conference was hosted at the wonderful Wellington Caves & Holiday Park.

I was fortunate to both present the lastest groundwater research results, and also and co-lead some cave tours with the delegates.

That's not in my usual day job!
You can read more about how it all went here....

https://andy-baker.org/2025/09/12/australasian-cave-and-karst-management-association-conference-wellington-caves/

#ACKMA #caves #groundwater #science #environment

Ongoing Cave Climate Data Collection in Australia

Back in 2020, in the depths of COVID lockdowns here in Australia, the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association organised a cave climate 'baseline monitoring' project. At that time, numerous tourist caves were closed to visitors. The opportunity was taken to record the cave climate. Data loggers were calibrated and shipped to the participating cave organisations. They regularly sent back cave temperature and relative humidity data....

http://andy-baker.org/2025/07/20/ongoing-cave-climate-data-collection-in-australia/

#caves #climate #ACKMA #communityscience #citizenscience

Almost five years of cave climate monitoring in Australia and New Zealand

It was back in 2020 and COVID lockdowns that ACKMA, the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association, decided to lead a volunteer, citizen science project to measure the 'baseline cave climate'. That is, to collect data for the first time for tourist caves which were temporarily closed at the start of the pandemic. Move forward almost five years, and cave climate data is still being collected from some of the original participating caves....

http://andy-baker.org/2025/04/22/almost-five-years-of-cave-climate-monitoring-in-australia-and-new-zealand/

#caves #climate #citizenscience #ACKMA

Four years of cave climate monitoring

Back in COVID lookdowns, some Australian Cave and Karst Management Association (ACKMA) members decided to start some baseline cave climate monitoring. What was the climate of the caves without tourists? Four years later, the caves have reopened. Some have closed and opened again due to fire, flood or maintenance. And the climate data keeps on coming. We (myself, Andy Spate and David Gillieson) have written up the first four years of data in the ACKMA Journal, volume 136.

http://andy-baker.org/2024/09/23/four-years-of-cave-climate-monitoring/

#caves #climate #science #geology #academia #environmentalscience #ACKMA

Australia and New Zealand Cave Climate Monitoring Update

Starting in the pandemic and COVID lockdowns, the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association (ACKMA) established a cave climate monitoring program to find out the baseline climate of tourist caves across the region. Four years on, and some of the participating of organizations are still collecting cave temperature and humidity data. Thanks to the amazing team at ACKMA, this is publicly available to explore at....

http://andy-baker.org/2024/05/14/australia-and-new-zealand-cave-climate-monitoring-update/

#caves #climate #citizenscience #science #Australia #ACKMA #environment

Over three years of Australian cave climate data

In 2020, members of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association (ACKMA) grouped together to set up a regional cave climate monitoring program. At the time, tourist caves were largely closed due to COVID-19, and a baseline study was envisaged.

http://andy-baker.org/2024/02/06/over-three-years-of-australian-cave-climate-data/

#caves #climate #science #citizenscience #envionment #ACKMA

During the #covid lockdowns, the Australasian #cave community set up a cave #climate monitoring project. The idea was to get a 'baseline' climate for when the caves were less visited. Everything is done on a volunteer basis.

Over two years later, many caves are still collecting data, which I process and which is made publicly available on the www.ackma.org website.

Today I was processing climate data from the tropical North Queensland Chilligoe Caves. Here's a sneak peak.

2022 has been a bit cooler than recent years due to the strong La Nina and Indian Ocean Dipole, and that is reflected in the cave climate. In this example, you can also see the cave temperature cooling in late winter, and warming to a maximum in late summer.

You can read more about the Chilligoe Caves here:
https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/chillagoe-caves

#science #SciComm #caves #environment #earthscience #geology #ackma