Monday 23rd of December 2024

not on cloud nine...

 

not on cloud nine...

picture by Gus Leonisky (2011)

 

Late last year, Peter Gleick — the president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security; and a respected expert on water-and-climate issues — co-authored a paper on the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) task force on scientific ethics and integrity. Gleick and his co-author Randy Townsend of the AGU wrote that advancing scientific work to create a sustainable future would only be possible if scientists had the trust of the public and policymakers. And that trust, they added, "is earned by maintaining the highest standards of scientific integrity in all that we do."

 

Strong words, and true ones too, but Gleick himself has failed to live up to them — and his actions have hurt not just his own professional reputation but the cause of climate science as well.

 


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2107364,00.html#ixzz1n91cjA9A

ignorance is bliss...

Despite our ignoring climate change while we're having this weirdo non-dangerous weather, climate change won't go away...

In Yourp, after a severe cold snap and a warm spell raising the temperature differential by 30 degrees Celsius (from minus 20 to +10), the defrosting of the Danube is crushing a few boats...

In Sydney, there has been rain for at least 46 consecutive days and I have noted more than three months without a single dry morning. Dew everywhere. Humidity on the high side, daily... Flash floods and all that... Can't have breakfast in the backyard without having to sponge off the water from the table... I have not been able to tackle some "outside" work for the last six months because the weather is wet wet wet... A couple of days ago, it fell 36mm of rain in ten minutes! About an inch and a half!!! Today is the first day with clear crisp sky and no rain on the horizon...

In the Mediterranean, a strong storm has sunk the Yogi, a 60 metre pleasure craft, brand new. Did not even make the English hegemony news. Not even the tabloids... The average temperatures have been well down in this Sydney neck of the woods, but in Perth, and WA in general, they have been oversweating, with bushfires to boot... In Pommyland, the rivers are all but drying up in the south. Yourp had a hot autumn and mild beginning of winter following a cool dry overcast summer that had brought droughts everywhere... Then massive snow storms followed... Seasons appear to be destabilised with "mild" extremes... New York's Central Park is presently depicted as if it was summer, by some cartoonists... it's 14 degrees Celsius, 8 degrees Celsius above average (6 degrees C), though the temperature is predicted to fall to about 2 degrees above in the next few days.

So, since there are no devastating events the size of mega-hurricanes, we're falling asleep at the wheel on the road to climate change... The denialists don't have to say anything... Yet the clock is ticking...

plane co2...

 

Beginning this year, the European Union implemented a law forcing airlines to participate in a carbon-trading scheme. Representatives from countries opposed to the EU policy are concluding their two-day meeting on Wednesday to consider how to proceed.

Accounting for about 3 percent of human-caused global warming, airline emissions go through various chemical processes to produce the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
Carbon dioxide from planes
Jet fuel is made up of about 14 percent hydrogen and 86 percent carbon, which binds with oxygen in the air after being burned.

For every kilogram of jet fuel burned, 3.15 kilograms (about 7 pounds) of carbon dioxide (CO2) are produced, explained Ulrich Schumann, director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Germany.

"Because atmospheric CO2 is so long-lived, it spreads evenly above the earth," Schumann told DW.

The approximately 2.2 percent of human-caused carbon dioxide from air traffic is relatively small compared to 14 percent caused by automobile traffic, and sea and train traffic, which account for 3.8 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15755593,00.html

 

cloudy clouds...

 

New research has found clouds are dropping closer to the Earth, with scientists measuring their height for the first time on a global basis.

Experts from the University of Auckland suggest the change in cloud altitude could be the Earth's way of dealing with global warming.

In 1999, NASA launched its Terra satellite into space. On board was a Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR).

It uses nine cameras at different angles to produce a stereo image of clouds around the world, allowing measurement of their altitude and movement.

Researchers at the university studied the measurements taken over a decade.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-25/clouds-dropping-closer-to-earth/3852530

One does not need to be an expert to have noticed this... I have been taking pictures of clouds in this country since 1971 and I have noticed that in the last five to six years, the cloud pattern over Sydney has changed dramatically — including "lower" clouds, mostly unshapen — or streaming down in rain that sometimes does not reach ground (see picture at top) or massive rainpour like more than 30 mm in 10 minutes. It fits perfectly with the theory of global warming:

CO2, a "moderately" warming gas, is a strong "manipulator" of water vapor behavior in the atmosphere...

Presently, we're on the road to add another 4-5 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere this year... The global warming denialists are paid foolish crazies who are retarding proper political solutions to an immense oncoming problem.

The global temperatures might not go as fast up as some models indicate but let me assure you, they will go up — despite the "low" clouds... contrary to the expectation of these new experts... This would be mainly due to the clouds being more prevalent in some seasons than usual but being absent in others.

In Yourp, My friends tell me that "despite the snow they had", the weather is mild and grey, and there is NO RAIN...

Meanwhile, in metermaid country:

The full extent of damage caused to towns on Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland is becoming clearer after last night's torrential rain.

Residents were terrified as flash flooding sent metres of water through dozens of homes, with some people still too emotional to talk.

The weather bureau says the heavy downpours that swept across Queensland's south-east have eased, but residents are now cleaning up the damage.

A total of 181 millimetres was recorded in one hour at Cooroy, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, while Noosa has had about 260 millimetres. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-25/rain-bomb-sweeps-south-east-qld/3852362

rain, wind and rain, and ice...

 

Widespread flooding has forced more evacuations as heavy rain continues across large parts of New South Wales, the ACT and northern Victoria.

Around 75 per cent of NSW is flooded or under threat, while Canberra has already received its entire average March rainfall.

The SES has responded to more than 740 calls for help in NSW as a large, slow-moving trough sets in for the next few days.

About 200 homes in Goulburn have been evacuated as the floodwaters from the Wollondilly and Mulwaree rivers encroach on low-lying parts of the city. 

In Cooma about 500 homes and businesses have been evacuated. This morning a nursing home there voluntarily relocated its residents, but have since returned.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-01/towns-prepare-to-evacuate-as-rain-continues/3861458?WT.svl=news0

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Storms Cross the Midwest and South, Crushing Towns


By and


HARRISBURG, Ill. — A powerful storm system tore through parts of the Midwest and South on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people, leaving pockets of devastation across several states and marking the acceleration of another deadly tornado season.

Tornadoes and powerful winds tore off roofs, downed power lines, tossed mobile homes and injured more than 150 people from Kansas to Kentucky, according to the National Weather Service.

The damage appeared to be most significant in Harrisburg, a small city in southern Illinois, where six people were killed in the storm and about 100 more injured, according to Lt. Tracy Felty of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office. Blocks of houses and businesses were reduced to rubble.

Trees and power lines were tangled along the streets. Puffs of building insulation floated in the air here.

“I don’t know how I could still be here with us,” said Charles Turner, 71, whose trailer collapsed on top of him. “After the sirens went off, there was a cracking sound, then everything lit up pretty as could be and my place just exploded around me. Everything went black, and I thought that was it, I was done.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/storm-system-crushes-midwestern-tow...      

 

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The crack formed in the ice shelf that extended from one of West Antarctica's fastest-moving glaciers.

The path of the crack in the animation stretched roughly 30 kilometres in length (the actual crack was much longer), with an average width of about 80 metres. It was 250 metres at its widest.

The canyon ranged from 50 to 60 metres deep, with the floor being roughly at the water line of the Amundsen Sea.

Radar measurements suggested the ice shelf was about half a kilometre thick, with only a third of it above water.

NASA said scientists had been waiting for the crack to propagate through the rest of the ice shelf and release an iceberg, which they estimated could span 900 square kilometres.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/gigantic-antarctic-crack-mapped-for-the-first-time-20120301-1u4bt.html#ixzz1nqK1fwOd

 

 

rotten summer here....

The NSW State Emergency Service has issued Flood Evacuation Orders for Richmond Lowlands, Pitt Town Bottoms and Grono Point in Sydney's north-west. The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted a river height of 6.0 metres at the North Richmond Bridge at 9.00am, with further rises possible.

NSW SES volunteers are currently in the field doorknocking, instructing residents and businesses in the following areas to evacuate immediately: Pitt Town Bottoms and low lying properties along the Pitt Town Road between McGraths Hill & Pitt Town The areas in the Richmond Lowlands, including Cornwallis, low lying areas at the northern part of Richmond, Richmond Lowlands, lowlands between Hobartville and the Hawkesbury River, low lying areas in the Northern Parts of Agnes Banks, and Grono Point Area.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/02/29/3442194.htm?site=sydney&WT.svl=local0

Meanwhile in the west:

Perth Metro's mean daily maximum temperature for summer 2011/12 was 31.7 °C, 1.3 °C above the summer average of 30.4 °C, and the 4th warmest summer since records commenced in 1897. Daily maxima across summer 2011/12 ranged from a mild 23.9°C on 13 December 2011 to a very hot 42.1 °C on the 28 January 2012, which was the hottest January day at Perth Metro in 2 years since 42.7 °C was recorded on 18 January 2010. Last summer (2010/11), Perth Metro observed a mean daily maximum temperature of 32.0 °C, which was the equal hottest on record with 2009/10 and 1977/78. Perth Metro observed 2 heatwaves in each of the summer 2011/12 months (the first occasion this has occurred), for a record equalling 6 summer heatwaves. The summer of 1977/78 also recorded 6 heatwaves, but also saw another heatwave during March. During summer 2011/12, Perth Metro recorded 4 days with a maximum temperature of 40 °C or higher, which was the greatest number of such days in summer since the 4 days in 2009/10. The average for summer is 3 days, whilst the greatest number of such days is 6 days in 1949/50, 1961/62 and 1997/98.

Minimum temperature

Mean daily minimum temperatures during summer 2011/12 were above to very much above average across the Perth region, with overnight minima more than 1 °C above normal, and at some sites over 2 °C above normal. Several sites equalled or broke their warmest summer on record in terms of overnight temperatures, with warm nights experienced throughout much of December, the second half of January, and in the early and middle parts of February. Very warm nights were observed during the most significant heatwave of the summer from 25 to 28 January, with most sites observing overnight temperatures in the mid-to-high twenties. Swanbourne and Garden Island observed their warmest night on record on the 28th whilst Gosnells City observed the warmest night for summer 2011/12 in the Perth metropolitan area with 29.0 °C on the 28th.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/season/wa/perth.shtml

more weather record....

 

THE NSW flood crisis - in places, the worst in almost 160 years - could continue for more than a month.

''It looks like it's going into April at this rate,'' a spokesman for the State Emergency Service said last night. ''It's got to work its way down the Murrumbidgee and basically out of the state.''

In Wagga Wagga, which has been declared a disaster zone, almost 9000 people have been forced from their homes by the flood - the worst since 1853. Authorities predicted the river would peak at 10.9 metres, which would have come close to breaching the town's levees. The peak was revised down to 10.6 metres late yesterday.

At Urana, west of Wagga Wagga, the levee was breached yesterday morning. More than 300 people were ordered to evacuate, although many decided to stay after a mass meeting at the bowling club.

Wagga Wagga has experienced its highest rainfall on record - 188 millimetres in the week from February 27. At Urana, the 1954 record of 131.8mm was broken by more than 40mm.

 


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/wagga-wagga-declared-disaster-zone-as-flood-crisis-continues-20120306-1uiev.html#ixzz1oMxb1dQD

GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT AN ILLUSION...

a night of heavy rain....

Sydney may be set for a night of heavy rain, with warnings of flash flooding and rough surf, forecasters say.

A severe weather warning has been issued for areas south of Newcastle, as far down as Wollongong and the south coast.

Bureau of Meteorology severe weather meteorologist, Andrew Haigh, said a low pressure system was still developing off the coast so it was hard to tell exactly where heavy rain would fall in that area.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/look-out-sydney-its-about-to-get-wetter-20120307-1uk0j.html#ixzz1oPtCX6yg

mopping up...

 

Queensland's Sunshine Coast is cleaning up after overnight flash flooding which swamped hundreds of homes.

The powerful storm moved in late yesterday and sat over the coast for several hours, dumping torrential rain into the night.

Around 200 homes were flooded in Mooloolaba.

Emergency crews say they received more than 550 calls for help.

Weather bureau forecaster Matthew Bass says some parts of the Sunshine Coast received hundreds of millimetres of rain in just a few hours.

"The reason why the rainfalls added up is because it was very slow moving and really sat over that southern end of the Sunshine Coast for a number of hours and dumped torrential amounts of rain," he said.

"The heaviest rainfall was 383 millimetres and that was around the Kawana Waters area."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-23/sunshine-coast-mops-up-after-torrential-rain/3907502

Of course many people there will blame the Labor government... Either the Labor government in Queensland or the Labor federal government... They won't do it "overtly"though... They will blame the Labor governments because it's easier to blame someone else but oneself for global warming which "isn't happenning" since most of the people there ar christians, creationists and full of faith that god is pubishing them for having voted Labor at the last election... And horror, Labor is nationally led by an atheist... So there...