Continental scale climatic controls on land erodibility and aeolian dust production: Linking source area processes to rates of long-range dust transport out of south-east Australia

We examine linkages between environmental conditions within Australian dust source areas and an 11 year record of Australian dust transport over New Zealand established using 210Pb as a tracer of dust incursions. Australian dust concentration flux, derived from a New Zealand 210Pb activity record, shows both annual and inter-annual variability. It is proposed that this variability is controlled by factors influencing sediment supply and sediment availability, a function of soil moisture and surface roughness within dust source areas. Results suggest land erodibility within Australian dust source areas responds to seasonal synoptic scale circulation patterns, as well as being influenced by larger scale climate patterns such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Time-series analysis of rainfall, modelled soil moisture and seasonally dynamic herbaceous vegetation cover data are related to trends in Australian dust concentration flux measured on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, while potential sediment re-charge events are monitored using historical hydrological data from major rivers in the Eyre and Murray-Darling Basins. By this approach we seek to quantitatively explore aeolian-fluvial interactions and the effects of climatic drivers like ENSO on sediment supply, land erodibility and dust production on a continental scale in Australia