- Title
- A multiproxy 1000-year hydroclimate reconstruction for eastern Australia and implications for water resource management
- Creator
- Flack, Anna L.; Kiem, Anthony S.; Tozer, Carly; Vance, Tessa; Roberts, Jason
- Relation
- 37th Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium (HWRS 2016). Proceedings of the 37th Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium (HWRS 2016) (Queenstown, New Zealand 28 November - 2 December, 2016) p. 123-130
- Publisher
- Engineers Australia
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Knowledge of Australia’s drought and flood history is of great importance for water resource management and infrastructure. However, as Australia’s instrumental record generally only covers the period post-1900 (at best) recent research has focussed on developing longer hydroclimate records based on palaeoclimate information from a variety of different sources. This study uses a multiproxy approach to compile, compare and analyse 14 palaeoclimate records developed from sources including ice cores, tree rings, and cave and sediment deposits. Wet and dry epochs of the pre-instrumental period (1000-1899) were identified if there was agreement across the majority of palaeoclimate records analysed. The occurrence, frequency and duration of preinstrumental wet and dry epochs were then compared to wet and dry epochs since 1900. The results show that pre-instrumental wet and dry epochs were longer and more frequent than those in the instrumental period. Even more disturbing is that over 71% of the pre-instrumental period has no identified instrumental equivalent, implying that the majority of the 900 years from 1000-1899 was unlike anything that has been encountered in the period on which all water infrastructure, planning and policy is based. The implications of these findings are demonstrated via a case study of a typical water storage reservoir in eastern Australia. This case study clearly shows that current water resource infrastructure and management strategies would not cope under the range of pre-instrumental wet and dry events that have occurred. When coupled with projected impacts of climate change and growing demand for water, these results highlight some major current and future challenges for water resource management.
- Subject
- hydroclimate; palaeoclimate; Australia
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1345986
- Identifier
- uon:29757
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781922107954
- Language
- eng
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