The SahulCHAR collection: a palaeofire database for Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand

Rehn, Emma; Cadd, Haidee; Mooney, Scott; Cohen, Tim J.; Munack, Henry; Codilean, Alexandru T.; Adeleye, Matthew; Beck, Kristen K.; Constantine IV, Mark; Gouramanis, Chris; Hanson, Johanna M.; Jones, Penelope J.; Kershaw, A. Peter; Mackenzie, Lydia; Maisie, Maame; Mariani, Michela; Matley, Kia; McWethy, David; Mills, Keely; Moss, Patrick; Patton, Nicholas R.; Rowe, Cassandra; Stevenson, Janelle; Tibby, John; Wilmshurst, Janet

The SahulCHAR collection: a palaeofire database for Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand

Rehn, Emma; Cadd, Haidee ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5770-3557; Mooney, Scott; Cohen, Tim J.; Munack, Henry ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3750-9674; Codilean, Alexandru T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1895-5633; Adeleye, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6034-5807; Beck, Kristen K.; Constantine IV, Mark; Gouramanis, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2867-2258; Hanson, Johanna M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8204-862X; Jones, Penelope J.; Kershaw, A. Peter; Mackenzie, Lydia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4842-3021; Maisie, Maame; Mariani, Michela; Matley, Kia; McWethy, David; Mills, Keely ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0402-2317; Moss, Patrick; Patton, Nicholas R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4137-0636; Rowe, Cassandra; Stevenson, Janelle; Tibby, John; Wilmshurst, Janet ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4474-8569. 2025 The SahulCHAR collection: a palaeofire database for Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand. Earth System Science Data, 17 (6). 2681-2692. 10.5194/essd-17-2681-2025

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text (Open Access Paper)
essd-17-2681-2025.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Download (2MB) | Preview

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2681-2025

Abstract/Summary

Recent global fire activity has highlighted the importance of understanding fire dynamics across time and space, with records of past fire (palaeofire) providing valuable insights to inform us on current and future management challenges. New records from the recent increase in palaeofire studies from Australia and surrounds have not been captured in any database for broader comparisons, and Australasia is poorly represented in current international databases used for global modelling of palaeofire trends. These problems are addressed by SahulCHAR, a new collection of sedimentary charcoal and black carbon records from Sahul (Australia, New Guinea, and offshore islands) and Aotearoa / New Zealand. Data are stored in the OCTOPUS relational database platform, with a structure designed for compatibility with the existing Global Paleofire Database. Metadata are captured at the site level and observation level, with observations including age determinations and charcoal or black carbon data. SahulCHAR version 1 contains 687 records of charcoal or black carbon, including digitized data, unchanged and modified records from the Global Paleofire Database, and original author-submitted data. SahulCHAR is a much-needed update to past regional palaeofire compilations that will also provide greater representation of records from Sahul and Aotearoa / New Zealand in future global syntheses.

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.5194/essd-17-2681-2025

ISSN:

1866-3516

Date made live:

15 Sep 2025 14:02 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/540229