THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Australia's climate is warming at an alarming rate and oceans around the continent have been rising by as much as a centimetre a year, according to a new government report.
The snapshot, produced by the national science and weather agencies, found climate changes have been occurring at an increasingly rapid pace. It predicts fiercer storms, increased drought and more intensive periods of rainfall over the coming decades.
According to the report, based on observations and peer-reviewed research by government scientists, Australia has recorded its 13 hottest years on record since 1997 – and average day and night-time temperatures are now almost a degree higher than they were a century ago. Sea-surface temperatures increased by about 0.8C since 1910 and hit a record high in 2010. Each decade in Australia has been warmer than the previous decade since the 1950s.
The report, by the Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [CSIRO], says the changes appear to have been mostly caused by human-induced carbon emissions and are not due to nature alone. Following a dip in carbon emissions during the financial crisis, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 390 parts per million last year, the highest level in 800,000 years. Read on and comment » | Jonathan Pearlman | Sydney | Wednesday, March 14, 2012
