Kathleen S. Rome
Current Organizations / Institutes
The organizations/institutes from the scholar's latest article
Research Subjects
Kathleen S. Rome has a total of 21 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:
- Ailie Jane Eyre Gallant
School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment Monash University Clayton Victoria Australia
1 shared publication - Andrea Sardinha Taschetto
Climate Change Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia
1 shared publication Andy J. Pitman
ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1 shared publication- Anjana Devanand
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
1 shared publication - Anna M. Ukkola
ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1 shared publication - Chenhui Jin
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century and School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
1 shared publication
Latest Publications
- Top Cited PapersOpen Access
- 8 March 2024
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science Advances
- Vol. 10 (10) , eadj3460
Australia’s Tinderbox Drought: An extreme natural event likely worsened by human-caused climate change
We examine the characteristics and causes of southeast Australia’s Tinderbox Drought (2017 to 2019) that preceded the Black Summer fire disaster. The Tinderbox Drought was characterized by cool season rainfall deficits of around −50% in three consecutive years, which was exceptionally unlikely in the context of natural variability alone. The precipitation deficits were initiated and sustained by an anomalous atmospheric circulation that diverted oceanic moisture away from the region, despite traditional indicators of drought risk in southeast Australia generally being in neutral states. Moisture deficits were intensified by unusually high temperatures, high vapor pressure deficits, and sustained reductions in terrestrial water availability. Anthropogenic forcing intensified the rainfall deficits of the Tinderbox Drought by around 18% with an interquartile range of 34.9 to −13.3% highlighting the considerable uncertainty in attributing droughts of this kind to human activity. Skillful predictability of this drought was possible by incorporating multiple remote and local predictors through machine learning, providing prospects for improving forecasting of droughts.
- 8 March 2024
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science Advances
- Vol. 10 (10) , eadj3460
Top Cited PapersOpen AccessAustralia’s Tinderbox Drought: An extreme natural event likely worsened by human-caused climate change
We examine the characteristics and causes of southeast Australia’s Tinderbox Drought (2017 to 2019) that preceded the Black Summer fire disaster. The Tinderbox Drought was characterized by cool season rainfall deficits of around −50% in three consecutive years, which was exceptionally unlikely in the context of natural variability alone. The precipitation deficits were initiated and sustained by an anomalous atmospheric circulation that diverted oceanic moisture away from the region, despite traditional indicators of drought risk in southeast Australia generally being in neutral states. Moisture deficits were intensified by unusually high temperatures, high vapor pressure deficits, and sustained reductions in terrestrial water availability. Anthropogenic forcing intensified the rainfall deficits of the Tinderbox Drought by around 18% with an interquartile range of 34.9 to −13.3% highlighting the considerable uncertainty in attributing droughts of this kind to human activity. Skillful predictability of this drought was possible by incorporating multiple remote and local predictors through machine learning, providing prospects for improving forecasting of droughts.