Australia loses vital rain as climate change shifts winds

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are remote but this region influences Australia's heat waves, affects whether our crops get the winter rainfall they need and determines how quickly our ocean levels rise. Human-caused climate change is robbing crucial rain from southern parts of Australia by shifting Southern Ocean westerly winds towards Antarctica, according to a new study. Lead Australian researcher Associate Professor Nerilie Abram, from The Australian National University (ANU), said the loss of rain combined with 2016 being on track to smash the hottest-year record was ominous for communities and the environment. "Our findings confirm that climate change is already having an impact on parts of Australia," said Dr Abram from the Research School of Earth Sciences and ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at ANU. "Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are remote but this region influences Australia's heat waves, affects whether our crops get the winter rainfall they need and determines how quickly our ocean levels rise." Winter rainfall in southwest Australia has declined by more than 20 per cent since the 1970s because of the shifting westerly rain belt, and Perth now relies on a desalination plant to supplement its water supplies. Dr Abram said the southward shifts in westerly winds that circled the Southern Ocean over recent decades were clearly responding to anthropogenic climate change - primarily from rising greenhouse gases and ozone depletion. While the findings showed climate change was causing westerlies in the Southern Ocean to shift closer to Antarctica, the study found the bigger picture of the region's climate trends remained unclear, Dr Abram said.