Hotter, colder, dryer, wetter - it's all in the coral record

Samples from the Great Barrier Reef can be traced back to 1635 and give an indication of what the climate was like more than 300 years ago.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2011) — The extreme rain events that have caused flooding across northern Australia may become an increasingly familiar occurrence, new research suggests. The study uses the growth patterns in near-shore corals to determine which summers brought more rain than others, creating a centuries-long rainfall record for northern Australia.

You'll never guess what's causing these incredible changes in climate, no really!

It’s funny how the climate keeps changing with the weather. Funny because the climate’s changed since the earth had climate, but they're trying to tell us that it's never changed, or it's never changed so dramatically, or it's never changed with such extremes.... they've never lived in Melbourne.

The geological record shows that there have been hotter and colder times in the earth's climate. There have been wetter and dryer times. There have been changes in the climate as far back as the geological record can take us.

But the coral's telling us that the wetness of 1974 and 2011 are unprecedented. Well, in 300 years they say it goes back. I wonder what else the coral tells us... about bleaching and temperature changes. You know it's been doomed for at least 40 years.

Here's some more articles about the coral.