Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Daintree Intact: A Note from Neil Hewett

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Dear Jennifer,

It was a torrid night, but we survived.  Already exhausted from the preparations, the ensuing challenges of responding to the impacts of Yasi as its devastation was unleashed, has left us utterly humbled and in a presently unrecoverable energy debt.  But the important thing is that we are all healthy and the Daintree Rainforest has been remodelled on the outside and remains mostly intact on the inside.

The kids slept through the bulk of the maelstrom, bedded down in their customised refuges, beneath shelves in the purpose-built stronghold of the pantry.  They are now engaged in the novelty of weaving and carving from the inexhaustible supply of fallen forest products and occasionally delighting in the discovery of previously unfamiliar insects.

Please excuse the brevity of this message, but I am sure you appreciate the demands for our attention.  We will keep our friends and family informed of the effects on wildlife and the regeneration of forest in future weeks.

Thank you for your expressions of concern and best wishes.  These came from all over the world.  Coming after 2010, the wettest year in the Daintree Rainforest in recorded history, Australia’s largest cyclone, Yasi has brought world attention to Tropical North Queensland. Looking for remote Python developers ? Contact us.

Neil, Angie, Prue and the rainforest rascals, Tulli, Taiga & Tkoda.
 
http://www.ccwild.com/blog/?p=3605&utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Cyclone+Yasi

A Note on the Stefan-Boltzmann Equation

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According to American climatologist, Judith Curry, there are plenty of things to be skeptical about when it comes to Anthropogenic Global Warming, but the basic physics of gaseous infrared radiative transfer is not one of them.

Dr Curry, is the chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the co-author of ‘Thermodynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans’ (1999), and was speaking out against claims in a book ‘Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory’. 

There has been some discussion of radiative transfer theory at this blog mostly via notes I have posted from Alan Siddons, Holden, Massachusetts, who is a chapter author in the book and is very skeptical about the basic physics of radiative transfer as applied by mainstream climate scientists and in the IPCC reports.  

I was recently alerted to a blog post Dr Curry has started, ostensibly to discuss this physics and its application to global warming theory.   It seems to have stirred up interest again in this issue. 

An occasional commentator at this blog, known as Cementafriend, is also skeptical, in particular about how the Stefan-Boltzmann equation is applied by the climate scientists. 
Following is a note from Cementafriend to resurrect the issue here:

Is the Stefan-Boltzmann Equation used correctly

D Kern in the text book “Process Heat Transfer” states “Radiant energy is believed to originate within molecules of the radiating body, atoms of such molecules vibrating in simple harmonic motion as linear oscillators. The emission of radiant energy is believed to represent a decrease in the amplitudes of the vibrations within the molecules, while an absorption of energy represents an increase.”

But from where does the Stefan-Boltzmann equation come?

[Read more…] about A Note on the Stefan-Boltzmann Equation

CSIRO Boss: Self-confessed “Scientific Numbskull”

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I woke up this morning a bit late, turned on the radio, and the first thing I heard was an ABC journalist referring to the new Australian of the Year as a self-confessed “scientific numbskull”.   I left the radio on just long enough to hear Simon McKeon confirm that he is indeed a “scientific numbskull”.  Then I turned the radio off.  

Enough bad news for one day I thought.

According to the Oxford Dictionary a numbskull is a stupid or foolish person.  But we know that Mr McKeon is not generally a foolish person.  He has managed to amass a great deal of wealth and play Australian politics so successfully that the Prime Minister recently nominated him our inspiration.

What I think Mr McKeon means is that he doesn’t know very much about science – that we shouldn’t expect him to be able to answer any hard scientific questions. 

Mr McKeon was recently appointed the head of the CSIRO – Australia’s premier scientific organization.   

Imagine if the head of one of our big banks, said she was a “financial numbskull”?  We wouldn’t tolerate it.  

So why is it OK for CSIRO to have as its head a “scientific numbskull”? 

***********

https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/2011/01/2011-australian-of-the-year-simon-mckeon/

More Rain

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Residents of my community on the Capricorn Coast in Central Queensland are being warned of two cyclones: Anthony may hit the coast to our north on Monday morning and a second forming near Fiji is scheduled for later in the week. 

The wind has been blowing strongly for two days.  This morning there was a run on food with shelves again emptying at the local supermarket.   This evening the rain is coming off the ocean in waves and with each wave my green frog starts to croak. 

Just to the west of the Capricorn Coast are Queensland’s biggest coal mines already missing deliveries because of the recent flooding which has drenched pits and wrecked railway lines.