The association of Australian winter climate with ocean temperatures to the west

Abstract

Two general circulation model experiments have been conducted with a view toward determining the sensitivity of Australian winter circulation and precipitation to the imposition of idealized sea surface temperature anomalies around the western half of Australia. In the first, a positive anomaly was imposed to the northwest of the continent and a negative anomaly to the southwest, while in the second this pattern was reversed. In the former, major changes were simulated in the circulation over the Australian sector, and significant precipitation increases were induced over more than half of the continent. By contrast, the responses to the forcing in the latter experiment were considerably les..