A very strong 8.9 magnitude earthquake has hit Japan and tsunami warnings have been issued across the Pacific.
New Zealander, Ken Ring, forecast the recent devastating earthquake in Christchurch and forecast an increased likelihood of earthquakes between September 2010 and May 2011 because of the increased gravitational pull on the earth given the current alignment of Jupiter and Saturn.
I would link to Mr Ring’s website but it appears to be down tonight.
Yesterday, Wakool farmer John Lolicato told me about recent fish kills in the southern Riverina. Click here to listen to our conversation: WS450079
The fish kills were caused by black water with tens of thousands of Murray Cod dying over the last four years.
The enormous (1.4 metre long) Murray Cod being held up by two farmers is just one of many large fish found floating in the Lower Wakool River following a black water event last year.
The Wakool is an anabranch of the Murray, click on the map for a better and larger view.
MANY environmentalists don’t believe we should be growing rice in Australia. I disagree. Rice suits a land of drought or flooding rains. Unlike almonds, grapes and other perennial crops, rice doesn’t need water every year. It’s an annual crop that can be planted only when there is an excess of water.
I visited Wakool rice farmer John Lolicato today and he showed me his rice crop.
John is a third generation rice grower in the Wakool District. His grandfather began growing tomatoes, later they tried millet, tobacco and even cotton.
The family has found that the climate and heavy clay soils suit rice.
John didn’t grow rice during the recent drought because while he had a water licence, he didn’t have a water allocation.
The extreme variability of rainfall at Wakool is managed by government issuing irrigation licenses which are subject to seasonal allocations. When water is short, allocations are minimal or zero.
While it is fashionable to claim there is “over-allocation” in the Murray Darling Basin the reality is that when water is scarce during drought, government limits the amount of water for agriculture.
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More photographs here of John and my good friend Catherine amongst the rice.
Bill Kininmonth speaks with Kerri-anne from Channel 9 about climate change and nuclear energy… click here.
EASTER Sunday in 1915 the community of Murrabit in the Central Murray Valley gathered for a picnic at a farm called Riversdale. It had been so dry that the Murray River had run dry.
A photograph was taken of the buggies in the dry river bed.
Today, March 9, 2011, I visited Riversdale and took a photograph of the Murray in flood.
The third photograph shows me looking across to the exact spot where the buggies were parked in 1915. Water now extends for another 5 miles beyond the far river bank into the red gum forests.
FOR a long time now, the term Base Load Power has been misinterpreted, and used incorrectly. Those who support the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Greenhouse Gas Warming Theory have taken the term out of context to describe those large coal fired power plants that in their minds are the largest offenders. They use the word as Baseload, one word, and then attach it to those power plants as a descriptor, Baseload Power Plants, usually also adding the term ‘coal fired’. However, the term is not a one word adjective. It is two words and describes most effectively the actual physical electrical power that is being consumed.
[Read more…] about The Base Load Misconception (Part 1): A Note from Tony
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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