highly variable rainfall across the country, with substantial increases in rainfall in northern and central parts of Australia, as well as significant decreases across much of southern and eastern Australia;

about half of the observed reduction in winter rainfall in south-west Western Australia can be explained by higher greenhouse gas levels;

rapidly rising sea levels from 1993 to 2009, with levels around Australia rising, between 1.5 cm and 3 cm per decade in Australia’s south and east and between 7 cm and 9 cm in the country’s north;

since 1960 the mean temperature in Australia has increased by about 0.7°C. The long-term trend in temperature is clear, but there is still substantial year-to-year variability of about plus/minus 0.5°C; and

some areas have experienced a warming of 1.5 to 2°C over the last 50 years. While warming has occurred in all seasons, the strongest warming has occurred in spring (about 0.9°C) and the weakest in summer (about 0.4°C).