Understanding the surface hydrology of the Lake Eyre Basin: Part 2-Streamflow

Abstract

This is the second of two papers examining the surface hydrology of the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB) (1,140,000 km2) in Australia. The streams are unregulated and are characterised by extreme discharge variation. The analyses reported cover only surface hydrology and include comparisons with arid zone catchments globally. The paper discusses spatial runoff and annual streamflow characteristics, flow duration and baseflow index (BFI) analyses, annual flood frequency analysis and flood transmission losses, a water balance study, wet and dry run length analysis and, finally, yield from hypothetical reservoirs located across the LEB. There are 12 conclusions listed at the end of the paper. We identify ..