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Daily rainfall over Northern Australia: Deviations from the world pattern
Author(s) -
Jackson I. J.
Publication year - 1988
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.3370080503
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , climatology , tropics , environmental science , erosion , agriculture , tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting , physical geography , geography , geology , ecology , cyclone (programming language) , paleontology , archaeology , field programmable gate array , computer science , computer hardware , biology
In an earlier paper examining relationships between monthly rainfall, raindays and mean daily rainfall intensity in the tropics, two Australian stations showed a consistent pattern of deviations from the worldwide regression equations. Using data from some 50 stations, this present paper demonstrates that this pattern applies generally over northern Australia. Rainfall is much more concentrated, with fewer raindays and higher mean daily intensities, than would be predicted from monthly totals and the worldwide tropical regressions. This marked concentration will have varied implications for hydrology, soil erosion and agriculture. The importance of tropical cyclones and other closed low pressure systems over northern Australia provides a reasonable explanation of the deviations, with support from some other tropical regions. However, a simple distinction between tropical cyclonic and non‐cyclonic areas is inadequate to explain patterns on a worldwide basis.