Australia's protracted droughts have been caused by moisture being redirected southward toward Antarctica.
Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division say they have discovered that Australia’s recent crippling droughts have been caused by a shift in precipitation southward into Antarctica.
Ice core samples reveal snowfall during recent decades in eastern parts of the frozen continent has been higher than at any other time in the past 750 years.
The increase corresponds to the onset of parching and prolonged drought in Australia.
Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan wrote in Nature Geoscience that the shift was brought on by drier air blowing over southwestern Australia from the Southern Ocean, redirecting moist air southward into Antarctica.
The researchers say there is no evidence that the shift is due to "climate change," but such a shift in rainfall patterns represents a change in climate itself.
Animation: Earthbrowser