ABSTRACT
Australia is one of the hottest and driest continents in the world in terms of duration/ intensity of heat and annual rainfall. Extreme air temperatures (> 45°C) have been recorded at almost all stations more than 150 km from the coast and in many areas on the northwest and southern coasts (NATMAP, 1986). Half of Australia’s total land area has an average annual rainfall of < 300 mm (Fig. 15.1); consequently, a large part of central Australia is desert or semi-arid. The northern part of the continent is largely tropical rainforests, tropical and sub-tropical grasslands and desert. The more intensive farming systems are applied in the coastal regions and the south-east and south-west corners of Australia with a temperate climate (Nie and Norton, 2009; Nie et al., 2016).
