Air pollution and precipitation suppression over SE Australia: critical review of evidence presented by Rosenfeld (2000) and Rosenfeld (2006)

Abstract

A hypothesis that air pollution in the form of small particles has caused a secular decrease in precipitation over South East (SE) Australia was advanced by Rosenfeld (2000), who concluded that the hypothesis was proven. This paper critically reviews the experimental design used in that paper and subsequent work presented in Rosenfeld (2006). It is shown that the meteorological conditions on the single day studied were inappropriate for testing the hypothesis, as was the synoptic weather pattern. Moreover, the study failed to consider prior published work in Australia and readily available independent data such as rainfall patterns that call into question the approach used. We conclude that the experimental design was incapable of addressing the hypothesis, which therefore remains unproven.