Northeast Queensland 350 Year Summer Rainfall Reconstructions Lough, J.M. Lough, J.M. Precipitation Reconstruction drought hydrology earth science/paleoclimate/instrumental (precipitation,null,null,millimeter,summer,instrumental,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges (precipitation,luminescence,null,millimeter,summer,climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/corals and sclerosponges (luminescence,Porites sp.,null,dimensionless,null,corals and sclerosponges,raw,luminescence spectroscopy,N,annual luminescence range (measured as the difference between summer peak luminescence and the preceding winter minimum luminescence)) earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/reconstructions (Northeast Queensland>LATITUDE -16>LONGITUDE 144) Northeast tropical Queensland rainfall is concentrated in the summer half year and characterised by high interannual variability, partly related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. This results in highly variable river flows affecting near shore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Freshwater flood events are recorded in long-lived, annually-banded massive coral skeletons as luminescent lines. Quantitative measurements of luminescence intensity were made for 20 Porites coral cores from near shore reef sites between 11°-23°S. Seventeen of the coral luminescence series were significantly correlated with an instrumental record of NE Queensland summer rainfall and used to develop seven significantly calibrated and verified rainfall reconstructions based on between 17 (starting 1891) and one (starting 1639) coral series. The longest reconstruction, based on more than one coral, provides insights into NE Queensland rainfall variability from the late 17th century. Comparisons with various independent climate proxies are equivocal - the magnitude and significance of relationships with, for example, a proxy ENSO index vary through time. An extended drier period reconstructed from ~1760s to 1850s is associated with lower interannual rainfall variability. Since the late 19th century average rainfall and its variability have significantly increased with wet and dry extremes becoming more frequent than in earlier centuries. This suggests that a warming global climate maybe associated with more variable tropical Queensland rainfall. STUDY NOTES: Instrumental and reconstructed summer NE Queensland rainfall (mm) as plotted in Figure 2 and Figure SM1 of Lough 2011. Included are seven individual reconstructions based on from one to 17 coral luminescence data sets from near shore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef system. Annual luminescence data for 20 individual coral cores are also provided. Great Barrier Reef coral luminescence sites are located between 11°-23°S and 142°-151°E along the coast of northeastern Queensland, Australia. NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Lough, J.M. 2011-02-08 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/10292 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.xls https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.xls English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/10292 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/queensland-rainfall2011.xls Lough, J.M.2011Great Barrier Reef coral luminescence reveals rainfall variability over northeastern Australia since the 17th centuryPaleoceanography26PA220110.1029/2010PA002050 START YEAR: 1639 AD * END YEAR: 1981 AD 143 -19 146 -12