Alison O'Donnell

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  • Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO
AAP Image/Dan Peled

Megadroughts helped topple ancient empires. We’ve found their traces in Australia’s past, and expect more to come

Kathryn Allen, University of Tasmania; Alison O'Donnell, The University of Western Australia; Benjamin I. Cook, Columbia University; Jonathan Palmer, UNSW , and Pauline Grierson, The University of Western Australia

New research shows Australia experienced a number of megadroughts in the last 1,000 years, We may be underestimating the severity of drought in Australia’s future.
An almost-dry dam, surrounded by wheat fields, in WA’s wheatbelt region. Shutterstock

We found a secret history of megadroughts written in tree rings. The wheatbelt’s future may be drier than we thought

Alison O'Donnell, The University of Western Australia; Edward Cook, Columbia University, and Pauline Grierson, The University of Western Australia

Our research found that in 700 years, the 20th century was the wheatbelt’s wettest. This means all our drought predictions are skewed.