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3 - Hydrological uncertainty – floods of Lake Eyre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2010

V. Kotwicki
Affiliation:
Water Resources Branch, Engineering and Water Supply Department, Adelaide, Australia
Z. W. Kundzewicz
Affiliation:
Research Centre of Agricultural and Forest Environment Studies, Pol. Acad. Sci., Poznań and Institute of Geophysics, Pol. Acad. Sci., Warsaw, Poland
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
Affiliation:
World Meteorological Organization, Geneva
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Summary

ABSTRACT The uncertainty aspects of the process of floods of Lake Eyre are examined. The available records of floods cover the time span of 40 years only. As longer time series of precipitation records are available, one has extended the observed series of inflows to Lake Eyre with the help of a rainfall–runoff model. Further reconstruction of the inflow series has been achieved with the help of proxy data of coral fluorescence intensity. However the limitations of these extensions and reconstructions of inflows are severe. The process of inflows to Lake Eyre could be considered one of the most convincing manifestations of hydrological uncertainty.

LAKE EYRE AND ITS BASIN

Lake Eyre, a large depression in arid Australia, rarely filled with water, attracts the interest of limnologists, hydrologists, geomorphologists and ecologists all over the world. The process of inflows to Lake Eyre has been recently studied by Kotwicki (1986). The following general information draws from the data assembled there.

The Lake Eyre basin (Fig. 1) spreads over 1.14 million km2 of arid central Australia. Almost half of the basin area receives as little rainfall as 150 mm per year or less. The higher rainfalls of the order of 400 mm per year occur in the northern and eastern margins of the basin, influenced by the southern edges of the summer monsoon.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

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  • Hydrological uncertainty – floods of Lake Eyre
    • By V. Kotwicki, Water Resources Branch, Engineering and Water Supply Department, Adelaide, Australia, Z. W. Kundzewicz, Research Centre of Agricultural and Forest Environment Studies, Pol. Acad. Sci., Poznań and Institute of Geophysics, Pol. Acad. Sci., Warsaw, Poland
  • Edited by Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva
  • Book: New Uncertainty Concepts in Hydrology and Water Resources
  • Online publication: 07 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564482.005
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  • Hydrological uncertainty – floods of Lake Eyre
    • By V. Kotwicki, Water Resources Branch, Engineering and Water Supply Department, Adelaide, Australia, Z. W. Kundzewicz, Research Centre of Agricultural and Forest Environment Studies, Pol. Acad. Sci., Poznań and Institute of Geophysics, Pol. Acad. Sci., Warsaw, Poland
  • Edited by Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva
  • Book: New Uncertainty Concepts in Hydrology and Water Resources
  • Online publication: 07 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564482.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Hydrological uncertainty – floods of Lake Eyre
    • By V. Kotwicki, Water Resources Branch, Engineering and Water Supply Department, Adelaide, Australia, Z. W. Kundzewicz, Research Centre of Agricultural and Forest Environment Studies, Pol. Acad. Sci., Poznań and Institute of Geophysics, Pol. Acad. Sci., Warsaw, Poland
  • Edited by Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva
  • Book: New Uncertainty Concepts in Hydrology and Water Resources
  • Online publication: 07 May 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511564482.005
Available formats
×