Available soil water- a practical communication tool in southern NSW Michael Cashen Agricultural Climatologist Acknowledge contribution from John Smith, Ian Hume & Sam North
My Talk Case study site - Deniliquin Explore rainfall Links with research outcomes ~ SEACI phase 1 Comparing periods & using PAW The future 2030 ~ unseen risks?
Case study: Deniliquin
Deniliquin yearly rainfall Federation drought ( ) World War II ( ) ‘Big Dry’ ( ) Data:
Autumn outside the box Data:
Estimated PAW ETc Wheat: Median monthly pan * Pan factor (0.72) * Crop Coefficient Kc Pan factor variant ~Sam North Pers Comm, 20 th June 2011
A tale of two periods -rainfall Data:
A tale of two periods- ETc (Wheat) Data:
A visual comparison of PAW Data:
Quantifying the difference Data:
The future? Data:
What about autumn? Given the findings of SEACI phase 1 (i.e. link between STR and temperature), are we at risk of under estimating the impact of CC ?
Conclusion - Autumn rainfall in decline since mid 80’s. - Strong linkage to intensification of the Subtropical Ridge (SEACI Phase 1) - Autumn decline reducing growing season length and Plant Available Water for growth in spring - Current CSIRO/BoM 2007 projections not indicating significant autumn declines
References CSIRO and Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2007,Climate Change in Australian, Technical report CSIRO (2010) Climate variability and change in south-eastern Australia: A synthesis of findings from Phase 1 of the South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative (SEACI) The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, 2007, Understanding the anthropogenic nature of the observed rainfall decline across south-eastern Australia, CAWCR Technical Report No. 026
Deniliquin seasonal rainfall trends Data:
Monthly median rainfall Data: