The contribution of tropical cyclones to rainfall in northwest Australia

Article

Ng, Benjamin, Walsh, Kevin and Lavender, Sally. 2015. "The contribution of tropical cyclones to rainfall in northwest Australia." International Journal of Climatology. 35 (10), pp. 2689-2697. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4148
Article Title

The contribution of tropical cyclones to rainfall in northwest Australia

ERA Journal ID1969
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsNg, Benjamin (Author), Walsh, Kevin (Author) and Lavender, Sally (Author)
Journal TitleInternational Journal of Climatology
Journal Citation35 (10), pp. 2689-2697
Number of Pages8
Year2015
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN0899-8418
1097-0088
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4148
Web Address (URL)https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.4148
Abstract

Northwest Australian rain gauge data is analysed to obtain new estimates of the fraction of rainfall caused by tropical cyclones (TCs), in one of the regions of the globe where this fraction is greatest. For annual rainfall, at some coastal stations more than 40% of rainfall arises from TCs. There is substantial seasonal variation in this fraction, with largest fractions occurring in the October through December period, where some stations have more than 70% of rainfall from TCs. There is a sharp gradient in this percentage away from the coastline, with inland values typically less than 30%. With the exception of a narrow coastal region in the tropics, changes in TC rainfall cannot explain recent rainfall trends in this region, with only a small number of locations exhibiting agreement between trends in total rainfall and trends in TC rainfall. © 2014 Royal Meteorological Society.

KeywordsAustralia; rainfall; tropical cyclone; gauges; hurricanes; precipitation (meteorology); storms; tropics; annual rainfall; coastal regions; coastal station; rain gauge data; rainfall trends; seasonal variation; rain; raingauge
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020370202. Climatology
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Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Melbourne
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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