Up to 100 jobs will be axed at the nation’s science research agency as a result of Federal Budget cuts.
Dozens of jobs will be lost and CSIRO laboratories will close in Mildura in Victoria and Rockhampton in Queensland.
Mike Whelan from the CSIRO says Government funding has been cut by more than $60 million over four years.
ABC News: Jobs to be axed, labs will close in CSIRO shake-up
CSIRO Media Release: CSIRO continues to set science directions for future
When I first spotted this messy web, I could barely make out the spider. In its own right, it was tiny; a mere 3-4 mm long, but in the circumstances of its concealment, it was marvellously blended into the broader clutter of debris, at the centre of the stabilimentum (conspicuous feature of silk).
Under higher magnification, an enlarged, multi-coloured abdomen, together with a strategic positioning of legs, concealed the bulk of the spider’s cephalothorax. Upon closer scrutiny, its eyes were just distinguishable between its legs.
It turned out to be a species of Cyclosa, renowned for adding prey remains and other debris to their orb-webs. The function of silk decorations is generally associated with defensive strategies, but there is also a notion that it may increase attractiveness to prey.
In my research of Cyclosa, I read that, under threat, the spiders may vibrate the web, bringing motion to the detritus and in so doing, give an impression of a more expansive population.
I also read the abstracts of two independent studies, which seemed to contradict the findings of each other. One showed no significant tendency in attraction to webs with a stabilimentum, whilst the other revealed 150% more insects trapped than for undecorated webs. Both studies agreed that without detritus columns and silk decorations, spiders were attacked at a higher frequency.
Jasper Kirkby of CERN has published a new paper examining the potential link between cosmic rays and climate.
The paper concludes:
Numerous palaeoclimatic observations, covering a wide range of time scales, suggest that galactic cosmic ray variability is associated with climate change. The quality and diversity of the observations make it difficult to dismiss them merely as chance associations. But is the GCR flux directly affecting the climate or merely acting as a proxy for variations of the solar irradiance or a spectral component such as UV? Here, there is some palaeoclimatic evidence for associations of the climate with geomagnetic and galactic modulations of the GCR flux, which, if confirmed, point to a direct GCR-climate forcing. Moreover, numerous studies have reported meteorological responses to short-term changes of cosmic rays or the global electrical current, which are unambiguously associated with ionising particle radiation.
Cosmic ray forcing of the climate could in principle operate on all time scales from days to hundreds of millions of years, reflecting the characteristic time scales for changes in the Sun’s magnetic activity, Earth’s magnetic field, and the galactic environment of the solar system. Moreover the climate forcing would act simultaneously, and with the same sign, across the globe. This would both allow a large climatic response from a relatively small forcing and also give rise to simultaneous regional climate responses without any clear teleconnection path. The most persuasive palaeoclimatic evidence for solar/GCR forcing involves sub-orbital (centennial and millennial) climate variability over the Holocene, for which there is no established forcing agent at present. Increased GCR flux appears to be associated with a cooler climate, a southerly shift of the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) and a weakening of the monsoon; and decreased GCR flux is associated with a warmer climate, a northerly shift of the ITCZ and a strengthening of the monsoon (increased rainfall). The influence on the ITCZ may imply significant changes of upper tropospheric water vapour in the tropics and sub-tropics, potentially affecting both long-wave absorption and the availability of water vapour for cirrus clouds.
The most likely mechanism for a putative GCR-climate forcing is an influence of ionisation on clouds, as suggested by satellite observations and supported by theoretical and modelling studies. The satellite data suggest that decreased GCR flux is associated with decreased low altitude clouds, which are known to exert globally a net radiative cooling effect. Studies of Forbush decreases and solar proton events further suggest that decreased GCR flux may reduce high altitude (polar stratospheric) clouds in the Antarctic. Candidate microphysical processes include ion-induced nucleation of new aerosols from trace condensable vapours, and the formation of relatively highly charged aerosols and cloud droplets at cloud boundaries, which may enhance the formation of ice particles in clouds and affect the collision efficiencies of aerosols with cloud droplets. Although recent observations support the presence of ioninduced nucleation of new aerosols in the atmosphere, the possible contribution of such new particles to changes in the number of cloud condensation nuclei remains an open question. Furthermore, the parts of the globe and atmosphere that would be expected to be the most climatically sensitive to such processes are unknown, although they are likely to involve regions of low existing CCN concentrations.
Despite these uncertainties, the question of whether, and to what extent, the climate is influenced by solar and cosmic ray variability remains central to our understanding of the anthropogenic contribution to present climate change. Real progress on the cosmic ray-climate question will require a physical mechanism to be established, or else ruled out. With new experiments planned or underway, such as the CLOUD facility at CERN, there are good prospects that we will have some firm answers to this question within the next few years.
Kirkby, J. 2008. Cosmic rays and climate. Surveys in Geophysics 28: 333-375.
Blog readers may remember Prince Charles’ previous climate rantings during his ‘eco-friendly’ trip to the West Indies involving a £280,000 per week Yacht, when he spoke about the “sheer madness” of climate scepticism.
Now Climate Charlie is back with a new pronouncement:
The Prince of Wales has warned that the world faces a series of natural disasters within 18 months unless urgent action is taken to save the rainforests.
In one of his most out-spoken interventions in the climate change debate, he said a £15 billion annual programme was required to halt deforestation or the world would have to live with the dire consequences.
“We will end up seeing more drought and starvation on a grand scale. Weather patterns will become even more terrifying and there will be less and less rainfall,” he said.
“We are asking for something pretty dreadful unless we really understand the issues now and [the] urgency of them.” The Prince said the rainforests, which provide the “air conditioning system for the entire planet”, releasing water vapour and absorbing carbon, were being lost to poor farmers desperate to make a living.
Nothing much to do? Then read the rest of the recent Telegraph article: Prince Charles: Eighteen months to stop climate change disaster
Despite recent and continuing non-warming, it appears that the climate change disaster is moving ever closer. Blair gave us the need for a climate deal in 2 years or adaptation only by 2020, Gore 5 years to an ice-free Arctic, and now we have just 18 months. Rest assured, I will be verifying these predictions on their due dates.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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