El Niño-Southern Oscillation influence on the dust storm activity in Australia: can the past provide a key to the future?

• Main Authors: Pudmenzky, C., Stone, R., Butler, H., Allan, R.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Antarctic; New Zealand; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z294q/el-ni-o-southern-oscillation-influence-on-the-dust-storm-activity-in-australia-can-the-past-provide-a-key-to-the-future

Wind erosion is an internationally recognised land degradation problem and affects approximately 28% of the global land area. The Australian continent is the largest dust source in the Southern Hemisphere with an emission rate of around 100 Tg yr-1 or approximate 5% of the global total. The climate (especially eastern Australian climate) is greatly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) which is the strongest natural fluctuation of climate on interannual time-scales and also affects climate conditions globally. ENSO is the core driver of extreme weather events such as drought, flooding, bushfires, dust storms and tropical cyclones and up to 50% of annual rainfall variability in northern and eastern Australia is linked to ENSO. These drier conditions will reduce vegetation cover and result in an increased dust storm activity in the future in central eastern Australia during dry El Niño phases of the Southern Oscillation. The Lake Eyre Basin, Channel Country and the Mallee region are the main dust source areas and severe dust storms have the potential to transport millions of tonnes of fertile topsoil from inland Australia to places as far as New Zealand, New Caledonia and Antarctic. The research project will investigate the influence of the ENSO on dust storm activity in Australia. This will be achieved through major reanalysis of past climate conditions for the past 150 years or more using the global 'Atmospheric Circulation Reconstruction over the Earth' (ACRE) project outputs which will reconstruct both upper-air dynamics, surface conditions and then all major dust storm events of the past. Australia has one of the most variable rainfall climates in the world and observational and modelling results suggest that more frequent or stronger ENSO events are possible in the future. Drought in Australia is probably the most economically costly climate event and has environmental and social impacts by reducing agricultural output and having social impacts on rural communities. All major continental ...