Rainfall patterns in a major wheat-growing region of Australia [north-central New South Wales]
1993
Boer, R. | Campbell, L.C. (Sydney Univ. (Australia). Dept. of Crop Sciences) | Fletcher, D.J. (Otago Univ., Dunedin (New Zealand). Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics)
Most of the variation in rainfall pattern across the wheat-belt in the north and centre of New South Wales is accounted for by differences in October-to-March (summer) rainfall and in April-to-September (winter) rainfall. The summer rainfall differences account for over two thirds of the variation. Based on these two rainfall periods, a partitioning of the study area reveals 5 distinct regions. Multiple regression was used to provide a set of equations for rainfall prediction at any location in the region, for a number of rainfall periods. These equations use altitude, longitude and latitude as predictors. Nearly all of the equations explain between 80 percent and 94 percent of the variation in rainfall. Differences between regions are accounted for in the analysis, making the equations widely applicable. The validity of the mean rainfall equations was tested on three further sites; the mean prediction error was 6.9 percent. This approach may be applicable where large land masses with similar geographical features occur.
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