My Prediction for 2010

Did you manage to catch the magnificent documentary on ABC 1 about the Lake Eyre Basin on Tuesday 5th January?

Guess what?

The Western Rivers Carer is going to predict that we shall have another boom year in the Lake Eyre Basin in 2010, so if you want to come out and see the wildlife and plant communities that spring up in our catchments, 2010 will be another great year.

Why do I predict this?

Whilst there is reasonable rain falling at the moment in the Queensland portion of Lake Eyre, it is not overwhelmingly abundant in all areas. However, there is something called a ‘flood memory’. This year’s water coming down the river systems will build upon the 2009 flow, which was the first in a number of years to head towards Lake Eyre. Whilst this flow volume will be smaller, it will flood disproportionately larger areas of the floodplain and downstream lakes as it traverses our great land, due to the remnant moisture and water from 2009. Also, many of the lakes will be more productive and the bird and fish species will reproduce rapidly as a result of this ‘flood memory’.

Another interesting thing to note is that large flood events in the basin are clustered so that usually one large flood is followed or preceded by another large event with 12 months. Dr Jim Puckridge (University of Adelaide) and colleagues examined the Southern Oscillation index, flow volumes of key rivers in the basin and rainfall data, and found that this occurs as a result of the cluster of La Nina high rainfall episodes. It looks like 2009 and 2010 will bear this theory out.

Why not plan a trip out to Western Queensland to check out this magnificent part of the world for yourself?