Australian rainfall trends and their relation to the southern oscillation index
Article
Article Title | Australian rainfall trends and their relation to the southern oscillation index |
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ERA Journal ID | 1948 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Chowdhury, R. K. (Author) and Beecham, S. (Author) |
Journal Title | Hydrological Processes |
Journal Citation | 24 (4), pp. 504-514 |
Number of Pages | 11 |
Year | 2010 |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 0885-6087 |
1099-1085 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7504 |
Web Address (URL) | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hyp.7504 |
Abstract | Rainfall is the key climate variable that governs the spatial and temporal availability of water. In this study we identified monthly rainfall trends and their relation to the southern oscillation index (SOI) at ten rainfall stations across Australia covering all state capital cities. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall (MK) test was used for identifying significant trends. The trend free pre‐whitening approach (TFPW) was used to remove the effects of serial correlation in the dataset. The trend beginning year was approximated using the cumulative summation (CUSUM) technique and the influence of the SOI was identified using graphical representations of the wavelet power spectrum (WPS). Decreasing trends of rainfall depth were observed at two stations, namely Perth airport for June and July rainfall starting in the 1970s and Sydney Observatory Hill for July rainfall starting in the 1930s. No significant trends were found in the Melbourne, Alice Springs and Townsville rainfall data. The remaining five stations showed increasing trends of monthly rainfall depth. The SOI was found to explain the increasing trends for the Adelaide (June) and Cairns (April) rainfall data and the decreasing trends for Sydney (July) rainfall. Other possible climatic factors affecting Australian rainfall are also discussed. |
Keywords | climate change, rainfall, trend analysis, southern oscillation index, Mann–Kendall test |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 370202. Climatology |
400513. Water resources engineering | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | University of South Australia |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q4v5x/australian-rainfall-trends-and-their-relation-to-the-southern-oscillation-index
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