SE Australia Global Warming impacts from 1990s
La Niña was a main contributing oceanic climate driver to record rainfall during the multi-year La Niña phases of 2010–2012 and 2020–February 2023. Also, contributing was a favourable negative IOD phase in both periods. Added to those oceanic climate drivers were favourable atmospheric climate driver phases of the SAM favouring deep, moist onshore air from the Coral and Tasman Seas, and the SOI, which is a measure of the strength of the tropical Pacific trade winds.
Attribution pointed to the dominant climate drivers as complex interactions between these climate drivers with global temperature, and above average global and Tasman Sea sea-surface temperatures in a study of the northern Murray-Darling Basin significant rainfall decline since the 1990s.
Marked differences in observed maximum summer temperature trends on coastal Sydney and western Sydney since the 1990s showed, not surprisingly, coastal Sydney was more affected than western Sydney by the oceanic climate drivers, both individually as well as two-way interactions of some of drivers.
The SAM was neutral in November 2023 when the persistent, thunderstorm, heavy rain bands started in southeast Australia. Attribution points to other factors such as changes in the southern hemisphere atmospheric circulation as important.
Contributions to Pearls and Irritations
Your contribution will fund quality independent comment and analysis in Pearls and Irritations
Contribute
