El Niño/Southern Oscillation and Australian rainfall and streamflow

Abstract

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been linked to climate anomalies throughout the world. This paper presents an overview of the relationship between ENSO and Australian rainfall and streamflow using data from 284 catchments throughout Australia. The ENSO-rainfall and ENSO-streamflow teleconnections are investigated by fitting a first harmonic to the 24-month El Niño rainfall and streamflow composites. The potential for forecasting rainfall and streamflow several months ahead is investigated by calculating the lag correlations between rainfall and streamflow versus ENSO indicators and the serial correlations in rainfall and streamflow. The results indicate that El Niño generally leads t..