Friday, March 19, 2010

Some April events and a followup

This bulletin continues our updates on the weather relating to the Breakup event of Ross Ice Shelf.


As noted in the previous bulletin the cooling effect of ACC in the southern Indian Ocean was largely cancelled this SH summer. The 3rd last Tropical Cyclone of the season in Southern Indian Ocean, that hit areas near Perth (Australia) as Category 4 two and a half weeks ago, and got extratropical before hitting New Zealand with winds of 200km/h, continued straight towards the Icebergs in Drake channel. The blockade of ACC was finally broken, with the icebergs spreading with the re-established ACC. A notable amount of ice was swept by the Falkalnd Current between Falkland isles and Argentina, it remains to be seen if this is enough to create an ocean ice bridge between the Isles and the continent later this winter. What we expect is that the ocean ice amount is large in southern Atlantic portion of the Antarctica. This likely will direct the polar cyclones powering ACC towards South African Republic and some notable snow events are expected there before the winter is over.

{{From the Agricultural Department:

As the cyclone season has brought copious amounts of water to Western Australia, it is likely advisable to plant during winter (may-jul), since the forecasts show a significant possibilty of light showers during the next spring (aug-sep) and the drier conditions are likely to return in the summer.}}