1,100-Year Reconstruction of Baseflow for the Santee River, South Carolina, USA Reveals Connection to the North Atlantic Subtropical High

Authors

• Justin T. Maxwell, Indiana University BloomingtonFollow
• Grant L. Harley, University of IdahoFollow
• Clay S. Tucker, Department of Geography and the Environment
• Toudora Galuska, Indiana University Bloomington
• Darren L. Ficklin, Indiana University Bloomington
• Joshua C. Bregy, College of Engineering, Computing and Applied SciencesFollow
• Karen J. Heeter, University of Idaho
• Tsun Fung Au, Indiana University Bloomington
• Benjamin R. Lockwood, Indiana University Bloomington
• Daniel J. King, University of Idaho
• R. Stockton Maxwell, Radford UniversityFollow
• Laura G. Smith, Harvard Forest
• Emily A. Elliott, Department of Geography and the EnvironmentFollow
• Matthew D. Therrell, Department of Geography and the Environment

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-28-2022

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Since 2013, extreme floods within the Santee River basin (North/South Carolina, USA) caused $1.5B in damage. The instrumental period, however, is too short to determine if recent extreme events are anomalous within a long-term context. Here, we present reconstructions of storm-, base-, and total streamflow for the Santee River using a multi-species tree-ring network calibrated to flow data during the period 1923–2018. Tree-ring data explained higher variance (r = 0.59; p < 0.01; 900–2018) of instrumental baseflow than total streamflow (r = 0.41; p < 0.01; 1500–2018) or stormflow (r = 0.26; p < 0.05; 1690–2018). Our reconstruction reveals a long-term increase in baseflow over the past millennium. The North Atlantic subtropical high regulates baseflow in the Santee River (r = 0.45; p < 0.01). Recent high levels of baseflow may be connected to the position of the subtropical high, increasing the likelihood of flooding.

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

49

Issue

22

Recommended Citation

Maxwell, J., Harley, G., Tucker, C., Galuska, T., Ficklin, D., Bregy, J., Heeter, K., Au, T., Lockwood, B., King, D., Maxwell, R., Smith, L., Elliott, E., Therrell, M. (2022). 1,100-Year Reconstruction of Baseflow for the Santee River, South Carolina, USA Reveals Connection to the North Atlantic Subtropical High. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(22).
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/22220