Isdale et al. 1998 Burdekin River Annual Runoff Reconstruction Isdale, P.J.; Stewart, B.J.; Tickle, K.S.; Lough, J.M. Isdale, P.J. Stewart, B.J. Tickle, K.S. Lough, J.M. Streamflow Reconstruction earth science/paleoclimate/climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges (streamflow,luminescence,null,millimeter,Oct-Sep,climate reconstructions|corals and sclerosponges,null,null,N,null) 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 (Upstart Bay>LATITUDE -19.6668>LONGITUDE 147.5184) Massive, long-lived corals in inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef contain yellow-green fluorescent bands. These bands are due to terrestrial humic and fulvic compounds incorporated into the coral skeleton during high river flow events. Fluorescence measurements are presented for two colonies of Porites spp. from locations in the path of the Burdekin River floodwaters the major river in north Queensland draining into the Coral Sea. The records extend from AD 1737 to 1980 and 1644 to 1986, respectively. The two independent coral records show a high degree of similarity. The two series are combined and used to reconstruct Burdekin River runoff for the period AD 1644 to 1980. The regression model accounts for 83% of the annual (water year) variability of Burdekin River flow and is verified over independent data. The 337-year reconstruction thus increases by threefold the length of record for considering interannual to decadal climate variations in northeast Australia. Instrumental and reconstructed Burdekin River runoff are closely related to an index of summer monsoon rainfall in Queensland. Thus, the reconstruction provides insights into the behaviour over the past three centuries of both a major tropical river system and the highly variable summer monsoon rainfall in northeast Australia. The reconstructed series shows wetter conditions (higher runoff) in the late-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries and in the late-nineteenth century. Drier conditions (lower runoff) are reconstructed in the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries and in the mid-twentieth century. STUDY NOTES: Annual (water year, October-September) runoff (mm) of the Burdekin River, Queensland, Australia was reconstructed from intensity of fluorescence measured in two coral cores from Havannah and Pandora Reefs which lie in the Burdekin River plume. The following three data sets are provided: 1) Reconstruction of annual Burdekin River runoff (mm), 1644-1980 2) Havannah Reef standardized (with respect to long-term mean & sd) fluorescence index, 1644-1986 3) Pandora Reef standardized (with respect to long-term mean & sd) fluorescence index, 1737-1980 NCDC-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data - Bauer Bruce Investigator : Isdale, P.J. Investigator : Stewart, B.J. Investigator : Tickle, K.S. Investigator : Lough, J.M. 1998-01-01 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/6391 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/burdekin_flow.txt https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/burdekin_flow.txt English https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/6391 https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/coral/west_pacific/great_barrier/burdekin_flow.txt Isdale, P.J., B.J. Stewart, K.S. Tickle, and J.M. Lough. 1998. Palaeohydrological variation in a tropical river catchment: a reconstruction using fluorescent bands in corals of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The Holocene, 8: 1-8. START YEAR: 1644 AD * END YEAR: 1980 AD 147.5184 -19.6668 147.5184 -19.6668