Link established between Aussie bushfires and Indian Ocean conditions.Byline: ANI Washington, October 27 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have established a link between bushfires in Australia and Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. conditions. Southeastern Australia has been hit by several serious bushfires in recent years, including the devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. February 2009 "Black Saturday Black Saturday refers to several events:
To improve understanding of how climate change may affect the occurrence of bushfires, W. Cai from the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (CMAR) is one of the currently c.20 Research Divisions of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's largest government-supported research agency. , Aspendale, Victoria, and colleagues examined the connection between bushfires and positive Indian Ocean Dipole The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is an oceanographic phenomenon effecting climate in the Indian Ocean region. The IOD involves an aperiodic oscillation of sea-surface temperatures, between "positive" and "negative" phases. (pIOD) events. Such events are a phase in which the eastern Indian Ocean is cooler than usual while the western Indian Ocean is warmer than usual. These conditions tend to lead to lower than average rainfall and higher temperatures over southeastern Australia. The researchers found that pIODs reduce the soil moisture, increasing the fuel load leading into summer. Furthermore, they show that of 16 pIOD events since 1950, 11 were followed by major bushfires, and of the past 21 major bushfires, 11 were preceded by pIOD. The researchers also found that bushfires are more strongly associated with pIOD events than with El Nino events. Because global warming is likely to increase the frequency of pIOD events, the researchers suggest that bushfire risk will also increase. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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