Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for January 2009

Sea-surface Temperatures along the Great Barrier Reef

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We’re often told that the sea temperature along the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is increasing and that soon the coral will be bleached and the reef be destroyed. But what’s the real story according to the data?

The USA’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a web page with recent data and maps, along with links to archived data of sea surface temperatures since 1982. The data is matched to grid cells of 1 degree Latitude and 1 degree longitude and from it I extracted the data applying to the GBR Marine Park and calculated the average across the park for each month.

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Global Warming Unlikely Reason for Slow Coral Growth

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“Researchers in Australia say the growth of coral on the country’s iconic Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has fallen since 1990 to its lowest rate in 400 years,” variations of this message have been repeated around the world from South Korea to London with global warming, and the associated acidification of oceans, claimed to be the cause.

These reports are repeating claims in an Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) media release made just last Friday to coincide with the publication of research findings in the journal Science [1].

The media release also claimed the research to be “the most comprehensive study to date on calcification rates of GBR corals”.

Having followed GBR issues for many years I was surprised to hear global warming associated with slow coral growth rates, indeed AIMS’s researchers Janice Lough and David Barnes have published detailed studies concluding that coral growth rates increase significantly with an increase in annual average sea surface temperature [2]. Furthermore growth rates actually decrease from north to south along the GBR as this corresponds with a cooling temperature gradient of 2-3 degrees C.

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Beware Thermometer Temperature Data

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In the next week/s the institutions responsible for collecting and collating thermometer temperature data will complete their analysis for December 2008 thus enabling a comparison of the entire year with other years typically back to the 1860s. 

There will be much discussion about how warm the year 2008 was, relative to other years in Australia, North America, and globally. 

While this news will no doubt grab mainstream media headlines it is unlikely there will be any discussion in the same media about how reliable the information actually is.

Meteorologist and blogger, Anthony Watts, has been surveying official weather stations in the US since May 2007 and his findings often make incredible reading.  Indeed, many official weather stations are very poorly located – including one beside a barbeque and others immediately above air conditioner exhausts.   

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Reject ‘Steve Irwin’: Whalers Plea to Australian Government

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The Japan Whaling Association (JWA) today called on the Australian and New Zealand governments to close their ports to a Dutch vessel committing criminal acts in the Antarctic.

The President of the JWA, Mr Keiichi Nakajima, said the Dutch vessel committing terror on the Antarctic high seas is running low on fuel and is apparently heading to either New Zealand or Australia to refuel.

“The request for port entry from the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet crew on board the Dutch vessel must be rejected,” he said, “otherwise these countries will be complicit in any further attacks.”

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Measuring the Financial Crisis in Terms of Reduced Carbon Emissions

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THERE is a lot less “stuff” being produced in the US and China as a consequence of the financial crisis. 

According to Joe Kishore writing at The World Socialist Website:

“Manufacturing in the US is collapsing, with a key index falling to its lowest level in 20 years on Friday. Other figures released yesterday show a downturn in production throughout the world.

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