ozzieeagle

It's not often that Lake Eyre fills. I know very little about the effects of what happens when it does, but have heard that this alone can change weather patterns. I think the last time was in 1984.

Just wondering if anyone is close to Lake Eyre and knows a little more about the effects of a permanent fill of this little visited region.

Lets put it this way, we could end up with rain forest inside the great divide, is one theory I've heard.

Hopefully someone out there has studied this region and the effects of this unprecedented water flow inland.

Grayling

It flooded last year

itigo

It flooded last year and apparently, and unusually, it flooded again this year.......no more info than that sorry.......

Gjn200

Still got water in it now. Unprecedented? happens really bad every 50 years or so and bad every 25 years or so. The last was bad in 1973/4 and really bad 1955/6 The water from lake eyre sinks through to the basin. It will take the water a few months to reach it from the west side of the hills in QLD

bcworld

Yup it definitely had a lot of water in it in the winter of 2009...Qantas pilot would mention it I remember when we were flying from Adelaide to Darwin.

ozzieeagle

I should have made myself clearer, I mean every year from this point. If that happens will and could it change the weather patterns. ? I've heard people on the radio talking about this scenario and saying that it could.

I didnt realise it was in flood last year, however with summer rainfall up North predicted to be higher from this point on it seems a question worth asking.

Apparently in 1974 it took 3 years to empty, through to 1977 ?

bcworld

...only as long as La Nina stays in place isn't it?

ozzieeagle

I've heard people talking about this subject here on the radio this week in Melbourne. According to them climate and fauna changes around Lake Eyre could be one of the Worlds fastest symptoms of any real change in Global Warming.

Jury is out on what I've read though....

Taken from here.... http://www.k26.com/eyre/The_Lake/Pap...re_basics.html

"The Greenhouse" effect
The behaviour of such a delicate system under the influence of enhanced "greenhouse" processes is a subject of justifiable curiosity. Although future fillings of Lake Eyre cannot be presently predicted with any degree of confidence, the effects of the possible climatic changes can be evaluated.
The most frequently quoted forecasts today suggest that in Australia by the year 2030, the temperature will have increased by 2 to 4EC, summer rainfall will increase by 50%, winter rainfall will decrease by 20% and overall wind speed decrease by 10 to 20%. As more than 95% of total inflows to Lake Eyre are generated during the Australian summer (December to March), the change in winter rainfalls will have relatively little effect on the frequency of filling of the lake. The effect of other factors on runoff tend to cancel each other.
The 50% increase in the summer rainfall would have by itself a substantial effect on streamflow, increasing it possibly two- or threefold as it is known that an increase of 25% in precipitation and a decrease of 1EC in temperature can increase the simulated runoff by 250%. The central reaches of all tributaries would be inundated more frequently which would significantly intensify the evaporation transmission losses, where a change of 1EC corresponds to a 4% change in evapotranspiration. The larger areal extent of evaporating water surface and ground would, however, be partially compensated by the lower wind speed which would reduce evaporation. Although it appears that major tributaries will probably be flooded more often in their upper and central reaches, it is unclear whether their waters will be reaching Lake Eyre more often due to the increased transmission losses.

Kelli28

It looked like it had water in it on thursday!

IvanM

If the area of water is large enough it will have an affect. How large that effect will be will be interesting. The moisture rising would create its own mini climate, especially in the heat of summer.

More amazing is the Murray is flowing into the Ocean for the first time in a decade.

ozzieeagle

Adelaide could be the place to be, when all of this settles down.

Bix

Now you're getting carried away.

DeadVim

That's crazy talk

ozzieeagle

LOL... Imagine Adelaide with a decent water supply ! Almost unthinkable.

When I caught a glimpse of the Murray down Murray Bridge on my last trip down that way, the river had a strange green hue.


I may go have a look at Lake Eyre during my November Holidays.

Bernieboy

Was it St Pats day