Southeastern Australian climate variability 1860-2009: A multivariate analysis

L Ashcroft; DJ Karoly; J Gergis

Journal article

Southeastern Australian climate variability 1860-2009: A multivariate analysis

L Ashcroft, DJ Karoly, J Gergis

International Journal of Climatology | Published : 2014

DOI: 10.1002/joc.3812

Abstract

Historical datasets of instrumental temperature, rainfall and atmospheric pressure observations have recently been developed for southeastern Australia (SEA), extending the regional climate record back to 1860. In this study we use the newly extended datasets to conduct the first multivariate examination of SEA climatic changes from 1860 to 2009. The climate in SEA is highly variable in response to fluctuations in large-scale circulation features including El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). To examine how teleconnection patterns in the SEA region have changed over time, we then applied a path analysis over the 1871-2009 period to isolate the independent re..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

David Karoly Author

Joelle Gergis Author

Linden Ashcroft Author

Related Projects (1)

Reconstructing pre-20th century rainfall, temperature and pressure for south-eastern Australia using palaeoclimate, documentary and early weather station data.

South-eastern Australia is in the grip of a severe water crisis due to the worst drought in recorded history and increasing temperatures. Th..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council (ARC)

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

Thanks to Betrand Timbal, Robert Fawcett and Wasyl Drosdowsky (Australian Bureau of Meteorology) for providing their STR-I and extended SEA rainfall data, and Gil Compo and Doug Schuster (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) for their valuable assistance with the 20th Century Reanalysis data. Many thanks also to Betrand Timbal, Neville Nicholls and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research was funded by Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project LP0990151.