Antinuclear

Southern Australia will get dry winters, as Southern Ocean winds stronger

Southern Ocean winds strongest in 1,000 years: study Rappler.  Agence France-Presse 13 May 14, According to the study’s lead researcher, Nerilie Abram, ‘The Southern Ocean winds are now stronger than at any time in the past 1,000 years’ SYDNEY, Australia – Winds in the wild Southern Ocean are blowing at their strongest in a millennia as climate change shifts weather patterns, leaving Antarctica colder and Australia facing more droughts, a study showed Monday.

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were strengthening the winds, already dubbed the “Roaring Forties” for their ferocity, and pushing them further south towards Antarctica, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) said.

“The Southern Ocean winds are now stronger than at any other time in the past 1,000 years,” said the study’s lead researcher Nerilie Abram of an ocean notorious for having some of the fiercest winds and largest waves on the planet.

“The strengthening of these winds has been particularly prominent over the past 70 years, and by combining our observations with climate models we can clearly link this to rising greenhouse gas levels.”

The new research, which was published in the Nature Climate Change journal, explains why Antarctica is not warming as much as other continents. (READ:Warmer Earth, humans to blame – UN panel)………..

The research helped to explain why the westerlies were further cooling already cold parts of the continent even as they were also driving “exceptionally quicker” warming in the Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out into their path, Abram said.

The strengthening westerlies drive up the temperature at the peninsula – the only part of the Antarctica that is hit by the wind – through the warm, moist air they carry from the Southern Ocean.

This has made the peninsula the fastest-warming place in the southern hemisphere, with scientists concerned about the stability of the ice sheets and sea level rises in the region……….

“Even for a mid-range climate scenario, the trend is going to continue in the 21st century,” Phipps said, adding that southern Australia was likely to experience more dry winters. – Rappler.com http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/earth-space/57830-southern-ocean-winds-strengthRappler, 

May 13, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming