Premium
A pressure gradient metric capturing planetary‐scale influences on eastern Australian rainfall
Author(s) -
Rakich Clinton S.,
Holbrook Neil J.,
Timbal Bertrand
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2007gl032970
Subject(s) - climatology , geostrophic wind , el niño southern oscillation , atmospheric circulation , antarctic oscillation , pacific decadal oscillation , environmental science , geography , geology
The Gayndah‐Deniliquin index (GDI), a measure of the north‐south atmospheric pressure gradient across eastern Australia, is presented. The 113 year long GDI record reveals strong interannual to decadal scale variability in zonal geostrophic wind flow across eastern Australia. The GDI, as a measure of easterly geostrophic wind strength and associated moisture transport from the Pacific Ocean, is shown to be significantly correlated with summer rainfall over vast areas of the Australian continent, especially over the Murray Darling Basin and the state of New South Wales. The latest abrupt decline in the GDI, which commenced around 2001, corresponded with the onset of a severe prolonged drought across eastern Australia. We demonstrate that the northern and southern poles of the MSLP derived GDI are differentially influenced by El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Understanding the effects of these interactions between SAM and ENSO on moisture transport to eastern Australia could have implications for future Australian climate variability and climate change.