Evidence of impacts from rising temperature on inflows to the Murray-Darling Basin
Article
Article Title | Evidence of impacts from rising temperature on inflows to the Murray-Darling Basin |
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ERA Journal ID | 1874 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Cai, Wenju and Cowan, Tim |
Journal Title | Geophysical Research Letters |
Journal Citation | 35 (7) |
Number of Pages | 5 |
Year | 2008 |
Publisher | John Wiley & Sons |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 0094-8276 |
1944-8007 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL033390 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-45549100142&doi=10.1029%2f2008GL033390&partnerID=40&md5=90d90b405c8546c29176fe51eaadf833 |
Abstract | [1] The 2001–2007 Australian drought was the hottest on record with inflows to Australia's longest river system, the Murray-Darling, reaching an historical low. Here we examine the relative importance of rising temperature and decreasing rainfall over its catchment, the Murray Darling Basin (MDB). Although annual-total inflow is more sensitive to rainfall over the southern MDB, where rainfall since 2001, has been the lowest on record, this alone can not explain the observed inflow decline. A relationship exists between inflow variations and fluctuations of temperature not associated with rainfall in the austral winter and spring: a rise of 1°C leads to an approximate 15% reduction in the climatological annual inflow. Our results provide strong evidence that rising temperatures due to the enhanced greenhouse effect have a strong impact on southern Australia's water resources, in addition to any reduction in rainfall, and project a long-term decline in inflows to this river system as the greenhouse effect continues. |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 370101. Adverse weather events |
370201. Climate change processes | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z09v4/evidence-of-impacts-from-rising-temperature-on-inflows-to-the-murray-darling-basin
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