Herbert inventory of research and management activities

Research staff

Name: Dr. Janice M. Lough

Affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville MC Qld 4810
Phone: +61 (07) 47534248
Fax: +61 (07) 47725852
e-mail: j.lough@aims.gov.au

Expertise: Climatologist, specialising in recent tropical climate variation and developing and integrating high-quality proxy climate records for the past several centuries.

Summary of Current Activities:

Climate varies on all space and time scales - it has varied in the past and is currently changing as a result of the enhanced greenhouse effect. The climate of north Queensland is highly seasonal and very variable from year to year. A major source of this inter-annual variability is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Understanding the nature and possible causes of past climate variability is necessary to assess the sensitivity of existing ecosystems (natural and man-made) to climate and possible future climate. To do this we need long, high-quality records of climate. Massive corals of the GBR contain annual banding patterns, similar to tree rings. These have the potential to extend the instrumental record of climate and environment for the region backwards in time (to before major agricultural activities). Achieving this objective requires ongoing development of understanding of the biological processes whereby corals record their environment.

Objective

To determine the nature and possible causes of climate variability in Queensland and adjacent ocean areas for the past century (using instrumental records) and the past several centuries (using proxy climatic records obtained from massive corals).

Goals

• To develop reliable indices of instrumental climate variability
• To develop reliable proxy climate indices from massive corals of the Great Barrier Reef
• To interpret these records of climate variability in terms of regional and global climate change

Output to date

• Indices of seasonal temperature and rainfall for Queensland for the past century. These show that there are no significant trends towards wetter or drier conditions in Queensland but average and night-time temperatures have significantly increased and the daily temperature range has significantly decreased (as has occurred in other parts of the world).
• Index of massive coral growth variations on the GBR for the past 237 years that is also a proxy for sea surface temperature variations. This shows that average coral growth on the GBR is very variable and that recent trends towards reduced growth may only reflect a return to long-term "average" conditions.

Proposed future work relevant to HERBERT

Develop and interpret indices of instrumental climate variation for the past century for the region of the HRC.

Assess nature and extent of terrestrial impacts on waters of the GBR using records contained in massive coral skeletons.

Recent relevant publications or reports

Lough, J.M. (1997). Regional indices of climate variation: temperature and rainfall in Queensland, Australia. Int. J. Climatology, 17: 55-66.

Lough, J.M. and Barnes, D.J. (in press). Several centuries of variation in skeletal extension, density and calcification in massive Porites colonies from the Great Barrier Reef: a proxy for seawater temperature and a background of variability against which to identify unnatural change. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

Principle collaborators:

Dr. D.J. Barnes and Dr. P.J. Isdale (AIMS)
Dr. M.K.Gagan and Dr. M. McCulloch (RSES - ANU)

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Last updated - 1 August 98

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