QUEENSLAND CLIMATE SCIENTISTS WORKING TO BETTER PREDICT THE WET SEASON
Published Sunday, 01 July, 2007 at 04:04 PM
JOINT STATEMENT
Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Peter Beattie
Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland
The Honourable Craig Wallace
Queensland climate scientists are working to provide better estimates of when North Queensland’s wet season will begin and finish each year and how frequent and heavy rainfall will be Premier Peter Beattie announced today.
Mr Beattie said a team of seven scientists from the new Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence (QCCCE) was working on a two-year, $1.2 million research project examining North Queensland’s dominant weather pattern.
“The study also has international implications and once completed, the results could be adapted to other tropical areas of the Asia Pacific region,” Mr Beattie said.
“Queensland is a world leader in climate change research and long-term weather modelling. While there are obvious benefits in the pastoral and agricultural sectors, there is also enormous potential for this research to be extended into other areas.
“For example, better forecasting of the wet’s onset could have important regional health benefits including helping to prevent mosquito-borne diseases.
“The wet season dominates life in North Queensland – it is leaden skies, frogs, wet and mouldy clothes and being cut off from town,”
“The pace of life slows as heavy rain and flooding stop agriculture, transport and many other activities,” Mr Beattie said.
“No one could ever tame the wet season but improved knowledge will help people living in the tropics in North Queensland and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
“Industries such as grazing, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and health all will benefit from more accurate predictions about the wet,” Mr Beattie said.
The study also will look at how the wet season is likely to be affected by climate change.
Natural Resources and Water Minister and the Premier’s representative in North Queensland Craig Wallace said the wet season in North Queensland ran approximately from November to April.
“However the onset and duration of the wet can vary greatly from year to year – with rainfall differences of up to 700mm depending on the location,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Wallace said scientists from the Climate Change Centre of Excellence were using forecasting tools such as the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation Index.
As part of the project, researchers will study and compare the length of dry periods between rainfall events and forecast these with the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which is the main intra-annual fluctuation that explains weather variations in the tropics.
“Climate analysis from the QCCCE team should provide valuable information to sectors dependant on accurate weather forecasts, such as agriculture, health, infrastructure development and tourism,” Mr Wallace said.
“This project is particularly important for agriculture. The variability of the northern wet season poses a significant risk for many climate-sensitive industries, particularly grazing, grain, sugar and other horticulture,” he said.
The $1.2 million project is a joint initiative between the centre and the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology. It is partly funded by Land and Water Australia under its “Managing for Climate Variability” program.
The Government established the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence in March.
It is the first centre of its kind in Australia, making Queensland a national leader in understanding and preparing for the effects of climate change.
Media contact: Premier’s office 3224 4500
Minister’s office: Paul Childs 0407 131 654.
1 July 2007
Mr Beattie said a team of seven scientists from the new Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence (QCCCE) was working on a two-year, $1.2 million research project examining North Queensland’s dominant weather pattern.
“The study also has international implications and once completed, the results could be adapted to other tropical areas of the Asia Pacific region,” Mr Beattie said.
“Queensland is a world leader in climate change research and long-term weather modelling. While there are obvious benefits in the pastoral and agricultural sectors, there is also enormous potential for this research to be extended into other areas.
“For example, better forecasting of the wet’s onset could have important regional health benefits including helping to prevent mosquito-borne diseases.
“The wet season dominates life in North Queensland – it is leaden skies, frogs, wet and mouldy clothes and being cut off from town,”
“The pace of life slows as heavy rain and flooding stop agriculture, transport and many other activities,” Mr Beattie said.
“No one could ever tame the wet season but improved knowledge will help people living in the tropics in North Queensland and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
“Industries such as grazing, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development and health all will benefit from more accurate predictions about the wet,” Mr Beattie said.
The study also will look at how the wet season is likely to be affected by climate change.
Natural Resources and Water Minister and the Premier’s representative in North Queensland Craig Wallace said the wet season in North Queensland ran approximately from November to April.
“However the onset and duration of the wet can vary greatly from year to year – with rainfall differences of up to 700mm depending on the location,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Wallace said scientists from the Climate Change Centre of Excellence were using forecasting tools such as the Madden-Julian Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation Index.
As part of the project, researchers will study and compare the length of dry periods between rainfall events and forecast these with the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which is the main intra-annual fluctuation that explains weather variations in the tropics.
“Climate analysis from the QCCCE team should provide valuable information to sectors dependant on accurate weather forecasts, such as agriculture, health, infrastructure development and tourism,” Mr Wallace said.
“This project is particularly important for agriculture. The variability of the northern wet season poses a significant risk for many climate-sensitive industries, particularly grazing, grain, sugar and other horticulture,” he said.
The $1.2 million project is a joint initiative between the centre and the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology. It is partly funded by Land and Water Australia under its “Managing for Climate Variability” program.
The Government established the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence in March.
It is the first centre of its kind in Australia, making Queensland a national leader in understanding and preparing for the effects of climate change.
Media contact: Premier’s office 3224 4500
Minister’s office: Paul Childs 0407 131 654.
1 July 2007