Australian east coast rainfall decline related to large scale climate drivers

Speer, MS; Leslie, LM; Fierro, AO

Australian east coast rainfall decline related to large scale climate drivers

Speer, MS

Leslie, LM

Fierro, AO

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Climate Dynamics, 2011, 36 (7), pp. 1419 - 1429
Issue Date:: 2011-04-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Speer, MS https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0421-7744	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Leslie, LM https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5616-2330	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Fierro, AO	en_US
dc.date.issued	2011-04-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Climate Dynamics, 2011, 36 (7), pp. 1419 - 1429	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0930-7575	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118386
dc.description.abstract	Rainfall on the subtropical east coast of Australia has declined at up to 50 mm per decade since 1970. Wavelet analysis is used to investigate eight station and four station-averaged rainfall distributions along Australia's subtropical east coast with respect to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the inter-decadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) and the southern annular mode (SAM). The relationships are examined further using composite atmospheric circulation anomalies. Here we show that the greatest rainfall variability occurs in the 15-30 year periodicity of the 1948-1975 or 'cool' phase of the IPO when the subtropical ridge is located sufficiently poleward for anomalous moist onshore airflow to occur together with high ENSO rainfall variability and high, negative phase, SAM variability. Thus, the mid-latitude westerlies are located at their most equatorward position in the Australian region. This maximizes tropospheric interaction of warm, moist tropical air with enhanced local baroclinicity over the east coast, and hence rainfall. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Climate Dynamics	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s00382-009-0726-1	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Australian east coast rainfall decline related to large scale climate drivers	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	7	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	36	en_US
utslib.for	0501 Ecological Applications	en_US
utslib.for	0401 Atmospheric Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	0405 Oceanography	en_US
utslib.for	0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	7	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	36	en_US

Abstract:

Rainfall on the subtropical east coast of Australia has declined at up to 50 mm per decade since 1970. Wavelet analysis is used to investigate eight station and four station-averaged rainfall distributions along Australia's subtropical east coast with respect to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the inter-decadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) and the southern annular mode (SAM). The relationships are examined further using composite atmospheric circulation anomalies. Here we show that the greatest rainfall variability occurs in the 15-30 year periodicity of the 1948-1975 or 'cool' phase of the IPO when the subtropical ridge is located sufficiently poleward for anomalous moist onshore airflow to occur together with high ENSO rainfall variability and high, negative phase, SAM variability. Thus, the mid-latitude westerlies are located at their most equatorward position in the Australian region. This maximizes tropospheric interaction of warm, moist tropical air with enhanced local baroclinicity over the east coast, and hence rainfall. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/118386