The Comparative Climatology of Australia and Argentina

Abstract

A USTRALIA is unique among the continents in that, except for the native grasses and forest trees, all plants of economic importance, particularly crop plants and fruit trees, all the clovers and medics, many grasses and a variety of weeds, have been introduced from other continents. Plant introduction is still of great economic importance, particularly with respect to tropical Australia. Any simple method of establishing homoclimes in other continents with specified regions of Australia is therefore of special interest.' The purpose of the present study is to illustrate the application of two climatic concepts developed in recent years at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute to a comparative study of Australia and another area within approximately the same latitudes and having many of the same agricultural problems. The concepts are: (i) the determination of the efficiency of the rainfall in any month by reference to both precipitation and evaporation in that month; (2) the definition of temperature regimes in terms of the harmonic values of niean, amplitude, and phase, which enable comparisons to be readily made and parallels established between areas having approximately the same temperature regimes throughout the year. The choice of Argentina for comparison with Australia was determined by the ready availability of recently compiled Argentine climatic data2 and