To develop high-quality, Australian oceanographic modelling systems for applications in the marine environment both in Australia and overseas ...

Our History

In 1993 GEMS brought Australian atmospheric and ocean models to the environmental consulting community to compete with software from overseas.

The GEMS 3D Coastal Ocean Model (GCOM3D) has gained wide acceptance since then for accurate modelling of coastal ocean currents and tides.  It has been used in  studies including oil spill prediction, sediment plumes, storm surges, water quality and search and rescue.

The GEMS Mesoscale Atmospheric Prediction System (MAPS) has been used for high-resolution wind modelling, for atmospheric pollution studies, forecasting for Americas Cup challenges and was the highest resolution model (1 km) used at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

In the past we have used third party software from overseas for some of our environmental add-on applications.  At times we have found this frustrating due to our inability to make software changes and now we only use Australian developed and supported software.

We thank you for your support in the past and look forward to your continued support of our efforts to provide quality scientific ocean and atmospheric modeling.

The business...

Our Staff

The GEMS philosophy has been to assemble a small core group of scientists covering a range of disciplines (meteorology, physical oceanography, marine biology, coastal engineering, computer science) and to forge strategic links with University and Government research scientists.  

Staff

Dr Graeme Hubbert

Oceanographer

Dr Graeme Hubbert has spent most of his working life in oceanographic research and is internationally recognized for his atmospheric and ocean modelling work.  In 1984 he was the first person in Australia to develop and use a 3 dimensional ocean model for coastal studies.  In 1985 he was the first oceanographer employed by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology where he developed marine forecast models for Australia.  In 1993,  Dr. Hubbert left the Government research world to establish Global Environmental Modelling Systems (GEMS) with the aim of applying state-of-the-art numerical modelling to the many atmospheric and marine environmental problems faced world wide by Governments and industry. See Dr Hubbert's CV.

Stephen Oliver

Meteorologist

Steve Oliver is a meteorologist with extensive experience in operational weather forecasting and environmental risk analysis. He joined the Bureau of Meteorology in 1979 and worked in the Perth and Melbourne Regional Forecasting Centres, before moving to the Bureau’s newly formed commercial consulting group (SSU) in 1992. Steve became Deputy National Manager of the SSU, and had responsibility for managing a range of projects with a major focus on meteorological and oceanographic risk including wind storm and storm surge projects. He was also involved in the development of the state-of-the–art search and rescue system now installed at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority

In 1997 he joined the GEMS team and has become a director of the company. He has continued to develop environmental risk analysis techniques and systems to enhance the application of meteorological and oceanographic science to real-world problems. See Steve's CV.

Matt Eliot

Coastal Engineer

Matt Eliot is a coastal engineer with over 13 years professional experience covering a wide range of coastal, estuarine and maritime projects around Australia. He has been involved in all phases of coastal engineering projects, including investigations, analysis, design, contract management, site supervision, project management, project review and structure failure assessment. Matt joined Coastal Information and Engineering Services in 1993 and assisted with the Dawesville Channel Project, design of Exmouth Boat Harbour and the Western Australian State Government maintenance dredging program.

From 1996 to 2002, Matt worked with Egis Consulting Australia (formerly CMPS&F Pty Ltd) as part of the marine and coastal engineering team. Highlight projects included review of Bunbury storm surge barrier operations, refurbishment of Broome Jetty and Coral Bay boat launching facility investigations, with a wide range of design and construction projects throughout Australia and Southeast Asia.

In 2002, Matt commenced work as an independent coastal engineer, through Damara WA Pty Ltd. Within this role, he has undertaken an increasing number of projects in collaboration with GEMS, including dredge plume modelling at Dampier and cyclone impact studies for Efate and Tuvalu. In 2006, Matt joined GEMS in a more formal capacity, working on a range of projects throughout the Australian region. Recent projects include wave climate assessment for Mooloolaba, wave load analysis for Gold Coast Desalination Plant and cyclonic inundation studies for Coral Bay and Quobba.

See Matt's CV.

Jason Catlin

GIS Spatial Scientist

Jason has recently joined the team at GEMS and brings extensive experience in Geospatial technologies. Jason has 12 years experience in this field and is very passionate about Geospatial Technology and believes that “GIS can make the difference”.  He has been heavily involved in GIS software development and implementation solutions across a range of industries.  Jason was involved in developing the first web mapping application – The Victorian Marine and Coastal Atlas.  Jason then moved into consulting and was the Client Services Manager for ESRI Australia where he provided sales and technical support to clients in South-East Australia.  Jason then moved across to ESRI’s mobile software development division Maptel.  It was here that Jason managed the ‘CommandMap’ project which was a $2.6million Research and Development project funded partly through AusIndustry.  The aim of this project was to demonstrate that mobile GIS can assist in managing emergency incidents in real time, and that wireless technology adapted to Australian emergency conditions can provide for dynamic data exchange from field personnel back to the central command centres of one or more emergency services, as well as dynamic data exchange between (selected) field personnel.  The project is now completed and organisations across Australia and internationally have adopted the ‘CommandMap’ technology.

He has developed and applied his knowledge in a range of industry sectors including commonwealth, state and local government agencies, the resource industry, natural resource agencies, private consulting and community sectors.

Jason’s GIS experience ranges from project planning and development through to field based, desktop and backend server implementation.

See CV.

Scientific Collaborators

Dr Graham Shorten

Dr Graham Shorten, Director of Environmental & Community Risk International Pty Ltd (ECRi) has over 30 years of experience in Australasia and Asia-Pacific in the fields of disaster-risk assessment, geotechnical engineering and engineering geology. He has worked in private, academic, government and international organisations including the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), CSIRO Division of Geomechanics, Mineral Resources Department of Fiji (MRD), and the Queensland Department of Mines.  Graham has spent much of that time as a scientific-engineering adviser involved in both applied and research projects dealing with natural and human-induced hazards.  He has lived in several Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries and worked widely in the region.

Graham has a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Sydney, and an MSc in Applied Geology from the University of Queensland.  He has authored and co-authored internationally-refereed papers, presentations and reports on natural disaster risk management, participatory community disaster mitigation, disaster risk assessment, risk-GIS databases, risk-financing for catastrophes, earthquake microzoning, the mechanics of organic soils, and the impacts of earthquakes on ground failure in developing countries.

He has represented the Pacific Islands region through SOPAC in a variety of international meetings ranging from global climate change to earthquake engineering. Graham represented the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) in 1998 at the International Conference on the Radiological Situation at the Atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, held at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, and was appointed scientific adviser to the South Pacific Forum Leaders Tour of nuclear transport and reprocessing facilities in Japan in the same year.  Most of the projects in the Pacific region have involved working closely with regional and international bank and donor organisations.

With a background in geotechnical modelling and geographic information systems, Graham has a firm commitment to the use of earth, ocean and atmospheric modelling in contributing to the solution of many of the problems confronting developing countries.   The outputs of numerical modelling such as visualisations and animations provide valuable information that can be readily understood and adopted by people from any language group or background.

Dr Kathleen McInnes

Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Atmospheric Research

Dr Kathleen McInnes joined CSIRO Atmospheric Research in 1990. Since 1993, she has applied her numerical modelling skills to the modelling and understanding of tides and storm surges and the physical processes leading to coastal flooding. In recognition of some of her early work in coastal research, Kathy was invited to become a contributing author on the Coastal Zones and Small Islands chapter of the Second Assessment Report of the IPCC Working Group II.

Kathy has also undertaken and coordinated a large number of contract based-research projects focussing on coastal issues during her time at CSIRO. Recent projects have seen the development of algorithms to include the effect of waves on coastal sea levels to examine the role of storm surge and wave setup on extreme sea levels on the coast of NSW.

Kathy also remains an active contributor to the underpinning science of climate change research where her specific interest is the impact of climate change on severe weather systems that are responsible for coastal flooding and degradation. She has been involved in the analysis of Global Climate Model simulations of extra-tropical cyclones and severe winds. This analysis has involved the use of automated tracking software to monitor the frequency, intensity and movement of cyclones that develop in the simulated climates.

Oilspill Software
	It is now 14 years since Graeme Hubbert first began to provide oil spill risk assessment services to the Australian oil industry in response to the need for accurate ocean modelling.

Contact Details

Melbourne Office

Perth Office