Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Correcting Global Cooling (Part 2)

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THERE has been some anecdotal evidence suggesting that last month, October 2008, was unusually cold.  The sophisticated weather-watcher, of course, waits for some official global temperature data to be published before concluding very much. 

Al Gore’s scientific advisor, James Hansen from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), publishes a monthly mean global surface temperature. 

Some dispute the methodology Dr Hansen uses to arrive at his monthly mean values, but nevertheless I have observed that his GISS data is usually somewhere in the vicinity of the data from the Hadley Centre at the UK Meteorology Bureau and the Satellite data compiled at the University of Alabama, Huntsville – though yes Dr Hansen’s data is usually on the warm side.  [Read more…] about Correcting Global Cooling (Part 2)

Correcting Ocean Cooling: NASAChanges Data to Fit the Models Adjusts Data from Buoys

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NASA scientist, Josh Willis, was so concerned that his data, showing ocean cooling, did not fit the official consensus on climate change that he searched for a solution.  Eventually he “applied a correction” so the historical ocean temperature record showed a relatively steady increase in line with the climate models. 

Perhaps Dr Willis really did get it wrong between 2003 and 2005 when his data showed a large decrease in the heat content of the ocean.  But after reading his justification for the correction, I am not convinced.  Indeed and I am left wondering how to ever trust the official temperature record again.

This is Dr Willis’ story:

On a Thursday evening in February 2007, Josh Willis stood in front of his laptop, his wife cajoling him to get ready to go out to dinner. He looked with a sinking feeling at the map he had just made. Willis, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specializes in making estimates of how much heat the ocean stores from year to year. [Read more…] about Correcting Ocean Cooling: NASAChanges Data to Fit the Models Adjusts Data from Buoys

Looking for Community?

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If you want to be an integral part of this blog community visit the Community Home page.  There are links to the best online videos, upcoming debates on climate change, and more.  

If you would like to share with this community, send me an email with ‘For Community Page’ in the subject line.  

We all need a home and it’s nice to have a community.

[Photograph of the crab taken by Jennifer Marohasy at Mackay, North Queensland, Australia, on October 2, 2008]

No Shortage of Water in Australia

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ON a daily basis we hear the following two statements repeated in relation to water in Australia: 1. That Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth; and 2. That water is very scarce in Australia and we must take immediate action to conserve it. It is time we took a closer look at these assumed facts.  

If we convert the average annual rainfall into megalitres and do the same for the other continents, then yes, Australia does receive the least precipitation of all of the inhabited continents.  This is exemplified by comparing some average runoff data.  Of all of the rain that falls on Australia about 11% finds its way to the sea via our river system, which on average amounts to 290 million megalitres per year from mainland Australia. Another 50million megalitres runs to the sea from Tasmania.   By comparison the Mississippi river alone in USA averages a discharge of 560 million megalitres annually – almost double all of the rivers from mainland Australia. The Yangtze Kiang in China discharges 690 million megalitres annually and the Amazon in Brazil nearly ten times that amount.

So, yes, Australia does have meager water supplies compared to the other continents, but these figures lack relevance unless we consider two other vital factors. [Read more…] about No Shortage of Water in Australia