Laure Poncet
Editor
Contents
4 President ' s report 6 AMOS 2026 Highlights
10 Australian early-to-mid summer 2025-26: a land divided by polarising extremes
12 Our Future Oceans: Inside Australia ' s new national ARC Centre of Excellence
14 ACCESS-ESM1.6 enters the global stage through CMIP7
16 Farewell to Emma Johnston 18 AMOS Fellows 2026
20 Mac Benoy: 2026 SA Senior Australian of the year
26 Charts of the Past 27 Calendar & JSHESS content
ISSN 1035‐6576 Editor: Laure Poncet Editor‐in‐Chief: Damien Irving Assistant Editors: Linden Ashcroft and Blair Trewin Design: Laure Poncet Publisher: AMOS
Contact and submit pieces: bamos @ amos. org. au. Submission guidelines are available online and at the end of this issue.
Cover Image: Coogee Beach, Sydney, 10 February 2026. Credit: Laure Poncet
Other images in this publication: Photographs without a specified source are obtained via the‘ pexels’ website and hyperlinked to the original image online.
Welcome to the summer issue of BAMOS!
I hope you all had a relaxing break over December and January( February for the lucky ones). Although this comes a little late, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful 2026, full of exciting science, collaboration, health, adventure and joy.
This summer brought its share of extremes across Australia, from cyclones in Western Australia to floods in North Queensland and record-breaking heatwaves and bushfires in Victoria. These events remind us of the transboundary nature of extremes and the importance of building resilience. I hope everyone stayed safe and still enjoyed the warm season. In this issue, Dr Corey Robinson provides a recap of some of these summer extremes up to late January( p. 10).
Personally, I spent most of the summer( December and January) in Switzerland. January was particularly dry, with very little snow cover, which meant less skiing. While winter is usually the joyful season in Switzerland, this year was different, marked by a major tragedy: the Crans-Montana fire, which claimed 41 young lives and injured 116 others. This devastating event brought the whole country into deep sorrow on the first day of the year, and I ' d like to pay my deepest respects to the victims and their families.
During my time in Switzerland, I also learned of the passing of Professor Emma Johnston. While I didn ' t know Emma, I could appreciate from the outpouring of messages how much she was loved, admired and respected for her deep passion for science, her generosity, mentorship and leadership, brilliant communication and her tireless advocacy for the environment and future generations. In this issue, Kylie Walker and Rob Brooks pay tribute to her remarkable life and work( p. 16). Vale Emma!
Alongside this heartfelt tribute, this issue celebrates achievements in our community, and we are thrilled to welcome our new AMOS Fellows: Nerilie Abram, Michael Coughlan, Angela Maharaj, Andrea Taschetto and Andrew Watkins( p. 18). Huge congratulations to all of them! We also congratulate Mac Benoy on being recognised as the 2026 SA Senior Australian of the Year for his significant contribution to climate change research in his role as a volunteer citizen scientist. You can read more about Mac ' s achievements on p. 20.
While I could write even more, I ' ll leave you to enjoy this issue. I ' d suggest starting with Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick ' s report( p. 4) and the AMOS 2026 highlights( p. 6) by Melissa Lyne to recap the great week you all seem to have had in Nipaluna / Hobart during the AMOS 2026 Annual Conference.
My sincere thanks to all the contributing authors who made this issue possible, and as always, please feel free to send any submissions, seasonal snaps or feedback to bamos @ amos. org. au.