JCU > Research Portfolio > Dr HanShe Lim

About

My research interests are in the hydrological response behaviour of tropical catchments, especially catchments which experience distinct rainfall seasonality. I've combined both fieldwork and hydrological modelling techniques to better understand rainfall-runoff response behaviour.

An important area of research activity focuses on urban stormwater remediation using blue green infrastructure and water sensitive urban design techniques to achieve hydrological and stormwater runoff quality improvements. This work includes historical and indigeneous knowledges to better understand hydrological processes and events (e.g. floods) for the purpose of improved catchment management.

Areas that I have worked in include Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, China and now Australia often with a multi-disciplinary group of scientists and government agencies.

Current projects:

a) Blue green infrastructure and flood mitigation (tropical coastal cities)

b) Preferential water and nutrient movement via palaeochannels

c) Palaeofloods (what boulders tell us about floods)

d) Catchment water balance modelling using stable water isotopes

e) Smart tropical urban catchments (smart sensing, water sensitive urban design, liveability)**

f) Rainfall-runoff response behaviour of forested tropical catchments

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Information about some of the latest projects I'm involved in:

https://science.des.qld.gov.au/government/science-division/water-and-coastal/water-modelling-network/projects

Also check out the exciting work that I am involved in with my academic group members here:

JCU Land and Water Science: https://www.landwaterscience.com/
Tropical Urbanism and Design Lab: https://www.jcu.edu.au/TUDLab/research-projects/urban-water

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Please contact me if you are interested to work with me and my colleagues on the above listed projects.

Information about graduate studies at JCU is available here:

https://www.jcu.edu.au/graduate-research-school

**This project won the Program Innovation Award at the 2019 Queensland Water Awards (https://watersource.awa.asn.au/technology/innovation/queenslands-most-innovative-celebrated-at-water-industry-awards/).

Teaching

EA2006: Hydrology (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
EA3007: Field Studies in Tropical Land and Water Science (Level 3; CNS)
EA3008: Advanced Hydrology (Level 3; CNS)
EA5016: Hydrology (Level 5; CNS & TSV)
EA5018: Field Studies in Tropical Land and Water Science (Level 5; CNS)
EA5090: Applied Hydrology (Level 5; CNS)
EV3454: Natural Hazards (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
EV5454: Natural Hazards (Level 5; CNS & TSV)

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Cheesman A, Todd S, Owen L, AhKee D, Lim H, Masson M and Nelson P (2023) In-drain denitrifying woodchip bioreactors for reducing nitrogen runoff from sugarcane. Ecological Engineering, 192.
Lim H (2023) What happens to nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient contributions from green roofs as they age? A review. Environmental Advances, 12.
Duvert C, Lim H, Irvine D, Bird M, Bass A, Tweed S, Hutley L and Munksgaard N (2022) Hydrological processes in tropical Australia: Historical perspective and the need for a catchment observatory network to address future development. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 43.
Lim H, Munksgaard N and Bird M (2022) Revisiting Michael Bonell's work on humid tropical rainforest catchments: Isotope tracers reveal seasonal shifts in catchment hydrology. Hydrological Processes, 36 (10).
Sari D, Margules C, Lim H, Sayer J, Boedhihartono A, MacGregor C, Dale A and Poon E (2022) Performance Auditing to Assess the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Indonesia. Sustainability, 14 (19).
Lim H, Segovia E and Ziegler A (2021) Water quality impacts of young green roofs in a tropical city: a case study from Singapore. Blue-Green Systems, 3 (1). pp. 145-163
Sari D, Margules C, Lim H, Widyatmaka F, sayer J, Dale A and MacGregor C (2021) Evaluating policy coherence: a case study of peatland forests on the Kampar Peninsula landscape, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 105.
Wasson R, Ziegler A, Lim H, Teo E, Lam D, Higgitt D, Rittenour T, Ramdzan K, Chuah C and Singhvi A (2021) Episodically volatile high energy non-cohesive river-floodplain systems: new information from the Ping River, Thailand, and a global review. Geomorphology, 382.
Powell L, Lim H, Brown I, Huang T, Munksgaard N, Randall M, Holdsworth J and Cook H (2020) Innovation through collaboration: improving urban water management for a reef council. Water e-journal, 5 (3).
Riggs R, Langston J, Margules C, Boedhihartono A, Lim H, Sari D, Sururi Y and Sayer J (2018) Governance challenges in an Eastern Indonesian forest landscape. Sustainability, 10 (1).
Lim H and Lu X (2016) Sustainable urban stormwater management in the tropics: an evaluation of Singapore's ABC Waters Program. Journal of Hydrology, 538. pp. 842-862

Book Chapters

Nelson P, Huth N, Sheaves M, Bessou C, Pardon L, Lim H and Kookana R (2018) Modelling environmental impacts of agriculture, focusing on oil palm. In: Achieving Sustainable Cultivation of Oil Palm - Volume 2: diseases, pests, quality and sustainability. Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricutultural Science, 2. Burleigh Dodd Science Publishing, Cambridge, UK, pp. 265-314

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 26+ research outputs authored by Dr HanShe Lim from 2003 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Queensland Department of Environment and Science - Tender

Improving the flood resilience of a tropical urban catchment using hydraulic modelling approaches, tribal science and historical sources of information

Indicative Funding: $45,185 over 1 year
Summary: This project uses hydrological modelling to assess flood mitigation strategies under different climate change conditions for a tropical urban catchment in Cairns (Saltwater Creek). Model predictions are validated against field measurements and non-traditional sources of information including Traditional Owner knowledge and experiences of past floods and archival documents. The project involves ranger training in flow measurement and water quality assessment. The use of multiple lines of evidence to validate the flood model predictions decreases the risk associated with decision making around flood protection measures and urban development. The project outcomes will guide Cairns Regional Council and local communities in adaptive land use and investment planning under climate change for Saltwater Creek and similar coastal urban catchments.This is a collaborative project between Cairns Regional Council, Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Elders Aboriginal Corporation and Abriculture.
Investigators: HanShe Lim, Lynne Powell and Iain Brown (College of Science & Engineering and Cairns City Council)
Keywords: Urban floods; Traditional owner participation; Water sensitive urban design; Hydraulic models; Resilience; Climate change

Queensland Department of Environment and Science - Tender

Modelling unseen flow pathways of water and contaminants in the Wet Tropics: the role of alluvial palaeochannels

Indicative Funding: $44,982 over 1 year
Summary: Approximately 50% of nitrogen loss from agricultural landscapes in the Wet Tropics occurs via subsurface flow pathways. We know little about the partitioning of subsurface flows, especially through palaeochannels where field evidence shows them to be zones of preferential pathways of water movement and likely nutrients. This project, led by JCU, seeks to develop an adequate understanding of the role palaeochannels play in subsurface flow movement. We then make recommendations to the modelling community on how to model these landscapes better in order to guide intervention measures (e.g. bioreactors, constructed wetlands) to reduce nutrient release into environmentally sensitive coastal areas (GBR).
Investigators: HanShe Lim, Paul Nelson, Alex Cheesman, Tony Weber, Liz Owen, Dennis Ah-Kee, Marcus Bulstrode and David Morrison (College of Science & Engineering, Alluvium Consulting, Jaragun Pty Ltd, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Department of Natural Resources and Mines)
Keywords: Palaeochannels; Contaminant transport; Subsurface flow; Wet Tropics

Queensland Department of Environment and Science - Tender

An Innovative approach to documenting the largest floods in the Wet Tropics catchments and determining their effects on pollutant fluxes to the Reef.

Indicative Funding: $18,004
Summary: The project examines the magnitude and impacts of past extreme floods in the Barron and Daintree Rivers using a wide range of information types that includes geomorphic evidence (slackwater deposits), historical documents and indigenous knowledge. This information will be used to estimate the impacts of these extreme floods on material fluxes that are of concern for reef health. It also extends our knowledge of flooding impacts on the environment and societies beyond the modern gauged record. The outcomes of the project form the basis of a larger DES grant application aimed at modelling the impact of extreme floods in the Wet Tropics.
Investigators: HanShe Lim, Robert Wasson and Gillian McCloskey (College of Science & Engineering and Department of Natural Resources and Mines)
Keywords: Extreme floods; Pollutant loads; Great Barrier Reef

Department of Environment and Heritage Protection - Tender

Denitrification bioreactor trial in the Russell catchment of the Wet Tropics

Indicative Funding: $235,087 over 3 years (administered by Jaragun Pty Ltd)
Summary: This project will establish the effectiveness of denitrification bioreactors as an on-farm technology for removing dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in waters draining the Babinda Swamp Drainage Area. The region has been identified as a hotspot for DIN in the Great Barrier Reef catchment. This will be the first trial of denitrification bioreactors in the Wet Tropics. Denitrifying bioreactors route water through a high-carbon substrate under anaerobic conditions to encourage denitrification (the conversion of DIN to atmospheric N2). Two bioreactor configurations will be tested at two sites, and the potential for broader adoption will be assessed.
Investigators: Paul Nelson, Alex Cheesman, Liz Owen, HanShe Lim, Bithin Datta, Colin MacGregor and Ian Layden in collaboration with Nathan Waltham, Bart Dryden and Mark Bayley (College of Science & Engineering, Jaragun Pty Ltd, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, TropWater, Terrain Natural Resource Management and Australian Wetland Consulting)
Keywords: sugarcane; Water quality; nitrate; runoff; Wet Tropics; Great Barrier Reef

Department of Industry - Smart Cities and Suburbs Program

Council improving the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef through the use of smart sensors and the IoT for urban water management

Indicative Funding: $360,146 over 1 year (administered by Cairns Regional Council)
Summary: The primary aim of this grant application is to bring smart city technology into urban water management to improve urban water quality discharging to the Great Barrier Reef by: 1). Developing IOT technology to manage large data sets obtained from existing smart meters and water quality monitoring probes to make effective management decisions; and 2) Supporting the development of new cost effective, real time water quality monitoring technology. This grant application is for purchase of commercially available water quality monitoring probes suitable for a tropical urban stormwater environment, for supporting the development of new real time monitoring technology for nutrients; for the development of data analysis tools using IOT technology for both smart meter water consumption data, sewer pump station overflow data and stormwater water quality data so that the data is available in real time and can be used for effective decision making.
Investigators: Wei Xiang, HanShe Lim and Niels Munksgaard in collaboration with Lynne Powell (College of Science & Engineering and Cairns City Council)
Keywords: IoT infrastructure; Smart water sensors; Real-time water quality monitoring; Great Barrier Reef water quality; Urban water management

Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

Application of modelling tools to study the role of water-sensitive urban design (wsud) technology to mitigate flooding problems in tropical cities (PhD , Primary Advisor)

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.