Tuesday 2 December 2014
900 more science jobs forecast to go by June 2015 in Abbott's Australia
Wednesday 5 November 2014
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott forgot that science is evidence-based
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Readfearn picks apart Tony Abbott's favoured climate science denier
Growing evidence?
Newman and the IPCC
Sly misrepresentation
Saturday 9 August 2014
A close encounter of the unique kind
Tuesday 15 July 2014
The BBC getting it right on climate change reporting and comment
Wednesday 29 January 2014
Scientist bites back at climate change denialist claims
Mother Jones 24 January 2014:
Thursday 19 December 2013
Antarctica contains the coldest place on Earth
Dec. 10, 2013: What is the coldest place on Earth? It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 92 degrees Celsius) on a clear winter night......
Thursday 31 October 2013
Surprise, surprise - most Australian newspapers ignore peer-reviewed climate change science
Tuesday 23 July 2013
The Australian Academy of Science conducts an online survey
In May 2013 the Australian Academy of Science conducted an online survey[1] and these are some of its findings:
Saturday 9 March 2013
Saturday 24 November 2012
Saffin to Ferguson: "Please don't put your bib in where it's not required"
Wednesday 19 September 2012
CSIRO: Climate change likely to have a major impact on Australia's plants, animals and ecosystems
Major changes needed to protect Australia’s species and ecosystems
A landmark study has found that climate change is likely to have a major impact on Australia’s plants, animals and ecosystems that will present significant challenges to the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity.The comprehensive study, conducted by CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency), highlights the sensitivity of Australia’s species and ecosystems to climate change, and the need for new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation.
‘Climate change is likely to start to transform some of Australia's natural landscapes by 2030,’ lead researcher, CSIRO’s Dr Michael Dunlop said.
The comprehensive study highlights the sensitivity of Australia’s species and ecosystems to climate change, and the need for new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation.
‘By 2070, the ecological impacts are likely to be very significant and widespread. Many of the environments our plants and animals currently exist in will disappear from the continent. Our grandchildren are likely to experience landscapes that are very different to the ones we have known,’ he said.
Dr Dunlop said climate change will magnify existing threats to biodiversity, such as habitat clearing, water extraction and invasive species. Future climate-driven changes in other sectors, such as agriculture, water supply and electricity supply, could add yet more pressure on species and ecosystems.
‘These other threats have reduced the ability of native species and ecosystems to cope with the impacts of climate change,’ Dr Dunlop said.
One of the challenges for policy and management will be accommodating changing ecosystems and shifting species.
The study suggests the Australian community and scientists need to start a rethink of what it means to conserve biodiversity, as managing threatened species and stopping ecological change becomes increasingly difficult.
‘We need to give biodiversity the greatest opportunity to adapt naturally in a changing and variable environment rather than trying to prevent ecological change,’ Dr Dunlop said.
The study highlights the need to start focussing more on maintaining the health of ecosystems as they change in response to climate change, from one type of ecosystem to another.
‘This could need new expectations from the community, possibly new directions in conservation policy, and new science to guide management,’ Dr Dunlop said.
‘To be effective we also need flexible strategies that can be implemented well ahead of the large-scale ecological change. It will probably be too late to respond once the ecological change is clearly apparent and widespread’.
The study found the National Reserve System will continue to be an effective conservation tool under climate change, but conserving habitat on private land will be increasingly important to help species and ecosystems adapt.
The team of researchers from CSIRO carried out modelling across the whole of Australia, as well as detailed ecological analysis of four priority biomes, together covering around 80 per cent of Australia.
The study was funded by the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship.
More information and the reports are available from The implications of climate change for Australia's biodiversity conservation and protected areas.
Wednesday 6 June 2012
Transit of Venus: I saw'd it, I saw'd it!
(Photo: Terry Cuttle)
Using the tools of my childhood - two white cardboad sheets acting as both 'pinhole camera' and photographic paper - I saw the 6th June 2012 Transit of Venus.
It was as magical as the first time I, in my skewed tie, baggy shorts and long woollen socks, used this crude instrument to watch my first solar eclipe in the schoolyard so many years ago.
Saturday 2 June 2012
Backyard chemistry can be fun
Thursday 24 May 2012
The Tony-Abbott-Andrew Bolt-Alan Jones Army out in force? WARNING: Coarse and explicit language
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Down Under: Yes, we are causing our own climate change
ScienceDaily (May 17, 2012) — In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years….
Lead researcher, Dr Joelle Gergis from the University of Melbourne said the results show that there are no other warm periods in the last 1000 years that match the warming experienced in Australasia since 1950.
"Our study revealed that recent warming in a 1000 year context is highly unusual and cannot be explained by natural factors alone, suggesting a strong influence of human-caused climate change in the Australasian region," she said…..
American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate 2012 ; e-View:
Evidence of unusual late 20th century warming from an Australasian temperature reconstruction spanning the last millennium
JoĂ«lle Gergis,1 Raphael Neukom,1 Steven J. Phipps,2,3 Ailie J. E. Gallant,1 David J. Karoly,1 and PAGES Aus2K Project Members†
1 School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
2 Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
3 ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
This study presents the first multi-proxy warm season (September-February) temperature reconstruction for the combined land and oceanic region of Australasia (0°S-50°S, 110°E-180°E). We perform a 3000-member ensemble Principal Component Reconstruction (PCR) using 27 temperature proxies from the region. The proxy network explained 69% of the inter-annual variance in the HadCRUT3v SONDJF spatial mean temperature over the 1921-1990 calibration period. Applying eight stringent reconstruction 'reliability' metrics identified post A.D. 1430 as the highest quality section of the reconstruction, but also revealed a skilful reconstruction is possible over the full A.D. 1000-2001 period.
The average reconstructed temperature anomaly in Australasia during A.D. 1238-1267, the warmest 30-year pre-instrumental period, is 0.09°C (±0.19°C) below 1961-1990 levels. Following peak pre-industrial warmth, a cooling trend culminates in a temperature anomaly of 0.44°C (±0.18°C) below 1961-1990 levels between A.D. 1830-1859. A preliminary assessment of the roles of solar, volcanic, and anthropogenic forcings and natural ocean-atmosphere variability is performed using CSIRO Mk3L model simulations and independent palaeoclimate records. Solar and volcanic forcing does not have a marked influence on reconstructed Australasian temperature variations, which appear to be masked by internal variability.
In 94.5% of the 3000-member reconstruction ensemble, there are no other warm periods in the past 1,000 years that match or exceed post-1950 warming observed in Australasia. The unusual 20th century warming cannot be explained by natural variability alone, suggesting a strong influence of anthropogenic forcing in the Australasian region
† Aus2K project member data and other contributions from Kathryn Allen, Patrick Baker, Gretel Boswijk, Brendan Buckley, Matthew Brookhouse, Edward Cook, Louise Cullen, Mark Curran, Rosanne D'Arrigo, Pavla Fenwick, Anthony Fowler, Ian Goodwin, Pauline Grierson, Erica Hendy, Braddock Linsley, Janice Lough, Andrew Lorrey, Helen McGregor, Andrew Moy, Jonathan Palmer, Christopher Plummer, Chris Turney, Tessa Vance, Tas Van Ommen and Limin Xiong.
Corresponding author: Dr Joëlle Gergis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, AUSTRALIA. Email: jgergis@unimelb.edu.au