Some like it even hotter

This blog, ‘Australia and Climate Change’ is an avenue for me to explore and share how anthropogenic climate change is affecting the many different aspects and environments, of my adopted country of Australia. This first post will serve as a broad introduction to both the topic and myself.  I am a self-confessed environmentalist, but my background is as an exploration and mining geologist, from this, I will attempt to approach an array of topics pragmatically, covering a different issue with each post, whilst remaining the ability to cover up to the minute issues, as they occur.

Australia covers 7.69 million km^­­2 of land surface, spanning equatorial, tropical, sub-tropical, desert, Grassland and temperate regions, in a hugely diverse country. These 6 large climate belts are subdivided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (Fig. 1). The main drivers of climate through Australia are El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Indian Ocean Dipole, the Australian monsoon and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, and the Southern Annular Mode.

Figure 1. Subdivided BOM climate belts of Australia 

Scientific predictions of how anthropogenic emissions are affecting global climate are continuously being refined, air surface temperature is one of the most widely reported and easily relatable indicators of global climate change. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) calculated a warming in annual mean surface temperature across Australia of +0.94°C, over the one-hundred-year period from 1911-2010, using the Australian Climate Observation Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN-SAT) data. This is an even larger warming than the global IPCC reported warming of 0.85⁰C, over the period 1880 to 2012. Fawcett et al.2012 showed that the rate of warming in Australian has increased through the one hundred year time period, this warming has been largely constricted to the latter half of that time period, from 1961 – 2010.

Figure 2. Linear trend In Australian mean temperature from the Australian climate observations reference network (ACORN - SAT) calculated for the entire period  1910 to 2013

Even though the science is clear, some sections of Australian public and politicians are still struggling with the idea of climate change, as displayed by Tony Abbot, the former Prime Minister of Australia, who gave a lecture at The Global Warming Policy Foundation in London (a climate sceptic organisation) spreading falsifications and describing the IPCC scientists as ‘High Priests’.  It is clear that Australia is already feeling the effects of climate change, yet along with large parts of the rest of the world, it’s people are struggling with the practical application of how this will change their lives and what they can do to mitigate further changes.

Moving forward with this blog, I will continue to explore different areas and try to remain current, whilst sharing the science and my views. I’ll sign off with a short introductory video outlining climate change through Australian, from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.