Antarctic snowfall linked to drought in southwest Australia

By Lee-Maree Gallo
October 25, 2010 – 11:36AM Increased snowfall in the Antarctic has been linked to drought in south-western Australia. Researchers, including Australian Antarctic Division principal research scientist Tas van Ommen, have been analysing ice cores in the Antarctic and revealed snowfall variability may be linked to climate in the Southern Ocean and the South-West. Dr van Ommen said the ice cores, drilled at Law Dome in the Antarctic, provided a record of annual variations in snowfall and provided a record stretching more than 750 years back. He said during the past 30 years the cores showed there had been an increase in snowfall in the area. “This inversely correlates to the occurrence of a significantly lower rainfall and subsequent drought that has been experienced in the south-west of Australia,” Dr van Ommen said. “So when there’s extra moisture at Law Dome, the same circulation pattern is starving Western Australia of moisture.” Dr Ommen said the events coincided with human induced changes in the atmosphere which may be contributing to global warming. “The snowfall increase we see in the last 30 years lies well outside the natural range recorded over the past 750 years,” Dr van Ommen said. …

Antarctic snowfall linked to south-western drought via The Oil Drum