Science Article #11

Australia, Antarctica Linked By Climate

Beradelli, P. “Australia, Antarctica Linked By Climate”. ScienceNow Daily News. February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010 From http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/208/1

There is an adverse weather conditions between Australia and Antarctica. Climate researchers have seen that when one continent experiences drought, the other experiences precipitation. The southwestern corner of Australia is suffering a drought whereas the eastern Antarctica is consistently getting a barrage of snowstorms. This scientific finding needed further investigation so they took ice core samples from an ice field directly south of Australia’s southwestern tip. According to climate scientist Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan, researchers of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania, they have found evidence that the area of Antarctica has been experiencing an unusual amount of snowfalls for few decades. In fact, this anomaly is similar to the droughts that have occurred in Australia.

The researchers are convinced that these weather anomalies are linked together and may have been intensified by human/environment interactions. They monitored precipitations, atmospheric circulation patterns as well as measuring particles in ice cores. The evidence for human causes are strong because of human-made carbon dioxide as well as reduction in ozone had created a drier air in the southwestern regions of Australia. Inversely, Antarctica experiences wetter and snowier conditions. Researching this is crucial for the farming regions of Australia because without rainfalls, the farming industry will receive a devastating blow. This is a fine example of global warming in the works.