Spatial Patterns of Annual July-June Rainfall Fluctuations in Tropical Queensland, 1900/01 to 1979/80

Annual July-June (rather than January-December) rainfall is considered for the first 80 years of this century Le. 1900/01 to 1979/80, for 24 stations with uninterrupted records in tropical Queensland The aim is to define and examine spatial patterns of rainfall fluctuations, both in terms of categories of annual rainfall patterns and regional units with roughly comparable annual rainfall fluctuations. The essential characteristics of the categories and regions, defined by principal components analysis and a classification algorithm, are illustrated in a variety of maps, based on different methods of analysis. Relationships between their annual rainfall values and seasonal values of sea-surface temperatures for the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are also examined The considerable degree of uniformity across tropical Queensland in terms of temporal rainfall fluctuations was counterbalanced by a variety of differences in detail that are organised on a regional basis.