Climate Change Impacts in Australia

Any part of the world will have specific climate impacts. In Australia, the specific climate impacts are mostly biological systems. Though however located West of Australia, it is affected by physical systems. A little Northwest of Australia, it is affected by human and managed system. Northwest of Australia seems to have the most human and physical impacts. There are factories located in that area. The rest of Australia is just wildlife. The risks associated with these impacts in Australia include change in community composition and structure of coral reef systems in Australia, increased frequency and intensity of flood damage to infrastructure and settlements in Australia and New Zealand, and increased risk to coastal infrastructure.

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The climate of Australia is a mix of tropical and extratropical influences. Eastern-northeastern Australian rainfall is strongly influenced by the ENSO cycles, with La Nina years typically associated with wet conditions and more frequent and intense tropical cyclones in summer and El Nino years with drier than normal conditions, most notably in spring. Over southeastern Australia, the decreasing rainfall trend is the largest in autumn with sustained declines during the drought. A recent analysis shows that climate projections over Australia using CMIP5 models which generally simulate the climate of of Australia well, are highly consistent (Fyfe 1273, 1274, 1275). 

In Australia, the regional climate is changing very quickly. The region continues to demonstrate long-term trends towards higher surface air and sea surface temperatures. There will be more extreme cold and extreme hot. In the last 50 years, increasing greenhouse gases have contributed to rising average temperatures in Australia. This warming is continued to increase throughout the years. The warming is expected to be associated with rising snow lines. Annual average rainfall is expected to decrease in southwestern Australia. There is an uncertainty in projected rainfall changes, which creates significant challenges for adaptation. These scenarios would have severe implication for agriculture, rural livelihoods, ecosystems, and urban water supply, and would increase the need for transformational adaptation. Without these adaptations, further changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 and ocean acidity are projected to have substantial impacts on water resources. While adaptation is already happening, it is becoming embedded in some planning processes, albeit mostly at the conceptual rather than implementation level. 

Australia exhibits a wide diversity of climates, such as moist tropical monsoonal, arid, and moist temperature, including alpine conditions. There is high confidence that climate change is already affecting the oceans around Australia and warming the Tasman sea in the northern New Zealand. The marine ecosystems of both countries are considered hotspots of global marine biodiversity with many rare, endemic, and commercially important species. I chose this issue because marine ecosystem and wildlife play an important role in Australia's tourism. If this gets affected, it will cause a chain reaction to the country's economy. It will affect tourism if something happens to their wildlife, which will affect their economy. 

Australia Vulnerability

The figure above shows the locations in Australia that are vulnerable. 

Severe Weather in Australia

If you do not already know what tornadoes are, tornadoes are basically wind. It is a rapidly rotating narrow region of low pressure. Its wind speeds can range from 70-300 mph. When a tornado first starts, it begins with rotating body of air on the ground. This happens because of vertical wind shear. The horizontal rotating air is then lifted off the ground by updraft of a thunderstorm. Once it is rotated nearly vertically, it is considered a mesocyclone. The mesocyclone is then fully developed in the updraft of a thunderstorm. 

In the United States, tornadoes are most common towards the center east of the country. Tornadoes in the US travel from southwest to northeast or west to east. This is because of an increased frequency of certain tornado-producing weather patterns (hurricanes in south Texas, or northwest flow weather system in the upper midwest).

Tornadoes in Australia are very rare with only 10-20 tornadoes being observed annually but also has the chance to form with almost any severe thunderstorm. Some areas though however, are more prone to tornadoes than other places. 

Tornado counts in America average to about over 1000 tornadoes per year. American has the highest amount of tornadoes annually than any other country in the world. 

U.S. Tornado Climatology

While tornadoes are rare in Australia, the country has not yet developed a map or statistic showing the history of tornadoes and their common occurrence. 

Within the past 30 years, the amount of tornadoes have increased significantly. The cause of this is probably because of the continued change 

Hurricanes can form anywhere. But the location of where hurricanes form must have these 3 key ingredients. The ingredients are warm ocean temperature that is deep, presence of coriolis force, and low values of vertical wind sheer. The city of Sydney, Australia rarely ever experiences hurricanes. This is because the southern hemisphere does not experience hurricanes very often. Climate is very calm. However, cyclones are common in the tropical and sub-tropical waters of Australia. 

Hurricane formation regions occur mostly near the equator and head from East to West. Cyclones happen below the equator while hurricanes happen above the equator. It happens near the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. 

In the United States, hurricanes move in the direction from east, the moves slightly in the northwest direction. Majority of hurricanes hit the East Coast of the United States but rarely on the West Coast. This is because of the hurricane formation region. 

Hurricanes rarely every happen in Australia. Especially Sydney, hurricanes are so rare the count is about 1 or 2 hurricanes every other passing year. 

There is an average of about 10 tropical storm that form and hit the United States annually. 

Hurricanes