Extreme rainfall activity in the Australian tropics reflects changes in the El Nino/Southern Oscillation over the last two millennia.

ABSTRACT: Assessing temporal variability in extreme rainfall events before the historical era is complicated by the sparsity of long-term "direct" storm proxies. Here we present a 2,200-y-long, accurate, and precisely dated record of cave flooding events from the northwest Australian tropics that we interpret, based on an integrated analysis of meteorological data and sediment layers within stalagmites, as representing a proxy for extreme rainfall events derived primarily from tropical cyclones (TCs) and secondarily from the regional summer monsoon. This time series reveals substantial multicentennial variability in extreme rainfall, with elevated occurrence rates characterizing the twentieth century, 850-1450 CE (Common Era), and 50-400 CE; reduced activity marks 1450-1650 CE and 500-850 CE. These

SUBMITTER: Denniston RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4403187 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature