Journal article
An early onset of ENSO influence in the extra-tropics of the southwest Pacific inferred from a 14, 600 year high resolution multi-proxy record from Paddy's Lake, northwest Tasmania
Kristen K Beck, Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Patricia S Gadd, Henk Heijnis, Geraldine E Jacobsen
Quaternary Science Reviews | Elsevier | Published : 2017
Abstract
Tropical El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important influence on natural systems and cultural change across the Pacific Ocean basin. El Niño events result in negative moisture anomalies in the southwest Pacific and are implicated in droughts and catastrophic wildfires across eastern Australia. An amplification of tropical El Niño activity is reported in the east Pacific after ca. 6.7 ka; however, proxy data for ENSO-driven environmental change in Australia suggest an initial influence only after ca. 5 ka. Here, we reconstruct changes in vegetation, fire activity and catchment dynamics (e.g. erosion) over the last 14.6 ka from part of the southwest Pacific in which ENSO is the main c..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Awarded by Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge that our work was conducted on Tasmanian Aboriginal lands and thank the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for their ongoing support of our research. We would like to thank Alexa Benson, Agathe Lise-Pronovost, Angelica Ramierez, William Rapuc, Scott Nichols and Anthony Romano for their assistance in the field. The financial support of this project comes from the Australian Research Council (award: DI110100019 and IN140100050) and Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (award: ALNGRA15003). We thank an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on an earlier draft that resulted in a substantial improvement of the manuscript.