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Extreme distributions of Australian annual rainfall in relation to sea surface temperature
Author(s) -
Streten N. A.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0196-1748
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370030204
Subject(s) - climatology , equator , sea surface temperature , latitude , southern hemisphere , northern hemisphere , pacific decadal oscillation , el niño southern oscillation , oceanography , geography , geology , environmental science , geodesy
Sea surface temperature (SST) measurements from 1950 to 1969 are analysed for an extensive region of the Southern Hemisphere for six years of very high and very low areal extent of above normal Australian continental rainfall. Years of extensive drought are found to be associated with a predominantly low SST persisting throughout the year over the eastern Indian Ocean and the south west Pacific in the Australasian region particularly at low latitudes; very wet years over the continent are associated with a persistently warm SST extending from the equator to mid latitudes in the same region. Although the extreme years tend to be related to extremes of a Southern Oscillation index this is not always the case. Examination of SST over the eastern Pacific for the same years indicates some evidence that its thermal anomalies are in general opposite to those in the Australasian region though this is not so in all cases. Eastern South Pacific SST data sequences for years preceding and following individual extreme rainfall years over Australia show rapid and differing changes so that their forecasting potential is very limited.