SCIENTISTS have found an "amazing" link between drought in Australia and increased snowfall in eastern Antarctica.
The Australian reports that analysing a 750-year-old ice core drilled from Law Dome in eastern Antarctica, Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Tas van Ommen noticed a spike in the heavier snowfalls in the 30 years to 2005.
The big suprise came when he and honorary research fellow Vin Morgan compared the data with records in Australia.
"What we found was amazing - while we were noticing extra moisture in east Antarctica and increasing snowfall, we were seeing dry conditions over southwest Western Australia," Dr van Ommen said yesterday.
The research shows that, since the late 1960s, there has been a 15-20 per cent drop in winter rainfall in southwest Western Australia, while at the same time there has been a 10 per cent increase in snowfall at Law Dome.
Dr van Ommen said the work, published in the Nature Geoscience journal, pointed to a change in the atmospheric circulation patterns south of Australia.
Read more on The Australian online.
