Posts on aspects of climate science, climate action and climate policy & planning.
MIT researchers have developed and tested a range of 3D solar towers to achieve power output that is up to 20 times greater than traditional fixed flat solar panels with the same base area. Here is an example of two of the models tested: Continue reading Climate clippings 171
Cape Grim in Tasmania is a measuring station for atmospheric CO2 in the world. The measurement there tends to be a bit lower than at Mauna Loa and doesn’t wobble about as much. It’s baseline stands at 399.9 parts per million and is about to break through the 400 mark, as shown in this graph: Continue reading Grim news from Cape Grim
A record 177 countries signed the UN Paris climate agreement in New York on 22 April. That was a record for signing any international agreement on one day.
A few short days earlier another record had been broken – for the first time on any day CO2 emissions exceeded 409 parts per million. If you want some perspective on how aggressively we are forcing the climate, take a look at this graph, albeit from 2013: Continue reading After Paris, how do we really tackle climate change?
It’s too early to say whether the 2012 record for Arctic summer ice loss will be beaten, but it’s shaping up so that it could. The NSIDC satellite is broken, but robertscribbler has been looking at the Japanese satellite. This is what it shows: Continue reading Climate clippings 170
The ALP has put a lot of thought and work into it’s climate policy. A pity, therefore, that the links to the documentation are not better organised. Here to assist readers are the main links I’ve discovered:
The main policy document: Climate Change Action Plan Policy Paper (41 pages)
An 18-page factsheet: Labor’s Climate Change Action Plan Factsheet
A site Labor’s Climate Change Action Plan, where if you follow the links you can get to the Policy Paper and the Factsheet, but in the main you are directed to short summaries of the policy under six key areas. If, however, you follow the links in a way that is not immediately obvious, you get to the more adequate versions below: Continue reading Labor’s climate change policy
NSW Greens Upper House politician Jeremy Buckingham set methane bubbling up in the Condamine River alight, making a video which went viral with 2.2m views from Friday to Sunday. The CSIRO had previously investigated the area and found the methane leakage was probably natural.
Buckingham knows better and accused the CSIRO of “making excuses” for the coal seam gas industry. Continue reading Condamine River CSG fire stunt goes viral
James Hansen worries that “we may be approaching a point of no return, a situation in which our children inherit a climate system undergoing changes that are out of their control, changes that will cause them irreparable harm”. He’s looked at the models, at current observations, and at what happened during the Eemian interglacial 118,000 years ago, and he doesn’t like what he sees.
During the Eemian, when global average temperatures were about 1°C more than now, sea level was about 3-4 metres higher than now for a considerable time. Then about 118,000 years ago, towards the end of the interglacial, it peaked at 6-9 meters, including a rise of 2-3 metres within several decades. A similar sea level rise of several metres now would see the inundation of many of the world’s major cities.
Also there were huge storms at mid-latitudes in the North Atlantic which would make Superstorm Sandy look mild. Hansen thinks that climate change may be entering a phase where similar events could occur this century. Continue reading Hansen worries that all hell will break loose
March temperatures were the hottest March ever and second largest monthly anomaly. Here’s NASA via Open Mind:
The WMO Statement on the Status of the Climate in 2015 was released on 23 March. In short, the world continues to warm, the seas continue to rise, and the weather becomes hotter, wetter and drier, with continued extreme conditions.
The UN has a useful summary, or go to the new WMO site, or access the pdf document directly.
There were reports on ABC RN’s The World Today and at Climate Central, but the best I found with images that go beyond the report was on our ABC. I’ll pick out some of the elements that interested me. Continue reading WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2015
Recently we took a look at the most recent coral bleaching event in Great Barrier Reef will never be the same. John D subsequently sent me a link to an article Obituaries for coral reefs may be premature, study finds by John Pandolfi, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, at The University of Queensland.
So I thought we should take a closer look. Continue reading Coral reef resilience
It seems Malcolm Turnbull will add climate change to the growing collection of policy areas, including funding for schools and hospitals, where he will essentially kick the can down the road to after the election. The third phase of The Climate Change Authority’s Special Review is due by 30 June 2016. That report will “recommend what action Australia should take to implement outcomes flowing from the Paris climate conference in a final report by 30 June 2016.”
Obviously the Turnbull government will not formulate a response before a July 2 election. Continue reading Where to with climate change policy?
The orders came from across the globe even though the car isn’t scheduled for sale until late in 2017.
