Seasonal climate summary southern hemisphere (spring 2003): neutral conditions remain in the tropical Pacific, but dry conditions dominate northeast Australia

Atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the southern hemisphere are reviewed for the 2003 austral spring season. Particular emphasis is given to the Australian and Pacific regions. The 2002-03 El Niño event ended in autumn, with conditions remaining neutral during winter and then through spring. The neutral spring El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) state remained, despite equatorial ocean surface and sub-surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific increasing slightly during the season. Convection, however, was confined to the western tropical Pacific, suggesting that the slightly warmer than normal oceanic conditions failed to significantly couple with the atmosphere. At the high latitudes, the Antarctic ozone hole reached 28 million km2, a maximum size comparable to the record area observed in 2000. Over Australia, the neutral ENSO conditions failed to bring even average rainfall to a significant portion of the eastern half of the continent, with only below average rainfall totals for large areas of Queensland and the Northern Territory, as well as parts of northern and central New South Wales. Both maximum and minimum temperatures were generally above average in the north and east of the country, whilst in the south temperatures were cooler than average.