Are Australian climate trends linear?
David Jones, BOM, Vic., 3001, Australia; and R. Fawcett The calculation and mapping of linear trends over time in climate data represents one of the most direct means of describing the climate change currently affecting Australia and the world. The National Climate Centre has published maps of linear trends in a range of climate variables (precipitation, land surface maximum, minimum and mean temperature, diurnal temperature range, and sea surface temperature for the surrounding oceans) on the Bureau’s website (www.bom.gov.au/silo/products/cli_chg/). The trends in these variables are rarely completely linear, and accordingly the trend maps are given for a range of periods with start years available at decadal intervals (the ends of the periods being the present). The annual time series of the associated areal averages reinforce the necessity to interpret the trend maps in the light of interannual and interdecadal variability. There are many advantages and much economy which flow from u
