Friday 7 August 2009

Australia's water future explained?


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Australian National University E Press has published an online version of An Atlas of the Global Water Cycle.

This atlas seeks to bring together all the IPCC AR4 Climate Models for comparison and states:

We used the above-noted data to compile maps for the globe and for Australia showing precipitation, evaporation and their difference (i.e., runoff) for the historic period (1970-1999) and for the future (2070-2099). Each set of maps is accompanied by tables that summarise the precipitation, evaporation and their difference, by continent, and then by latitude that is further split into land and ocean components. The tables also summarise the differences between simulations of historic (1970-1999) and future (2070-2099) precipitation, evaporation and their difference.

While these maps and graphs are of some academic interest, there is no certainty as to which model is likely to accurately model rainfall patterns for the next 100 years across the Australian continent.
So average laypersons using this atlas are unlikely to be any the wiser when it comes to deciding on the probable level of future water security in the area in which they live, work or run a business.

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