Less rain predicted for southern Australia

William Atkins
Monday, 04 July 2011 22:53

Science - Climate

Research by CSIRO has shown that less rainfall occurred over the past 50 years in southern Australia in the fall and winter - and less rain is expected to continue for another 50 years.

According to the CSIRO press release 'Fewer Rain Storms Across Southern Australia,' Dr. Jorgen Segerlund Frederiksen, a climate scientist with CSIRO, said that these weather changes are caused by decreases of the mid-latitude jet stream and increases in atmospheric temperatures.

Dr. Frederiksen made these comments on Monday, July 4, 2011, at a conference of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, being held in Melbourne, Australia.

Frederiksen stated, 'The drop in winter and autumn rainfall observed across southern Australia is due to a large downturn in the intensity of storm formations over at least the last three decades compared with the previous three decades, and these effects have become more pronounced with time."

And, 'Our recent work on climate model projections suggests a continuation of these trends over the next 50 years.'

The conclusions found by Frederiksen and fellow collaborators Drs. Carsten Segerlund Frederiksen, Janice Maria Sisson, and Stacey Lee Osbrough are found within the article 'Changes and Projections in Australian Winter Rainfall and Circulation: Anthropogenic Forcing and Internal Variability' (volume 2, issue 3, pages 143-162).

 

The paper was published within the The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses.

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