FIGURE7 Climate zones of Australia
Darwin
Weipa
Katherine
Kalumburu
Kowanyama
Cairns
Broome
Normanton
Halls Creek
Tennant Creek
Townsville
Port Hedland
Mount Isa
Mackay
Telfer
Alice Springs
Longreach
Newman
Giles
Rockhampton
Birdsville
Carnarvon
Charleville
Wiluna
Oodnadatta
Brisbane
Marree
Geraldton
Bourke
Cook
Kalgoorlie–Boulder
Coffs Harbour
Port Augusta
Ceduna
Dubbo
Perth
Mildura
Port Lincoln
Esperance
Sydney
Adelaide
Canberra
Albany
Horsham
Melbourne
Orbost
Warrnambool
Major classification groups
Equatorial
Cape Grim
St Helens
Tropical
Strahan
Subtropical
Hobart
Desert
Grassland
Temperate
0
500
1000 km
Source: Map redrawn by Spatial Vision © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2022, Bureau of Meteorology.
One challenge for Australians using water is that most rain doesn’t end up in rivers — it evaporates. Australian rivers only hold 1 per cent of the water in the world’s rivers, even though Australia makes up 5 per cent of the world’s land. On average, only 10 per cent of our rain runs into rivers, streams or groundwater. This drops to 3 per cent in dry areas and rises to 24 per cent in wetter places. Central Australia is very dry and has high evaporation rates. Relative humidity measures how much moisture is in the air compared to the maximum it can hold at a certain temperature. Relative humidity is usually higher in coastal areas and places with lots of rain, like north Queensland and western Tasmania.
TOPIC9 Water in the world 263
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