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March 15, 2007
The notes to the NASA image of Australia in November 2006 say that the high temperatures in the Great Dividing Range and elsewhere were part of an unusually warm and dry spring, which in turn, was an extension of a dry year.
The notes state that:
Some of the dryness may be linked to a weak El Niñno in the Pacific Ocean. El Niñno is a regular climate pattern during which sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator heat up and trade winds weaken. Though the effects of El Niñno vary, the phenomenon often changes rainfall patterns around the world. In Australia, El Niñno often brings a dry winter and spring. It is also linked to an increase in the number of extreme fire days, during which conditions are hot, dry, and windy.
Climate change is not mentioned. It overlays El Niñno as a long term trend. That means the current drought becomes more akin to the normal than the exception or the anomaly.
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