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Extending and understanding the South West Western Australian rainfall record using a snowfall reconstruction from Law Dome, East Antarctica
Citation
Zheng, Y and Jong, LM and Phipps, SJ and Roberts, JL and Moy, AD and Curran, MAJ and van Ommen, TD, Extending and understanding the South West Western Australian rainfall record using a snowfall reconstruction from Law Dome, East Antarctica, Climate of the Past, 17, (5) pp. 1973-1987. ISSN 1814-9324 (2021) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
DOI: doi:10.5194/cp-17-1973-2021
Abstract
South West Western Australia (SWWA) has experienced a prolonged reduction in rainfall in recent decades, with associated reductions in regional water supply and residential and agricultural impacts. The cause of the reduction has been widely considered but remains unclear. The relatively short length of the instrumental record limits long-term investigation. A previous proxy-based study used a statistically negative correlation between SWWA rainfall and snowfall from the Dome Summit South (DSS) ice core drilling site, Law Dome, East Antarctica, and concluded that the anomaly of recent decades is unprecedented over the ∼ 750-year period of the study (1250–2004 CE). Here, we extend the snow accumulation record to cover the period from 22 BCE to 2015 CE and derive a rainfall reconstruction over this extended period. This extended record confirms that the recent anomaly is unique in the period since 1250 CE and unusual over the full ∼ 2000-year period, with just two other earlier droughts of similar duration and intensity. The reconstruction shows that SWWA rainfall started to decrease around 1971 CE. Ensembles of climate model simulations are used to investigate the potential roles of natural variability and external climate drivers in explaining changes in SWWA rainfall. We find that anthropogenic greenhouse gases are likely to have contributed towards the SWWA rainfall drying trend after 1971 CE. However, natural variability may also have played a role in determining the timing and magnitude of the reduction in rainfall.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | South West Western Australian rainfall reconstruction, snow fall, ice core, Law Dome, East Antarctica |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Climate change science |
| Research Field: | Climate change processes |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
| Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
| Objective Field: | Climate variability (excl. social impacts) |
| UTAS Author: | Zheng, Y (Mr Yaowen Zheng) |
| UTAS Author: | Jong, LM (Dr Lenneke Jong) |
| UTAS Author: | Phipps, SJ (Dr Steven Phipps) |
| UTAS Author: | Roberts, JL (Dr Jason Roberts) |
| UTAS Author: | Moy, AD (Dr Andrew Moy) |
| UTAS Author: | Curran, MAJ (Dr Mark Curran) |
| UTAS Author: | van Ommen, TD (Dr Tas van Ommen) |
| ID Code: | 147234 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 3 |
| Deposited By: | Australian Antarctic Program Partnership |
| Deposited On: | 2021-10-20 |
| Last Modified: | 2022-08-29 |
| Downloads: | 7 View Download Statistics |
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