VARIATIONS OF SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURES OFF NORTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH RAINFALL IN QUEENSLAND - 1956-1987

Spatial, seasonal, and interannual variations of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in the area 0-30-degrees-S. 130-180-degrees-E are examined for the period of 1956-1987. Sea-surface temperatures in this region are high throughout the year with an annual range of only 0.5-degrees-C close to the Equator, increasing to 5.0-degrees-C, south of 24-degrees-S. Interannual variability of SSTs is highest and year-to year persistence of anomalies is lowest in October November. Interannual variability is lowest and year-to-year persistence is highest in April-May. Sea-surface temperature anomalies developed in June July are more likely to persist through subsequent seasons than SST anomalies developed in December-January. Interannual variations of SSTs are related more closely to Queensland rainfall variations in the winter season than in the summer season. In the summer season, SST-rainfall linkages are dominated by co-variations of these two variables with the Southern Oscillation. In the winter season, significant associations between SSTs and rainfall are present in the absence of large variations of the Southern Oscillation.