Australian state getting warmer, wetter - scientists
© 2000 Reuters Limited
June 29, 2000
SYDNEY - The northeastern Australian state of Queensland was getting warmer, continuing a trend over the past 100 years, Australian scientists said yesterday.
Increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were likely to raise temperatures in the tropical and sub-tropical state and also increase the number of downpours, while tropical cyclones may also become more intense, they said.These are the latest findings of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atmospheric Research, based on research undertaken for the Queensland government.
By 2010 there would be more than twice the number of hot days between October and March and less than half the cold days from April to September, CSIRO said.
In addition, rainfall was likely to become heavier, although this did not necessarily mean greater annual rainfall, it said.
"We expect downpours to become heavier, which may mean more local flooding," CSIRO scientist Kevin Walsh said in a statement.
El Nino events may also become more common, although this was still uncertain, he said.
It was becoming more likely that tropical cyclone intensities would increase moderately in Queensland in future decades, he said.
Increases in tropical cyclone intensities together with rising sea level were likely to increase tropical storm surge heights, it said.
A storm surge is a dome of water pushed ahead of a tropical cyclone by strong winds.
In Cairns, for example, predicted increases in tropical cyclone intensity, combined with predicted sea level rises, were likely to raise one-in-100 year storm surge events by about 0.4-0.7 metres, Walsh said.
CSIRO climate modelling also showed an increase in drought frequencies in Queensland in the next century for most months, with considerable variation from region to region.
Warmer seas were likely to cause coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef, it also said.
Bleaching was likely to become frequent during the next 30 to 40 years, with the southern part of the reef affected first.