Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Australia: More Queensland extreme rainfall events expected
* From: AAP
* February 09, 2011 1:18PM
QUEENSLAND'S summer of 2010-2011 will be long remembered for its
widespread flooding and the impact of Cyclone Yasi, but it may not
be an isolated occurrence for the state.
Research from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
shows the frequency of extreme rainfall events has been increasing
since the late 19th century.
Dr Janice Lough has presented a paper in the prestigious
scientific journal Paleoceanography, explaining how her latest
research supports predictions that tropical rainfall will become
more variable in a warming world.
"At AIMS we have Australia's most comprehensive library of coral
cores, from long-lived Porites corals on the Great Barrier Reef,"
Dr Lough, an expert in climate change science, said.
"The cores have annual bands, similar to tree rings.
"They give us a record of the ocean environment throughout the
coral's life, dating back several centuries, before weather and
climate were monitored with rain gauges and thermometers."
Scientists at AIMS have investigated several long coral cores from
the Great Barrier Reef and that has allowed them to reconstruct
northeast Queensland summer rainfall back to the late 17th
century, providing more than 300 years of records to examine past
climate variability and change.
Dr Lough said the research showed the 1973-1974 summer wet season,
when Brisbane experienced its previous major flood, was the
wettest in at least the past three centuries.
She said extreme wet and dry events had always occurred in
Queensland, but the cores provided evidence that they are
happening more frequently now than they did in earlier centuries.
"The fact that extreme wet and extreme dry weather will happen
more often and can potentially impact on thousands of people and
millions of dollars worth of property, is something that the
community will have to consider," Dr Lough said.
The research will be submitted to the State Government's
Commission of Inquiry into the recent floods in SE Queensland.
The inquiry is due to start in Brisbane with a directions hearing
tomorrow.