Impact of atmospheric circulation on the rainfall-temperature relationship in Australia

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change is leading to the intensification of extreme rainfall due to an increase in atmospheric water holding capacity at higher temperatures as governed by the Clausius-Clapeyron (C-C) relationship. However, the rainfall-temperature sensitivity (termed scaling) often deviates from the C-C relationship. This manuscript uses classifications prescribed by regional-scale atmospheric circulation patterns to investigate whether deviations from the C-C relationship in tropical Australia can be explained by differing weather types (WT). We show that the rainfall-temperature scaling differs depending on the WTs, with the difference increasing with rainfall magnitude. All monsoon..