Despite the wonderful rains that have been falling over the past few months in my vicinity of the world, south-east Australia is likely to suffer below-average rainfall and drier conditions in the future.
The findings were released in the report Climate Variability and change in south-eastern Australia, produced by the South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative (SEACI), which set out to highlight the effects climate change and variability are having on the water resources in south-east Australia.
One of the major findings from the report was the fact that the recent 13-year drought was utterly unprecedented in the historical record, and greatly affected the rainfall variability and runoff.
“While 2010 has brought welcome rains for much of south-eastern Australia, there is growing evidence from SEACI research that a long-term trend towards a drier climate is taking place,” said Program Director, CSIRO’s Dr. David Post. “Changes to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns are impacting on rainfall and runoff in the south-east, particularly in the southern Murray–Darling Basin and Victoria.”
The full report can be found here (PDF) and more information at SEACI.
Source: CSIRO
Image Source: suburbanbloke via flickr (CC license)
