Decrease in `Asian haze` could cause droughts in Australia

Decrease in `Asian haze`could cause droughts in Australia

14 December 2006

published by www.zeenews.com


Australia — Decreasing pollution in Asia later this century could causefrequent droughts in Australia, a team of researchers at the AustralianCommonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO) has warned.

CSIRO is Australia`s national science agency. It is one of the largest and mostdiverse scientific institutions in the world with 57 sites throughout Australiaand overseas. It has over 6,500 research staff.

According to a CSIRO web report, elevated particle emissions created byincreased economic activity in Asia might have increased tropical rainfall inAustralia.

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research scientist Dr Leon Rotstayn claims thatclimate simulations have indicated that the `Asian haze` will have an impact onthe Australian hydrological cycle, especially in northwest and central Australia.

“We are really at the beginning of understanding the trends but sooner orlater these emissions will be cleaned up and then a trend of increasing rainfallin the northwest and centre could be reversed. This is potentially serious,because the northwest and centre are the only parts of Australia where rainfallhas been increasing in recent decades,” Rotstayn said.

According to Rotstayn, climate modelling serves as a valuable tool fordetermining weather trends.

The research on the impact of the Asian haze on Australia will be publishedearly next year in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The new research is based on simulations performed with a new low-resolutionversion of CSIRO`s global climate model – including a treatment of aerosols fromboth natural and human-induced sources.


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