Australia university reveals threats to climate scientists

By Clarissa Thorpe and Ben Atherton11 May 2012 The Australian National University has released a series of abusive and threatening emails which were sent to its climate change scientists. The 11 emails to members of the university’s Climate Change Institute have been made public after a Freedom of Information request. ANU management initially turned down […]

Responses to Professor Ian Plimer’s 101 climate questions

In late 2011, Professor Ian Plimer, a geology professor and expert mineralogist with no background in climate science, released his latest book, How to get expelled from school: a guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters. In response to Professor Ian Plimer’s 101 questions on climate change science, the department provides Accurate Answers […]

Australians’ concern about the environment plummets

[cf. U.S. worry about water, air pollution at historic lows – Concern about global warming dead last] 30 April 2012By Ben Cubby CONCERN for the environment has dwindled into a ”middling” issue that many people do not have strong feelings about, a major study into Australian attitudes towards society, politics and the economy has found. […]

Australia faces end of Big Dry – Agriculture subsidies withdrawn – Record rainfall in Queensland

[Declaring an end to the Big Dry seems premature, cf.: While the systematic accumulation of rainfall deficits was reversed with the heavy spring and summer rainfall of 2010, the total two-year record rainfall makes up for about one third of the total rainfall ‘missed out on’ since 1996. Additionally, the recovery peaked in autumn 2011, […]

You’d be lucky to see one: Koala listed as ‘vulnerable’ by Australia government

By Saffron Howden1 May 2012 IN THE absence of any exact figure, Gunnedah’s koala population is best measured by the number spotted on the three kilometre drive from town to the local sanctuary. Five years ago, three or four sightings were not uncommon. Now, ”you’d be lucky” to see one, says Nancy Small, who has […]

Sea change in salinity heralds shift in rainfall as Earth warms

By David Fogarty; Editing by Ed Davies26 April 2012 SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Scientists have detected a clear change in salinity of the world’s oceans and have found that the cycle that drives rainfall and evaporation has intensified more than thought because of global warming. The finding published on Friday helps refine estimates of how different […]

Graph of the Day: Mean Sea-Surface Temperature Anomalies for the Australia Region, 1900-2011

Annual (line) and decadal (box) mean sea-surface temperature anomalies for the Australian region relative to the 1961–1990 average. The average value for the most recent 10-year period (2002–2011) is shown in darker grey. Sea-surface temperatures in the Australian region in 2010 were the highest on record, with nine of the months during 2011 ranked in […]

Graph of the Day: Australia Hottest- and Coldest-Day-of-the-Month Records, 1910-2011

Number of hottest (above) and coldest (below) day-of-the-month (highest maximum) records at 43 Australian climate reference stations with daily data from 1910; for each year (orange line) and each decade (grey boxes), and the 11-year average (black line). The average for the most recent 10-year period (2002-2011) is shown in darker grey. Australian annual-average overnight […]

Graph of the Day: Increase in Australia Annual-Average Daily Mean Temperature, 1960-2011

Increase in annual-average daily mean temperature from 1960 to 2011 (in °C). Most of Australia has experienced warming over the past 50 years, with some areas experiencing warming since 1960 of up to 1°C. The warming trend has occurred against a backdrop of natural, year-to-year climate variability. Most notably, El Niño and La Niña events […]

Graph of the Day: Rate of Sea-Level Rise Around Australia, 1993-2011

The rate of sea-level rise around Australia as measured by coastal tide gauges (circles) and satellite observations (contours) from January 1993 to December 2011. CSIRO / BOM Rates of sea-level rise are not uniform around the globe and vary from year to year. Since 1993, the rates of sea-level rise to the north and northwest […]

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