The Nature of Droughts in Australia

765 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Drought caused by climate and weather

Natural Hazards

Droughts in Australia

The Nature of Droughts in Australia

A drought is a lengthened dry period where there is not a sufficient amount of water for users’ standard requirement. Australia is the driest continent. The main explanation is that our country lies in a region of high atmospheric pressure and an inconsistent rate of rainfall. During a drought, streams and rivers dry up whilst plants and animals die. This is because they lack water and there tends to be less food to eat. Droughts in Australia tend to occur in areas away from the coast, but still, each state or territory is prone to droughts. South Australia is the driest state in Australia and is vulnerable to frequent droughts.

The Geographical Processes Involved

The Geographical Processes Involved

Causes

El Nino

El Nino is one of the main causes of droughts. An El Nino changes the relationships between the wind, ocean currents and atmospheric temperatures, which causes global impacts to weather conditions. Across the Pacific there

Areas being affected by El Nino. is a mass of warm water that is driven towards Australia. This warm water leads heavy rainfall to the north of Australia and some surrounding countries and islands. Whilst on the other side of the ocean, South America is going through drought. But when an El Nino event occurs, the ocean and the winds reverse orientations. This brings droughts and dry weather towards Australia.

Southern Oscillation

The southern oscillation is the weather patterns between the Pacific areas and Asia that causes rain variation in Australia. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is used to compute the alternation of air pressure betwe...

... middle of paper ...

...ole by distributing millions of dollars to the Australian Government Envirofund. Also, the government helps out farmers and rural communities to help support their income and employment. The state government establish water restrictions so that water can be conserved. The local government provide public work and services to assist communities being affected by drought. Farmers must reduce the amount of land beneath their crops, to save water. Also, farmers must learn alternate farming techniques and systems that helps them maintain their crops and livestock. However, due to droughts many individuals choose to leave their farms and head to urban areas. This causes decrease in population in rural areas.

Responsibility of the Community

Managing a drought is a responsibility shared by individuals, community groups and governments in order get through a drought.

Show More
Related

  • Video Analysis: The Habitable Planet

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Cane, scientist at Columbia University, discusses numerous places around the world that suffer famine and fires due to the effects of El Nino, even mentioning an occurrence here in the United States of an extreme snow storm caused by this event1. According to NOAA, El Nino occurs every 2-7 years and is detected by satellites, buoys, and sea level analysis . If scientists are aware of when El Nino is occurring then they are also aware of what changes in weather it is causing and can therefore connect these disasters to the event. It is

    Read More

  • The Effect of Recycled Water Irrigation on Young Olive Trees

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...

    Read More

  • History and Future of Wyoming’s Droughts

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Basin of North America and Wyoming specifically, is known for its arid and semi-arid environment, as well as prolonged and sometimes severe droughts. Drought is the prolonged and abnormal deficiency of moisture with the concomitant decline in runoff to a level significantly lower than usual (Guldin 1989). The history of droughts in Wyoming has been uncertain in the past, but recent studies of tree rings in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming have given insight to droughts as far back as 1260A.D. (Gray et al. 2004). Looking at tree ring records in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) trees, Stephen Gray and his colleagues discovered that droughts which have been experienced in Wyoming since the 1750's, are weak in severity and length when compared to those since. The most severe drought period in Wyoming’s history occurred from 1262 to 1281. The droughts of the 1930’s and 1950’s, which have been used as benchmarks for all other droughts in the United States in recent times (Woodhouse et al. 2002), are ranked 149th and 28th respectively in comparison (Gray et al. 2004). The five top ranking droughts for 10, 15, and 20 year periods are all prior to the 1800’s, with the four driest single years being 1263, 1274, 1278, and 1280 (Gray et al. 2004). This indicates a change in precipitation patterns in the Big Horn Basin area of Wyoming since the 18th century, as all recent droughts have been mild when compared to those of Wyoming’s past.

    Read More

  • Consequences of the Drought in the Central Valley

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...

    Read More

  • The Colorado River Basin Drought

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    For example, then, drought is difficult to define in modern standards, it is typically classified as a shortage of water, usually associated with a deficit of rainfall. That is, drought occurs when the demand or use for water exceeds the current supply of water. It follows, then, the Colorado river drought does not solely affect one area, it’s grandeur has affected the whole southwestern United States. Additionally, the Colorado River Basin Water Management: Evaluating and Adjusting to Hydroclimatic provides information on the meager volume of rain fall. In theory, then, combined with increased temperatures from global warming, and a deficient of rainfall both circumstances have had a descending effect on most surrounding

    Read More

  • Water Scarcity In China Essay

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    Second, long term and short term climate changes (e.g. global warming and El Nino) may lead to dryness. Global warming rises

    Read More

  • Black Saturday Bushfires Research Paper

    402 Words  | 1 Pages

    Two months leading to the black Saturday bushfires, intense heat waves struck Victoria, causing minimal rainfall, resulting in the worst drought ever recorded in Australia.

    Read More

  • 2013/2014 Queensland Australia Drought

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...the El Nino air pressure. The drought also has many impacts on economic, social and environmental. Manage drought comes from daily life and the government measure.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In Australia

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Australia is home to the great barrier reef which is the world's largest coral reef system, and home to the kangaroo. Australia is the driest continent in the world. The outback is the part of Australia that few live in because it’s a vast desert (“Australia”). The great dividing range is a long chain of mountains that runs along the Pacific Coast of Australia (“Australia”). Australia is the driest inhabitable country in the world (“Australia”). The great barrier reef of Australia is the largest in the world (“Australia”). Australia is already a dry country and if the temperature rises anymore due to climate change than Australia could suffer from more severe forest fires and be doomed.

    Read More

  • Drought In California Essay

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    The drought in California is to be blamed on what is being described as “A vast zone of high pressure in the atmosphere off the west coast.” (Rogers 2014) researchers have learned that the high pressure is preventing all kinds of storms from reaching California and instead are actually going up to Alaska and British Columbia and even the east coast. The wall of pressure has been hovering around California for more than a year and no one can say why it is happening(Rogers 2014).

    Read More

  • Seawater Desalination

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Drought is no stranger to the state of California especially is the southern part of the state. California has been a technological creation since the first American settlers starting migrating from the east. It naturally has a semi-arid climate. It was inevitable that prolonged severe drought would occur in such a climatic region from time to time. California has depended on redirecting natural waterways and investing an incredible amount of money into pumping water to Southern California. This is not only a California debacle but a global one as well. According to the World health Organization, 1 billion people do not have access to clean, piped water. A world Resources Institute analysis adds that 2.3 billion people, 41% of Earth’s population, live in water-stressed areas, a number expected to climb to 3.5 billion by 2025. To make matters worse, global population is rising by 80 million a year, and with it the demand for new sources of fresh water (7 pg. 1). Water affects everyone and everything including the economies of both developing and industrialized nations. “The current situation has heightened the need for reliable sources of water, especially in these type of times when there is rationing across the state, “said Paul Shoenberger, assistant general manager with the West Basin Municipal Water District in Carson and chair of a desalination subcommittee for the Association of California Water Agencies. “ Desalination is more available and isn’t linked to rain or snow pack.” The only methods to increase water supply beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle are desalination and water reuse (8).

    Read More

  • How Does Resonance Affect The Shape Of The Coastline

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    An El Niño is a temporary change in the climate of the Pacific Ocean, in the region around the equator. An El Nino occurs when the winds that usually push water around get weaker. When this happens, the warm water piles up and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. In doing this it provides the El Nino with its trademark, which is increasing the ocean temperature, a few degrees. The difference between an El Nino and a La Nina is just about everything. The La Nina is everything an El Nino is but reversed. Instead of warming taking place in the central and eastern Tropical Pacific cooling takes place. This is caused by instead of the trade winds blowing softer they blow harder cooling down the

    Read More

  • Global Food Scarcity: Poverty and Waste

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    In other countries all around the world their problem are different like in jamaica they have been in a drought causing all types of problem for there country. Since when a country goes through drought the people of the land can 't grow food or have enough water to survive on. Because without water no food also animals die and suffer. “...more than 18,000 small farmers have been affected by the extreme drought that has been plaguing the country for months”(brown). Said in Brown 's story there are more than 18,000 farmers that are feeling the affect of the region 's

    Read More

  • The Effects of Climate Change: Agriculture and Livestock

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Drought - a fact sheet. Retrieved from: http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/factsheet/cc.pdf The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007).

    Read More

  • El Nino and La Nina

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    During El Niño?s in the Pacific Northwest, the amount of precipitation greatly decreases, the winter temperatures get milder, and winter has below-average precipitation. Some economical and environmental impacts are that erosion is increasing due to severe storm surges, concerns that property built on low-lying areas or on top of unstable bluffs possibly be flooded or threatened by landslides due to regional climate changes, and various salmon species potentially endangered. In California, during El Nino?s they get extreme precipitation and snowfalls. Economical and environmental impacts are heavy precipitation, damage from debris flows or mudslides, and floods from the rain. El Nino seasons in Peru bring so much rainfall that there is now a lake made from the rain, compared to the desert it once was. Several economical and environmental impacts from El Nino include massive floods or mudslides, and since Peru lives in a cold-water zone, it carries many fish that are caught and sold commercially, but during El Nino, a layer of warm water covers the nutrient-rich east coast waters, abruptly stopping the upwelling and the nutrients fail to come up.

    Read More

More about The Nature of Droughts in Australia

Open Document