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Eastern Australian drought connected with El NinoSatellite observations of soil moisture suggest that the drought conditions experienced in eastern Australia since 2000 have a strong connection with El Nino. Many areas in Australia have been experiencing extraordinary drought conditions since 2000, resulting in significant impact on the economy and environment. There are questions about the possible causes of this drought: an extreme event, natural climate cycling, and/or a consequence of human-induced climate change. "Rainfall patterns have been linked to several ocean circulation indicators. So we wanted to better understand the spatial patterns, interactions and changes in the connection between rainfall and different aspects of ocean circulation to put the current drought in appropriate context and predict future drought frequency and severity," says Yi Liu, CSIRO Research Officer. CSIRO researchers explored the link between three ocean circulation indicators and spatiotemporal patterns in soil moisture and vegetation canopy thickness for an 8-year data set of passive microwave derived soil moisture and vegetation condition recently developed by Owe et al (2007). "Soil moisture and vegetation conditions are strong indicators of antecedent weather conditions, ecosystem state and drought which can be inferred from satellite observations." The research investigated spatiotemporal patterns in soil moisture and vegetation water content across mainland Australia from 1998 to 2005. Results provide further evidence that El Nino can be linked to the drought conditions experienced since 2000. "Without using station rainfall records, we were able to directly delineate regions experiencing the strongest influence of El Nino on surface soil moisture during the period analysed. The most affected regions are in the Murray-Darling Basin and Queensland; both are important agricultural regions." Reference: Owe, M., R. A. M. de Jeu, and T. Holmes. 2007, Multi-sensor historical climatology of satellite-derived global land surface moisture, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2007JF000769, in press. Contact:
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| Water for a Healthy Country Flagship CSIRO Editor: Leane Regan CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Phone: +61 2 6246 4565 Fax: +61 2 6246 5560 editor.healthycountry@csiro.au www.csiro.au/healthycountry/ |
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