Monday 29th of April 2024
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the salt of the earth...

saltpans

At present, as we arrive to the end of summer in Australia, there are two large plumes of hot water on either side of the continent, after a quite "hotter than usual" season. The cyclones have sucked out some of the energy out of the surface of the sea and temperatures around Broome and the Barrier Reef have gone down a couple of degrees from what they were before: Cyclone Carlos on the west coast and Cyclone Yasi on the east coast (cyclone Tony before Yasi). Southern Queensland is still subject to intense storm activity. Carnarvon has been flooded in December 2010 and again now in February 2011 in the west.

Meanwhile in some regions, such as Shark Bay, due to shallow seas — or southwards flowing currents, like in northern New South Wales to the tip of Tasmania — the sea surface is warmer than usual. In Shark Bay,WA, the shallow seas and the heat (around 32 degree C surface temperature presently) has been used for many years in the harvesting of salt...

Shark Bay is also the area where Monkey Mia dolphin sanctuary is located. In Shark Bay, stromatolites can survive due to the much higher concentration of salt in the sea that prevent "grazing" animals to survive. Stromatolites are one of the oldest life form on earth, going back at least 3.5 billion years.

See Gus picture above of the Shark Bay salt pans...

In Karratha, 400 miles northward of Shark Bay, more salt pans are created to do the same thing. The sea surface temperature is about 2 degrees cooler than Shark Bay there, at present.

karratha

Pictures by Gus. Note the huge trucks on the salt pans here, and the boat loading dock on the picture at top...

"Global warming is ahead of worst predictions." Gus quote, February 2011. Take note.

hot, hot, hot...

The southerly buster bringing a cool change to Sydney has finally arrived, dropping temperatures by 10 degrees in an hour to end a record week-long heatwave.

Since about 2pm, the temperature in the city has fallen to about 26 degrees - lower than the overnight minimum of 27.6 degrees which was the hottest night ever recorded in Sydney.

It is expected to get even cooler as the afternoon progresses, with rain forecast for about 4pm and a possible storm. It will be the first rain for 15 days, the longest summer dry spell in five years.

Sydney recorded a maximum today of 35.6 degrees at 12.50pm before the cool change swept through the city.

The overnight low of 27.6 degrees was one degree higher than the previous record of 26.6, which occurred in February 1973

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/hottest-night-on-record-but-relief-only-hours-away-20110206-1ai0i.html

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Note: since that "cooler" day (6/2/2011), many other days and night have been "hotter than usual" by up to 6 degrees C for nights and up to 10 degrees C for daytime...

cyclone carlos making a come back...

Tropical Cyclone Carlos has moved to within 40 kilometres of Karratha on Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

The category two cyclone is buffeting the coast with gale force winds.

A red alert remains in place for Whim Creek, Mardi, Roebourne, Point Samson, Karratha, and Dampier.

Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman Allen Gale says the cyclone appears to be slowing down in the past couple of hours.

"Tropical Cyclone Carlos is north-north-east of Karratha by about 40 kilometres, certainly getting closer," he said.

"It's still blustery up here but we're not seeing any great increase in the gales yet, but we will I guess as it gets closer to 1:00 pm."

Authorities are warning destructive winds of more than 125 kilometres an hour are a threat to lives and homes, and residents should be ready to move to the safest and strongest part of their homes.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/22/3145207.htm

see picture of Karratha/Dampier salt-pans above...