[Aqualist] Quaternary in the news

[Tim Barrows]

Tonight on the ABC at 8pm on the Catalyst program 
there will be a segment about the work of Patrick 
De Deckker and students (The Australian National University):

"The drought we had to have (1,000 year drought)"

Is Australia in the grip of the worst drought on record or the worst ever?

What if we could return to the ancient past a 
hundred times further than our oldest weather 
records to find out? 
One man and his team have.

Professor Patrick De Deckker has spent decades 
digging up core samples from the bottom of 
freshwater lakes and deep sea canyons. From the 
mud, dust and strange animals inside, he has 
searched for Australia’s drought cycles.

In one core sample alone, a mere 400 centimetres 
of mud, De Deckker unearthed the biggest rain 
gauge we have – 10,000 thousand years of climate 
history. Not only will it tell us how long we’ve 
been in drought but it will give us clues as to when it might break.

For the first time and after 20 years of 
painstaking research, Patrick is about to release his results.

Reporter/Producer: Mark Horstman