One of the issues that came out of the recent #Cop26 climate conference was – that Australia is very much impacted by extremes of climate and the impacts can seen in bushfires which have devastated both wildlife and people in New South Wales and other states.
So, why is Australia so very much affected by climate?
Australia is a land of “drought and flooding rains”. As rainfall varies significantly from year to year and from decade to decade, recurring floods and droughts are deeply ingrained into our culture. More recently, we’ve seen longer-term changes in some parts of the country.
CLIMATE
It’s hard to believe that one country can be home to arid deserts, lush rainforests and sprawling, temperate metropolises, but Australia’s sheer vastness means that it plays host to a number of different climates. While predominantly a desert climate – something is easy for forget on a daily basis and which composes the country’s famous “Outback”, Australia is also home to temperate climates, which are found in the more populated areas. This is particularly prominent on the South-eastern coast, where Australia’s two most populated cities-Sydney and Melbourne, as well as the capital city of Canberra are located. In addition, the Northern part of the continent has a more tropical climate, which includes a number of rainforests.
As one of the many nations affected by the El Nino Southern Oscillation, Australia is plagued by a number of severe weather patterns, with tropical cyclones, heat waves, droughts and especially bush-fires posing a number of environmental problems. Due to its tropical climate, the north-western part of Australia is most prone to cyclones, particularly in the Broome and Exmouth regions of Western Australia. Occurring five to six times per year on average, cyclones at their worst in Australia have unleashed billions of dollars of property and infrastructural damage, several fatalities and devastating environmental damage. Cyclone Tracy in 1974 was, adjusted for inflation, Australia’s costliest cyclone, causing $4.45 billion(2014 AUD) in property damage. Cyclone Monica in 2006 was the strongest, reaching wind speeds exceeding 350 km/h and causing significant deforestation within the area.
Cyclone Mahina in 1899 was the deadliest, leaving 400 dead in its wake; the largest death toll from a natural disaster in Australia’s history. Due to the low humidity and lack of rainfall in the more arid regions of Australia, bush-fires are prominent during the summer months, especially in the state of Victoria. Although warning systems have been put in place to reduce as much damage as possible, bush-fires remain a problem to this day, often causing fatalities and property damage. The most deadly bush-fires commonly occur in droughts, such as the notorious 2009 Black Saturday Bush-fires, which saw 173 people die. Despite the threats they present, a number of indigenous flora species are reliant on bush-fires in order to reproduce. Therefore, bush-fires are surprisingly, a pivotal component of Australia’s ecosystem.
LANDSCAPE
Due to the dominant desert climate, much of Australia’s terrain is barren and unable to support human civilization. Composing 18% of the Australian continent, the various deserts cover 1,371,000 square kilometers of land. There are ten distinct deserts in Australia-the Great Victoria Desert (Western Australia/South Australia), the Great Sandy Desert (Western Australia), the Tanami Desert (Western Australia/Northern Territory), the Simpson Desert (Northern Territory/Queensland/South Australia), the Gibson Desert (Western Australia), the Little Sandy Desert (Western Australia), the Strzelecki Desert (South Australia/Queensland/New South Wales), the Sturt Stony Desert (South Australia/Queensland/New South Wales), the Tirari Desert (South Australia) and the Pedirka Desert (South Australia).
With thanks to https://www.pilotguides.com and Bureau of Meteorology.
