Antarctica 'stealing' Australia's rain: study

CANBERRA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Antarctica is "stealing" Australia 's rainfall, explaining why the former is not warming as much as other continents and why southern Australia is recording more droughts, the Australian National University (ANU) reported on Monday.

Researchers in Australia have found rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are strengthening the stormy Southern Ocean winds. These would normally deliver rain to southern Australia but are instead pushing further south towards Antarctica.

"With greenhouse warming, Antarctica is actually stealing more of Australia's rainfall," said Dr Nerilie Abram, lead researcher from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

"As the westerly winds are getting tighter they're actually trapping more of the cold air over Antarctica," she said.

"As greenhouse gases continue to rise we'll get fewer storms chased up into Australia."