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Evidence of increased tropical moisture in southeast Australian alpine precipitation during ENSO
Author(s) -
Theobald Alison,
McGowan Hamish
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl070767
Subject(s) - climatology , precipitation , environmental science , el niño southern oscillation , moisture , middle latitudes , sea surface temperature , forcing (mathematics) , global warming , climate change , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geography , geology , meteorology
An understanding of past atmospheric variability during El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events is critical for informing debate on current and future changes in precipitation in a warming world. Here we show that atmospheric moisture content over much of Australia during inflow‐generating precipitation days (≥10 mm d −1 ) associated with La Niña (El Niño) events has increased (decreased) over the period 1958–2015. This is most notable in tropical latitudes which are the source of moisture of most precipitation ≥ 10 mm in southeast Australia (SEA). These trends are consistent with climate model projections and increases in tropical sea surface temperatures since the 1950s. They confirm that enhanced tropical ocean forcing of interannual climate variability through ENSO due to global warming is changing the hydroclimate of midlatitudes and in‐turn will require major changes to water resource use and management.