Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Truth in Tree Rings – A Note from Gavin

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How old was our eucalypt when it died in 2008?

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Although frequently promoting trees as evidence of current climate change, it’s been my view for a while that the science of “dating” any specimen’s history via its growth rings, must account for extended droughts and abrupt climate disturbances such as flash flooding.

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This example from yesterday’s street saga is no exception given the ACT region’s recent rainfall patterns.

I reckon our study in harsh climates also depends on the performance of particular roots over time.

Gavin.

Changing Habitat Part 2 – A Note from Gavin

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All good things must come to an end. Yesterday the tree surgeons moved in with their trucks, cherry picker and mobile chipper but the birds had moved back. A hasty roadside conference followed phone calls to base and several door knockings. The high drama was supervised all morning from above by currawongs, suburban pests by my reckoning.

Frogmouths resisting “arrest” had to be witnessed. Despite a very noisy and finally violent intrusion my owls demonstrated a distinct preference for our late street tree with its dead canopy hiding their daytime roost, a rough barked E. nicholii. Other mature trees in the street are the local white barked E. mannifera and smooth barked E. melliodora.

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With a chainsaw running downstairs, common sense prevailed. After tapping their perch with a long stick from the aerial platform failed, the tree was shaken from the top down. The birds reluctantly hopped to higher branches then perched again, just out of reach.

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With time patience running out on both sides an extra violent movement or two eventually dislodged them both. They flew off independently to neighbouring trees but were now split up on either side of the street. The dead tree was immediately felled in large pieces, completely mulched and the road side all swept up before smoko.

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It seems urban safety programs and taxpayer’s funds are well protected. Note how the frogmouth displays a “stiff upper lip” next door as their temporary home disappears.

Gavin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currawong

http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp7/eucalyptus-mannifera.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_of_the_Australian_Capital_Territory

Over 70 per cent of UK Voters Reject ‘Green’ Taxes

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More than seven in 10 voters insist that they would not be willing to pay higher taxes in order to fund projects to combat climate change, according to a new poll released to coincide with the local elections.

The survey also reveals that most Britons believe “green” taxes on 4x4s, plastic bags and other consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour, while two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase taxes.

The Independent: The green tax revolt: Britons will not foot bill to save planet, poll shows

Clearly more brainwashing and propaganda is required.

Greenpeace Attempts Polar Bears Listing to Prevent Alaskan Oil Drilling

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming.

The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast to oil company bidders.

“We hope that this decision marks the end of the Bush administration’s delays and denial so that immediate action may be taken to protect polar bears from extinction,” Greenpeace representative Melanie Duchin said in a statement.

The Seattle Times: Judge orders federal government to decide polar bear listing

Polar bears in Canada are at risk from climate change but not threatened with extinction, a panel of accutane experts has advised the Canadian government.

The government should develop a plan to protect the country’s estimated 15,000 polar bears, the panel said.

The animals face loss of habitat on two fronts, the panel said – hunting, and melting ice in the Arctic, which is widely blamed on climate change.

BBC News: Polar bears ‘at risk’ in Canada

3 Recent Climate Predictions Reported by the BBC

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Writing in Science, Met Office researchers project that at least half of the years between 2009 and 2014 are likely to exceed existing records.

However, the Hadley Centre researchers said that the influence of natural climatic variations were likely to dampen the effects of emissions from human activities between now and 2009.

But over the decade as a whole, they project the global average temperature in 2014 to be 0.3C warmer than 2004.

Currently, 1998 is the warmest year on record, when the global mean surface temperature was 14.54C (58.17F).

BBC August 2007: Ten-year climate model unveiled

Global temperatures for 2008 will be slightly cooler than last year as a result of the cold La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said.

Mr Jarraud told the BBC that the effect was likely to continue into the summer, depressing temperatures globally by a fraction of a degree.

This would mean that temperatures have not risen globally since 1998 when El Nino warmed the world.

A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked and the earth has proved more resilient to greenhouse gases than predicted.

Experts at the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre for forecasting in Exeter said the world could expect another record temperature within five years or less, probably associated with another episode of El Nino.

(Unmolested version)

BBC April 2008: Global temperatures ‘to decrease’

The Earth’s temperature may stay roughly the same for a decade, as natural climate cycles enter a cooling phase, scientists have predicted.

A new computer model developed by German researchers, reported in the journal Nature, suggests the cooling will counter greenhouse warming.

However, temperatures will again be rising quickly by about 2020, they say.

BBC 1 May 2008: Next decade ‘may see no warming’

Global Warming Takes a Break, Naturally

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Global warming will stop until at least 2015 because of natural variations in the climate, scientists have said. Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a “lull” for up to a decade while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The average temperature of the sea around Europe and North America is expected to cool slightly over the decade while the tropical Pacific remains unchanged. This would mean that the 0.3°C global average temperature rise which has been predicted for the next decade by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may not happen, according to the paper published in the scientific journal Nature.

UK Telegraph: Global warming may ‘stop’, scientists predict

BBC News website: Next decade ‘may see no warming’

Nature: Climate change: Natural ups and downs

Editor’s Summary: Decadal climate prediction

Warming Antarctic waters begin to cool

Antarctica’s deep ocean waters are getting colder after years of warming, say researchers who have just returned from a Southern Ocean voyage aboard the German research vessel Polarstern.