Australian Drought Analysis

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Pages: 2

Geography Drought Assessment Task

Physical Characteristics that make Australia Unique
Natural Hazards

The Nature of the Hazard/Disaster in Australia:

Drought refers to prolonged absence of rain resulting in low water supplies. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, drought is defined as a period of extremely low rainfall involving a one-in-ten-year event. However, in Australia the definition has been highly controversial, due to the fact that much of inland Australia would be categorised in almost perpetual drought along with factors from climate change. Because of this, there is no universal definition of drought. The Bureau of Meteorology classifies the intensity of the drought by serious and severe.

- Serious rainfall deficiency: rainfall lies above the lowest five per cent of recorded rainfall
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Over the past years, from 2002 to 2006, Eastern and Southern Australia received widespread drought. These conditions continued throughout 2009 where Melbourne had put in stage three place water restrictions.

The Geographical Processes Involved:

Australia’s drought events are usually triggered by the El Niño event. In addition to this, Australia has a persistent high pressure system above central Australia and is a flat continent, reducing the amount of orographic rainfall.

During normal conditions, warm surface water along with warm rising air which is blown west towards Australia. As the air reaches sea at the western edge of the Pacific, moist air rises to high levels in the atmosphere, brining heavy rain to northern Australia, Papua New Guainía and Indonesia. Whereas, in South America, dry sinking air and the upwelling of cold water, where rising air is associated with high pressure and dry