The Millennium Drought in southeast Australia (2001-2009): Natural and human causes and implications for water resources, ecosystems, economy, and society

The "Millennium Drought" (2001-2009) can be described as the worst drought on record for southeast Australia. Adaptation to future severe droughts requires insight into the drivers of the drought and its impacts. These were analyzed using climate, water

Comparison of various climate change projections of eastern Australian rainfall

The Australian eastern seaboard is a distinct climate entity from the interior of the continent, with different climatic influences on each side of the Great Dividing Range. Therefore, it is plausible that downscaling of global climate models could reveal meaningful regional detail, or ‘added value’, in the climate change signal of mean rainfall change in eastern Australia un-der future scenarios. However, because downscaling is typically done using a limited set of global climate models and downscaling methods, the results from a downscaling study may not represent the range of uncertainty in plausible projected change for a region suggested by the ensemble of host global climate models. A complete and unbiased representation of the plausible changes in the climate is essential in producing climate projections useful for future planning. As part of this aim it is important to quantify any differences in the change signal between global climate models and downscaling, and understand the cause of these differ-ences in terms of plausible added regional detail in the climate change signal, the impact of sub-sampling global climate models and the effect of the downscaling models themselves. Here we examine rainfall projections in eastern Australia under a high emissions scenario by late in the century from ensembles of global climate models, two dynamical downscaling models and one statistical downscaling model. We find no cases where all three downscaling methods show the same clear regional spatial detail in the change signal that is distinct from the host models. However, some downscaled projections suggest that the eastern seaboard could see little change in spring rainfall, in contrast to the substantial rainfall decrease inland. The change signal in the downscaled outputs is broadly similar at the large scale in the various model outputs, with a few notable exceptions. For example, the model median from dynamical downscaling projects a rainfall increase over the entirety of eastern Australia in autumn that is greater than the global models. Also, there are some instances where a downscaling method produces changes outside the range of host models over eastern Australia as a whole, thus ex-panding the projected range of uncertainty. Results are particularly uncertain for summer, where no two downscaling studies clearly agree. There are also some confounding factors from the model configuration used in downscaling, where the particular zones used for statis-tical models and the model components used in dynamical models have an influence on results and produce additional uncertainty

State of the climate in 2018

In 2018, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—continued their increase. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface was 407.4 ± 0.1 ppm, the highest in the modern instrumental record and in ice core records dating back 800 000 years. Combined, greenhouse gases and several halogenated gases contribute just over 3 W m−2 to radiative forcing and represent a nearly 43% increase since 1990. Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 65% of this radiative forcing. With a weak La Niña in early 2018 transitioning to a weak El Niño by the year’s end, the global surface (land and ocean) temperature was the fourth highest on record, with only 2015 through 2017 being warmer. Several European countries reported record high annual temperatures. There were also more high, and fewer low, temperature extremes than in nearly all of the 68-year extremes record. Madagascar recorded a record daily temperature of 40.5°C in Morondava in March, while South Korea set its record high of 41.0°C in August in Hongcheon. Nawabshah, Pakistan, recorded its highest temperature of 50.2°C, which may be a new daily world record for April. Globally, the annual lower troposphere temperature was third to seventh highest, depending on the dataset analyzed. The lower stratospheric temperature was approximately fifth lowest. The 2018 Arctic land surface temperature was 1.2°C above the 1981–2010 average, tying for third highest in the 118-year record, following 2016 and 2017. June’s Arctic snow cover extent was almost half of what it was 35 years ago. Across Greenland, however, regional summer temperatures were generally below or near average. Additionally, a satellite survey of 47 glaciers in Greenland indicated a net increase in area for the first time since records began in 1999. Increasing permafrost temperatures were reported at most observation sites in the Arctic, with the overall increase of 0.1°–0.2°C between 2017 and 2018 being comparable to the highest rate of warming ever observed in the region. On 17 March, Arctic sea ice extent marked the second smallest annual maximum in the 38-year record, larger than only 2017. The minimum extent in 2018 was reached on 19 September and again on 23 September, tying 2008 and 2010 for the sixth lowest extent on record. The 23 September date tied 1997 as the latest sea ice minimum date on record. First-year ice now dominates the ice cover, comprising 77% of the March 2018 ice pack compared to 55% during the 1980s. Because thinner, younger ice is more vulnerable to melting out in summer, this shift in sea ice age has contributed to the decreasing trend in minimum ice extent. Regionally, Bering Sea ice extent was at record lows for almost the entire 2017/18 ice season. For the Antarctic continent as a whole, 2018 was warmer than average. On the highest points of the Antarctic Plateau, the automatic weather station Relay (74°S) broke or tied six monthly temperature records throughout the year, with August breaking its record by nearly 8°C. However, cool conditions in the western Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea sector contributed to a low melt season overall for 2017/18. High SSTs contributed to low summer sea ice extent in the Ross and Weddell Seas in 2018, underpinning the second lowest Antarctic summer minimum sea ice extent on record. Despite conducive conditions for its formation, the ozone hole at its maximum extent in September was near the 2000–18 mean, likely due to an ongoing slow decline in stratospheric chlorine monoxide concentration. Across the oceans, globally averaged SST decreased slightly since the record El Niño year of 2016 but was still far above the climatological mean. On average, SST is increasing at a rate of 0.10° ± 0.01°C decade−1 since 1950. The warming appeared largest in the tropical Indian Ocean and smallest in the North Pacific. The deeper ocean continues to warm year after year. For the seventh consecutive year, global annual mean sea level became the highest in the 26-year record, rising to 81 mm above the 1993 average. As anticipated in a warming climate, the hydrological cycle over the ocean is accelerating: dry regions are becoming drier and wet regions rainier. Closer to the equator, 95 named tropical storms were observed during 2018, well above the 1981–2010 average of 82. Eleven tropical cyclones reached Saffir–Simpson scale Category 5 intensity. North Atlantic Major Hurricane Michael’s landfall intensity of 140 kt was the fourth strongest for any continental U.S. hurricane landfall in the 168-year record. Michael caused more than 30 fatalities and $25 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages. In the western North Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut led to 160 fatalities and$6 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages across the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Tropical Storm Son-Tinh was responsible for 170 fatalities in Vietnam and Laos. Nearly all the islands of Micronesia experienced at least moderate impacts from various tropical cyclones. Across land, many areas around the globe received copious precipitation, notable at different time scales. Rodrigues and Réunion Island near southern Africa each reported their third wettest year on record. In Hawaii, 1262 mm precipitation at Waipā Gardens (Kauai) on 14–15 April set a new U.S. record for 24-h precipitation. In Brazil, the city of Belo Horizonte received nearly 75 mm of rain in just 20 minutes, nearly half its monthly average. Globally, fire activity during 2018 was the lowest since the start of the record in 1997, with a combined burned area of about 500 million hectares. This reinforced the long-term downward trend in fire emissions driven by changes in land use in frequently burning savannas. However, wildfires burned 3.5 million hectares across the United States, well above the 2000–10 average of 2.7 million hectares. Combined, U.S. wildfire damages for the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons exceeded $40 billion (U.S. dollars)

2006), Attribution of the late 20th century rainfall decline in South-West

Abstract: There has been a dramatic decrease in rainfall in the South-West of Australia (SWA) since the mid 1960s. A statistical method, based on the idea of analogous synoptic situations, is used to help clarify the cause of the drying. The method is designed to circumvent error in the rainfall simulated directly by a climate model, and to exploit the ability of the model to simulate large-scale fields reasonably well. The method uses relationships between patterns of various atmospheric fields with station records of rainfall, to simulate the local rainfall variability. The original technique was developed in a previous study. Here it is modified for application to two ensembles (each of four members) of simulations of the past century performed with the Parallel Climate Model (PCM). The first, called "Natural", is forced with natural variations in both volcanic activity and solar forcing. The second, called "Full Forcing" also includes three types of human-induced forcing resulting in trends in greenhouse gases, ozone and aerosols. "Full Forcing" provides a better match to observational changes in sea surface temperature in the vicinity of SWA. However, it is not possible to discriminate between the two ensembles which one match the observed decline. There is a hint that the fully forced ensemble is more realistic, but it is nothing more than a hint. The downscaling approach, on the other hand, provides a much more accurate reproduction of the day to day variability of rainfall in SWA than does the rainfall simulated directly by the model. The downscaled ensemble mean rainfall in "Full Forcing" declines over the region with a spatial pattern that is similar to the observed. This contrasts with an increase of rainfall in the downscaled rainfall in the "Natural" ensemble. These results give the clearest indication yet that anthropogenic forcing played a role in the drying of SWA. Note, however, that ambiguity remains. For example, although the observed decline fit within the range of downscaled model simulation, the ensemble mean rainfall decline is only about one half of the observed estimate, the timing differs from the observations, drying did not occur in the downscaling of one of the four "Full Forced" ensemble members, and not all potential forcing mechanisms are included in "Full Forcing" e.g. land surface changes

Harvest disruption projections for the Australian sugar industry

Purpose: To investigate the effects of climate change on harvestability for sugarcane-growing regions situated between mountain ranges and the narrow east Australian coastline.\ud \ud Design/methodology/approach: Daily rainfall simulations from 11 general circulation models (GCMs) were downscaled for seven Australian sugarcane regions (1961:2000). Unharvestable days were calculated from these 11 GCMs and compared to interpolated observed data. The historical downscaled GCM simulations were then compared to simulations under a low (B1) and high (A2) emissions scenario for the period 2046:2065. The 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles of paired model differences were assessed using 95% bootstrapped confidence intervals.\ud \ud Findings: A decrease in the number of unharvestable days for the Burdekin (winter /spring) and Bundaberg (winter) regions and an increase for the Herbert region (spring) were plausible under the A2 scenario. Variability between GCM projections was higher for some regions compared to others and was generally higher in spring than winter. Spatial plots identified variability within regions. Northern and southern regions were more variable than central regions.\ud \ud Practical implications: Recent studies have projected increases in simulated yields under future climate conditions. Changes to the frequency of unharvestable days may require a range of management adaptations to deal with an increased harvest and an effectively shorter harvest window. Regions where an increase in unharvestable days is plausible may consider modifying the harvest period and upgrading harvesting technologies.\ud \ud Originality/value: The application of a targeted industry rainfall parameter (unharvestable days) obtained from downscaled climate models provided a novel approach to investigate the impacts of climate change. This research forms a baseline for industry discussion and adaptation planning towards an environmentally and economically sustainable future. The methodology outlined can easily be extended to other primary industries impacted by wet weather

Linear and nonlinear statistical analysis of the impact of sub-tropical ridge intensity and position on south-east Australian rainfall

The intensity and position of the sub-tropical ridge (STR) have strong relationships with rainfall variability in southern Australia. The combined effect of intensity and position in March-April-May (MAM) and June-July-August (JJA) is the focus of this research. Linear statistics were used first: area-averaged and Australia-wide spatial correlations of STR intensity and position with precipitation in south-west eastern Australia reveal that STR intensity has a much stronger and more widespread relationship with precipitation in both seasons. Over time, these relationships vary in magnitude and spatial extent with the sign of the correlation changing between two 50-year epochs. These nonlinearities were investigated further using classification trees. Area-averaged precipitation data (terciles) for south-west eastern Australia was classified on the basis of STR intensity and position. In both seasons the classification trees identify STR intensity as the primary partition defining the dry group, supporting the linear analysis. In the transition season of MAM, the time of year when the mean position of the STR is more southerly, STR position is important in distinguishing between a 'winter-like' and a 'summer-like' wet groups, providing STR intensity is low. Vector wind analyses were computed to explain the composite seasonal precipitation anomaly results in terms of different circulation patterns associated with these two wet groups. The frequency of wet and dry cases in each group was examined with changes evident over the recent years. The research confirms that STR intensity is more important than STR position in explaining inter-annual rainfall variability across southern Australia but also demonstrates the additional role of STR position in MAM. These results explain the low correlation between rainfall and STR position and why this relationship has evolved during the 20th century as the mean location of the STR has shifted south in MAM