Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Paul

Satellite Tagged Seals Collect Data from Ocean Around Antarctica

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The latest research from scientists in Antarctica reveals the deep ocean around the frozen continent is becoming less salty and that this could play a major role in changing ocean currents and the climate. New details about changes to salinity are coming from deep beneath the sea ice, courtesy of satellite tagged seals. This unique tracking program involving Australian scientists is part of a major international research program shedding new light on how the world’s oceans are changing.

ABC 7.30 Report Transcript: Satellite tagged seals shed light on climate change

On-line video report also available.

100 per cent ‘Green’ Tax Increase, Less Than 1 per cent Decrease in CO2 Emissions

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In case anyone didn’t notice, the UK Treasury is the epicentre of climate related reports and also benefits from the resultant so called ‘green taxes.’ Nicholas Stern was a member of the Treasury at the time of the Stern Review on the economics of climate change, which was based on extreme computer modelled scenarios. The Stern Review spawned the equally absurd Garnaut Review.

The most recent review instigated by the UK Treasury was the King Review of Low Carbon Cars, which looked at the potential for alternative fuel cars, such as ethanol, hydrogen, or battery powered electric vehicles My suggestion for considering methanol as an alternative, as proposed by Nobel Prize for Chemistry winner George Olah, was ignored. Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend Professor Julia King’s inaugural lecture as Vice Chancellor of Aston University, which was based on the King Review. I talked to her afterwards and it became clear that isn’t a fan of personal motorised transport and is ‘government friendly.’ Hardly a recipe for objectivity, yet government reports and reviews are always described as ‘independent.’

March saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s ‘Budget.’ This included changes to the current road tax system for cars, which is based on CO2 emissions. As a result, the vast majority of drivers will pay more, drivers of family-sized vehicles being the hardest hit. Last week, as reported in The Telegraph, shadow Treasury minister Justine Greening obtained Treasury projections which disclose that while the amount raised from car tax will more than double – from £1.9 billion to £4.4 billion by 2010 – carbon dioxide emissions from motoring are expected to drop by less than one per cent.

I’ll leave the last words to Greening, who said, “This is a massive tax hike which will have virtually no impact on the environment. Despite their claims, the Government don’t expect this move to change behaviour at all – it is just another eco-stealth tax of the worst kind.”

Whale Birds – A Note from Ann Novek

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Whale birds are a group of birds called this because,

1) They used to follow whaling ships and feed on the blubber and floating oil. (Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels).

2) Prions are a small group of Petrels which once were known as whale birds, because they feed on the same plankton baleen whale feed and were thus likely to be good indicators where the whales may be.

3) The Sooty tern (see photo) is as well called a whale bird.

sooty_tern_jt7j0830-01_simon_stirrup.jpg
Photo courtesy BirdLife International/Simon Stirrup

“ We frequently observe humpback whales and birds feeding on the same patches , so it’s not surprising that occasionally birds might be engulfed by feeding humpback whales “.

“We observed three partially digested birds coated with whale feces floating in the water near adult whales”.

RESULTS OF HUMPBACK WHALE POPULATION MONITORING IN GLACIER BAY AND ADJACENT WATERS: 2005

Cheers,
Ann
Sweden

Flannery – The Wrong Weather Maker

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RAIN sure is falling this week on the parade of our global warming alarmists.

Wettest of all is Tim Flannery, who was made Australian of the Year last year for wailing the world was doomed.

“I think there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century’s first ghost metropolis,” he groaned. But buy his The Weather Makers before you flee.

Reporters solemnly reported even this: “He (Flannery) also predicts that the ongoing drought could leave Sydney’s dams dry in just two years.”

And when did he say that? Oh, three years ago? Yet what do I read in my papers yesterday but this: “Sydney’s run of rainy days in a row – 11 – is the most in April for 77 years.”

And Sydney’s dams? Above 65 per cent capacity now, and rising.

…..it was probably no surprise Flannery didn’t turn up at the Rudd Government’s ideas summit last weekend to talk more about how warming was dooming Sydney, despite being issued a gold-edged invitation.

He flew to Canada instead to tell their yokels to cut gases like the ones he just blew out the back of his jet, and talked warming with British Columbia’s Premier and businessmen.

But once again Flannery picked the wrong time and place to preach his warming gospel. A local paper reports: “In some regions of usually balmy British Columbia, many were caught by surprise by a storm that moved in late Friday and set snowfall records in Nanaimo, Victoria and Vancouver.”

How the weather mocks Flannery. He’s flooded in Sydney, where he predicted drought, and snowed in in Canada when he predicted heat.

Read the entire article in The Herald Sun: Prophecy all washed up

Ozone Hole Recovery Could Modify Southern Hemisphere Climate

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A full recovery of the stratospheric ozone hole could modify climate change in the Southern Hemisphere and even amplify Antarctic warming, according to scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.

ScienceDaily.com: ‘Ozone Hole Recovery May Reshape Southern Hemisphere Climate Change And Amplify Antarctic Warming’

Humans Nearly Wiped Out 70,000 Years Ago?

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Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.

The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.

The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated that the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.

CNN: ‘Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says’

BBC News website: Human line ‘nearly split in two’