Tree rings show recent high Summer-Autumn precipitation in Northwest Australia Is unprecedented within the last two centuries

A. J. O'Donnell; E. R. Cook; J. G. Palmer; C. S. M. Turney; G. F. M. Page; P. F. Grierson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128533

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Tree rings show recent high Summer-Autumn precipitation in Northwest Australia Is unprecedented within the last two centuries

Journal article

Open access

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Tree rings show recent high Summer-Autumn precipitation in Northwest Australia Is unprecedented within the last two centuries

A. J. O'Donnell, E. R. Cook, J. G. Palmer, C. S. M. Turney, G. F. M. Page and P. F. Grierson

PloS one, Vol.10(6), Art. e0128533

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128533

PMCID: PMC4454581

PMID: 26039148

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Abstract

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Science & Technology

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An understanding of past hydroclimatic variability is critical to resolving the significance of recent recorded trends in Australian precipitation and informing climate models. Our aim was to reconstruct past hydroclimatic variability in semi-arid northwest Australia to provide a longer context within which to examine a recent period of unusually high summer-autumn precipitation. We developed a 210-year ring-width chronology from Callitris columellaris, which was highly correlated with summer-autumn (Dec-May) precipitation (r = 0.81; 1910-2011; p < 0.0001) and autumn (Mar-May) self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI, r = 0.73; 1910-2011; p < 0.0001) across semi-arid northwest Australia. A linear regression model was used to reconstruct precipitation and explained 66% of the variance in observed summer-autumn precipitation. Our reconstruction reveals inter-annual to multi-decadal scale variation in hydroclimate of the region during the last 210 years, typically showing periods of below average precipitation extending from one to three decades and periods of above average precipitation, which were often less than a decade. Our results demonstrate that the last two decades (1995-2012) have been unusually wet (average summerautumn precipitation of 310 mm) compared to the previous two centuries (average summer-autumn precipitation of 229 mm), coinciding with both an anomalously high frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones in northwest Australia and the dominance of the positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode.

Details

Title: Tree rings show recent high Summer-Autumn precipitation in Northwest Australia Is unprecedented within the last two centuries
Authors/Creators: A. J. O'Donnell - The University of Western Australia
E. R. Cook - Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
J. G. Palmer - UNSW Sydney
C. S. M. Turney - UNSW Sydney
G. F. M. Page - The University of Western Australia
P. F. Grierson - The University of Western Australia
Publication Details: PloS one, Vol.10(6), Art. e0128533
Publisher: Public Library Science
Number of pages: 18
Grant note: Australian Research Council LP120100310 / Rio Tinto
Identifiers: 991005551053307891
Murdoch Affiliation: College of Environmental and Life Sciences; School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 8 Earth Sciences; 8.19 Oceanography, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; 8.19.38 ENSO
Web Of Science research areas: Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
ESI research areas: Geosciences