Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Climate & Climate Change

Major Drop in Solar Activity Predicted

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Three separate studies of the sun all predict that we may be about to enter a period of low temperatures because of unusually low solar activity. Comparisons are being made with the last grand minimum, the coldest period of the Little Ice Age, which occurred between 1645 and 1715. Known as the Maunder Minimum this was a period when crops failed across Europe.

Following is the press release from the annual meeting of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, being held at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces…

WHAT’S DOWN WITH THE SUN?
MAJOR DROP IN SOLAR ACTIVITY PREDICTED

A missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles say that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years, according to scientists at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

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Value Adding in Australia, The Beginning of the End: A Note from Viv Forbes

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News Alert: Smelting and refining of Mount Isa copper in Queensland to cease

The recent Xstrata decision to phase out their world class copper smelting and refining operations in Australia tells us that the taxes, processing, transport and energy costs that Xstrata expects in Australia are already uncompetitive.

The dreamers in the Canberra cocoon always drool about “value adding”. Their carbon tax will surely cause all mineral processing plants in Australia to lose value, and some will surely close. Low cost coal and diesel power will no longer support our high wages. The value adding will take place in Asia.

We are watching a slow tragedy unfold – the end of an era. Once the mineral processing plants leave, they will never come back. We will be back to the pioneering era of mining – dig it out and ship it off.

And the final tragic irony of the Isa story is this – sending partly processed copper concentrate overseas, instead of smelting it at Mount Isa, will about triple the transport burden and do the same to carbon dioxide emissions.

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New Alliance Opposed to Carbon Tax: The Galileo Movement

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“The principal aim of this Movement is to first win the battle against the currently threatened tax on carbon dioxide and then to win the war against any drive for ever putting a price on it,” said Case Smit announcing the launch of the new Australian-based website and movement, The Galileo Movement.

Mr Smit, and his business partner John Smeed, have backgrounds in science and engineering. Their experience is in environmental protection and air quality.

At first they simply accepted politicians’ claims of global warming blamed on human production of carbon dioxide (CO2). When things didn’t add up, they each separately investigated. Stunned, they discovered what many people are now discovering: climate claims by some scientists and politicians contradict observed facts.

Read more here: http://www.galileomovement.com.au/galileo_movement.php

How to Push-Up Sea Levels

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Data on sea level rise does not support past dire predictions, so the official data is being corrected up. That’s right the official data is going to be adjusted up to ‘correct’ for expanding ocean basins and La Nina.

“One important change in these releases is that we are now adding a correction of 0.3 mm/year due to Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), so you may notice that the rate of sea level rise is now 0.3 mm/year higher than earlier releases. This is a correction to account for the fact that the global ocean basins are getting slightly larger over time as mantle material moves from under the oceans into previously glaciated regions on land. Simply subtract 0.3 mm/year if you prefer to not include the GIA correction.

You may also note that rate of sea level rise over recent years has been less than the long-term average. This is believed to be due to the recent La Nina’s we have been experiencing, though research on this is continuing. We will soon add a plot to the web site illustrating this effect.”

From http://sealevel.colorado.edu/content/new-web-site-new-sea-level-release
Via John O’Sullivan

Oceans Not Warming as Predicted

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The NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) has updated its Ocean Heat Content (OHC) data (0-700Meters) for the first quarter of 2011.

The oceans are not warming as the experts predicted.

This is another good reason for governments across the Western world to start reassess the advice they have been receiving on climate change and to start seeking out the opinions of the many meteorologist, climatologists, paleoclimatologists and hydrologists who are sceptical of anthropogenic global warming.

Via Anthony Watts
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/05/08/the-new-giss-divergence-problem-ocean-heat-content/#more-39512