Cloud properties over the Great Barrier Reef and its interaction with local conditions

This thesis aims to advance our understanding of the key cloud-climate interactions over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in order to provide new insight into the hypothesised local cloud-climate interactions between solar forcing, SSTs and cloud albedo. This thesis used a range of decade-long available observational and reanalysis products to construct long-term cloud variability across the GBR, and highlight the importance of isolated local cloud in coral bleaching. A range of sensitivity experiments were also designed to reveal how sensitive of cloud and precipitation properties across the GBR in response to local forcings, including orography, local SST, and aerosol loading.