A new $20 million research centre in Hobart reaffirms Australia's commitment to climate change science, in what CSIRO chief Larry Marshall says is not a strategic backflip. 

Key points: The new centre will look at how the southern oceans impact climate

The new centre will look at how the southern oceans impact climate CSIRO boss denies it is a turnaround on his 2016 climate change strategy

CSIRO boss denies it is a turnaround on his 2016 climate change strategy China interested in how the southern oceans affect monsoon

The Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research (CSHOR), a joint venture principally between the CSIRO and China's Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, was announced today and will begin operating in June. 

Over five years, the Chinese will stump up $10 million and the CSIRO $8.25 million with the University of New South Wales and the University of Tasmania adding the remainder. 

CSHOR (the acronym pronounced 'Seashore') will be examining how the southern hemisphere oceans — the Indian, the Southern and the Pacific — interact and drive global climate. 

"This centre is really targeting the most important open questions on how the southern oceans work and their influence on climate, and we're looking from the tropics right down to Antarctica," CSIRO climate scientist Dr Steve Rintoul said. 

Dr Rintoul said rising sea level would also be a key focus. 

"We're also interested in sea level rise — both as the oceans warm and expand — but also because the oceans control the fate of the Antarctic ice sheet," he said. 

"As warm waters reach the edge of Antarctic and melt the surrounding ice, that allows more ice to flow off the continent and into the sea and increases sea level." 

He said the centre would build on years of work undertaken by the agency's Oceans and Atmosphere Division. 

"We've obviously been working in the southern hemisphere oceans for a long time but this is the first centre in the world that I know of which is focused specifically on the role of the southern hemisphere oceans in climate," he said. 

The move continues a significant change in direction from early last year when the CSIRO's climate science capacity was to set to be stripped back. 

CSHOR is a world-first in looking at the role of southern oceans in global weather, Dr Steve Rintoul says. (  ABC News: Tony King )

When announcing 275 jobs cuts to the agency, chief executive Dr Larry Marshall declared the CSIRO was moving away from understanding how climate change worked to trying to find solutions to the problem. 

That position changed after incoming Science Minister Greg Hunt intervened. 

Under Mr Hunt's encouragement, the CSIRO reaffirmed its commitment to strong climate change research, announcing a new Hobart Climate Science Centre, but not before the knowledge bank of esteemed climate scientists like Dr John Church was lost. 

Marshall denies turnaround on climate change research

But Dr Marshall denied the CSHOR was a turnaround, saying the centre held the hope of predicting weather events such as El Nino. 

"Far from it," he said. 

"One of the strategic shifts we made was indeed to shift some resources from measurement and modelling to mitigation and adaptation, but probably the major shift in the measurement and modelling area was to try and address seasonal and decadal modelling. 

"Imagine the value for the nation if we could predict, say, an El Nino.  It's incredibly difficult science but imagine if we could make that happen — now that's, we hope, is the shift that we made." 

Dr Church, a sea level expert who had been at the CSIRO for 38 years before losing his job, is now working part-time at the University of New South Wales and as such will have some involvement in the new CSHOR project. 

"It's welcome to see the CSIRO revising their attitude and doing some of the work I pointed out last year was absolutely essential to be done," Dr Church said. 

'Southern Ocean impacts Asian monsoon'

Professor Lixin Wu, director of the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science (QLM), said it made sense for China to study the Southern Ocean because it impacted directly on the Asian monsoon. 

"It you're talking about global warming, the Southern Ocean is the major sink of carbon dioxide and heat," he said. 

"It's the biggest driver of climate for the eastern area of Asia. 

"Ice melting in the Antarctic region can also impact the rainfall in China." 

He said QLM was planning to build five research centres worldwide: Hobart, two in the US and one each in Russia and Germany. 

He said international collaboration was vital in tackling the challenges of global climate.