When it comes to our rare high-quality historic records, and the real long term trends of Australian weather, the silence is striking. There are some excellent historical records of long term temperature data from the late 1800s in Australia, which lie underused and largely ignored by the BOM.
For the BOM, history almost appears to start in 1910, yet the modern type of Stevenson screen thermometer was installed across Australia starting as early as 1884 in Adelaide. Most stations in Queensland were converted as long ago as 1889 and in South Australia by 1892. Though states like NSW and Victoria were delayed until 1908.
Here’s a photo of the ones in Brisbane in 1890.
Brisbane was recording temperatures with modern Stevenson screens in 1890, as were some other stations, but the BOM often ignores these long records.
The BOM don’t often mention all their older temperature data. They argue that all the recordings then were not taken with standardized equipment. The BOM prefers to start long term graphs and trends from 1910 (except when they start in 1950 or 1970, or 1993).
The BOM was set up in 1908. Before that there were Stevenson screens going in all over Australia, but somehow these records appear uninteresting to climate researchers. Could it be that the late 1800s would have been more captivating if they were colder? In the late 1800’s there was the widespread heatwave of 1896 killing hundreds of people and recording 50C plus temperatures across the continent as well as the infamous Federation Drought?
Figure that if the BOM were curious about long term natural trends, it would not be impossible for a PhD student to compare the distant past and estimate those long trends. (If two stands of trees in 1200AD are accurate to 0.1C, why not actual, but non-standard thermometers in 1890?)
Not only were some stations using Stevenson screens in Australia, but other types of non-standard but common screens were documented, along with sites, and there were studies of overlapping data. (Though there were also some highly irregular sites that would defy analysis). More to the point, with millions in government grants available for research, the BOM could even recreate some historic sites and do modern side-by-side comparisons. Surely in the space age we can figure out the temperature differences of wooden boxes?
Suppose for a moment that the old records showed cool summers, or demonstrated that Australia had warmed by two degrees instead of one? Wouldn’t there rather be a flood of papers adjusting and homogenising Glaishers and Stevensons, and perhaps even sheds and octagons? Whole new museums could spring forth, recreating sacred meteorology stations from 1862. School children would file by and gasp!
The British CRU (University of East Anglia) reports Australian trends from 1850
Jennifer Marohasy wonders where the CRU got the data that the BOM don’t want to use. She has been writing about the Stevenson screens and asking the Australian BOM questions like this and more. Warwick Hughes has been analyzing these old records even longer. His paper in 1995 provoked the Neville Nicholls reply of 1996 (which is used to create the map below).
Above, the year that Nicholls 1996 describes “most” stations as being shifted to Stevenson screens.
There were a few late exceptions to these dates.
Although there were many sites, especially in NSW and Victoria that didn’t get Stevenson screens until sometime in 1907, vast areas of Australia in WA, Queensland and South Australia have accurate older data. When “hottest” ever records for these states are announced, why are the older high quality measurements almost invisible?
The debt Australia owes to Clement Wragge and Sir Charles Todd
The Stevenson screen was championed by Clement Wragge. He installed the first Stevenson Screen in Australia at Adelaide in 1884 and cheered on others like Charles Todd in 1886. Todd compared the Stevenson screen to other types and concluded in 1898 that the Stevenson was more useful. (Thanks to Lance for that history and trove links!)
Lance Pidgeon discussed Todd’s extraordinary attention to detail and his work with different screens on this site. Adelaide has one of the longest running temperature records of the Southern Hemisphere. Todd’s meteorological plan started way back in 1856. As Pidgeon quotes, Todd was responsible for setting up the telegraph network in four states, and connected Australia to the world in 1872 through Darwin. He set up meteorology stations along the telegraph lines and collected the data coming in down the lines:
“With the building of the Overland telegraph in 1855, Charles Todd, aged 30, as Superintendent of Telegraphs, established meteorological stations on every route where he constructed telegraph lines in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia’s Northern Territory and Darwin. Todd organised the real time collection of the data by telegraph and began the preparation of synoptic maps. By the 1870s, and throughout the 1880s and 1890s, the meteorological data from the telegraph stations saw an increasing use of synoptic charts of pressure, wind, temperature and rainfall for daily weather forecasting.”
http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/observing-australias-weather
Jennifer Marohasy describes how he drove the installation of these instruments at post offices in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Australia’s telegraph and meteorological networks owe a huge debt to electrical engineer, meteorologist and astronomer, Charles (later Sir Charles) Todd, who was employed by the South Australian government initially as superintendent of telegraphs, arriving in Adelaide in November 1855. He soon had a telegraphic line operating from Adelaide to Melbourne, and by 1872 he oversaw completion of the overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin connecting Australia to Europe via Indonesia. By 1877 each state had tapped into this network.
In 1870 the post office and telegraph departments were amalgamated and Charles Todd was appointed Postmaster General and Superintendent of Telegraphs. This institution, established in 1870, became a Commonwealth department at federation on 1st January 1901, and was administered from Adelaide until 1975.
For Charles Todd the telegraph and post offices were a means to an end. His first passion was meteorology, and everywhere he established a telegraphic office he established a weather station and trained the staff in the operation of the equipment. The telegraphic officers in South Australia and the Northern Territory were required to report temperatures and rainfall on a daily basis to his observatory in Adelaide.
By 1860, Charles Todd was receiving temperature data from 14 stations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. By 1879, he was publishing weather maps, which resemble current synoptic charts.
In Queensland the state meteorologist Clement Wragge took up the Stevenson screens, very quickly installing them across Queensland during 1889.
In Western Australia people tended to take their cues from Todd in South Australia, using the same octagonal design at Perth Botanical Gardens as was used in Adelaide, and single louvre wall shade screens in most other stations in the colony. William Cooke, the first Government Astronomer of the Colony, replaced most meteorological stations with Stevenson screens “before the end of 1897” (Nicholls, 1996). Lance Pidgeon wrote about the comparisons of the octagon designs and the Stevenson screens, and I’ll do a post soon talking about comparisons of Glaisher and Stevenson screens.
In Victoria and NSW temperatures were recorded in a mix of “sheds” or “stands” that are quite different to the Stevenson screen. But plans for some of these are available, and it would be possible to build and recreate similar structures to compare the different types of screens.
In Tasmania meteorologists used shelters or sheds til 1895, then installed Stevenson screens after that. So screens were installed reasonably early, though Nicholls notes “but they were in disrepair by 1907”.
The striking lack of curiosity
The BOM sweat to issue press releases telling us how serious “climate change” is, and how it will hit Australia harder than the rest of the world. They make sure Australians know all the infinite details of projections from climate models we know are broken. But when it comes to our rare high quality historic records, and the observed long term trends of Australian weather, researchers mostly seem to have something better to do. It’s OK to adjust modern Stevenson screens with stations 300km away to rescue a signal, but the old data is apparently beyond hope. Who wants to add 10 or 20 extra years of data? The interminable tedium of those long term natural trends!
Years of toil and diligent care collect dust in backroom archives. “Nothing to see here”.
REFERENCES
Hughes, W.S. (1995) Comment on D.E. Parker, “Effects of Changing Exposure of Thermometers at Land Stations.” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 15, pp. 231-234.
Nicholls, N., R. Tapp, K. Burrows, and D. Richards. (1996) Historical thermometer exposures in Australia. Int. J. Climatology, 16, 705-710. [Abstract] [PDF]
Hughes, W.S. (1997) Comment on, “Historical Thermometer Exposures in Australia.” by N. Nicholls et al. International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 17, pp. 197-199. [PDF]
More information:
All my posts on Australian Temperatures
- Excuses Excuses! Neville Nicholls and the Stevenson screens that didn’t exist or did and were “cracked”?
- The lost climate knowledge of Deacon 1952: hot dry summers from 1880-1910
- 1953 Headline: Melbourne’s weather is changing! Summers getting colder and wetter
- The mysterious lost hot Sunday in Bourke, did it really happen?
- Australian BOM “neutral” adjustments increase minima trends up 50%
- Forgotten: Historic hot temperatures recorded with detail and care in Adelaide
- Australia – was hot and is hot. So what? This is not an unusual heatwave
h/t Special thanks to the independent BOM audit team for advice, information and ideas.
It is a puzzle. The CET, Central England Temperature is a monthly mean surface air temperatures, for the Midlands region of England, are given (in degrees Celsius) from the year 1659 to the present. This record represents the longest series of monthly temperature observations in existence. They are very proud of their long record. This goes back to the very invention of the thermometer!
How is it then we proud and clever Australians who have been here since 1788 do not have official Australian records before 1910 apparently because someone decided they did not matter or that proxy tree rings from another side of the planet were far preferable to quality thermometers in Stevenson boxes since 1887? You can be sure the formation of the Federal Bureau of Meterology in 1907 was supposed to continue the fine long standing tradition of meticulous State records. For a land of long cycles, of droughts and flooding rains, it would seem a priority in establishing cycles over a longer period than one year. However with over 100 years with 1500 full time professional staff and a cumulative cost in wages along of around say $12Bn, no one has found the time to integrate the old records? It needs explanation.
Is it a coincidence that everything done seems to allow and create the narrative of a warming country? How is it that we cannot have a complete temperature record, even unhomogenized? Why should members of the public have to ask for the BOMs best efforts to take the record back to 1788 as accurately as they can? Or would that really show an Inconvenient Truth?
614
In my view the great error is in assuming that the weather/climate operates in any cycle. The reality is that chaos rules.
The only certain cycles are the day/night cycle, the summer/winter cycle, and the chaotic warm period/glacial cycle.
Many people ever since Adam have sought cycles in the weather/climate records which would enable them to predict future weather. I have seen no evidence, at least in our part of the world, that anybody has succeeded in this. Improvements in prediction capability result from better information gathering and data processing, not from cycles.
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All equlibrium systems with feedback oscillate to the first order. There are underlying effects like global warming or cooling but the Egyptians have been plotting their 11 year cycle for 1400 years. As the only water is in the Nile and 83 million people are utterly dependent on the nile water, it pays to know what to expect beyond the yearly cycle where the water would rise 35 metres, flooding the valley. In the old temples there were wells used to gauge tax. The lower the water, the lower the tax. The original British dam held one year of water but Lake Nasser holds 10 years, a necessity for an 11 year cycle.
So while the Egyptians do not understand the forces which produce this cycle, it is a matter of life and death to master the cycle. Similarly we cannot predict El Nino and La Nina, but we know the dire consequences from South America to Indonesia. This is a valuable function Meteorologists are expected to perform and for this they need complete data sets, the original task. The pioneers thought to track storms and warn people of their likely path by telegraph. You do not have to understand the weather to be useful for farmers and to save lives.
However it is amazing that the BOM is so happy to be making certain predictions a hundred years from now but ignore the real and valuable data from 100 years ago. Does Australia have a massive drought every 100 years? Our financial system has cycles too. The banking systems collapsed in 1890 and again in 1990, right on cue. Long cycles are very important and they exist around the world. We need the 19th century data to be included, especially the Federation drought. Otherwise we could think the recent drought was unusual.
The modern BOM seems to be very good at ignoring, culling and adjusting temperatures upwards and makes endless public announcements and even exaggerations of any sign of warming or ‘extreme events’ like cyclones or drought. Is this just attention seeking or is it about people trying to please the IPCC in their attempt to control governments and of Green politicians to use weather as a political tool.
We do not need or want or want to pay for a politically motivated and activist BOM and ABC. The pioneers dreamed of saving lives with their science. I would hate to think their modern equivalents just wanted to go to Paris for a knees up with their friends.
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TOB who are you trying impress or show your ignorance. I agree with TdeF there are cycles which are well known. For are start there are lunar cycles from which tides can be predicted. Then there are longer cycles which result in king tides. The king tides do have an effect on weather. There is an 11 year cycle from the passage of Jupiter. This affects the sun and weather on earth. Indigo Jones towards the end of the nineteenth century had an observatory near Maleny in Qld. He gathered much weather data, and data on the movements of planets, sunspots etc and found cycles which allowed him to predict weather patterns for years head. Lennox Walker extended his observations. The problem is that the cycles are not perfectly fixed and that cycles overlap. For example the cycle of SOI and PDO (or IPO) from which rainfall can be estimated to some degree upto a year head vary slightly in length and time. When SOI is +ve and IPO -ve there is a high probability of higher than normal rainfall and even floods in Qld. Dr Stewart Franks has published articles on this and indicates a cycle of 20-30 years for the IPO.
I could go on about other cycles of increasing length affecting climate (such as ice ages) but a problem is that there is not enough weather data to pick up all the cycles. I have 123 years of rainfall data for my area. Certainly it is easy to note two major drought periods close to one hundred year apart but it would be necessary to have some five hundred years of weather data to determine if a 100 cycle was statistically significant.
In my rainfall record I can see a 40 year cycle of heavier than normal rainfall and it seems we are in such a period now.
So TOB can a life and look without bias. BOM certainly are making a mess of forecasting with their super computer and model leaning the nonsense around CO2.
40
The BoM employees are servants of private sector taxpayers, considering the evidence being disclosed in recent times these public servants should be dismissed forthwith. I refer to climate change department f[snip]sters of course. But also to their management who have apparently allowed them to be f[snip]sters.
And the same should apply at the CSIRO. And the ABC is another den of f[snip]sters.
[There fixed that for you. The “F” word is prohibited here unless you are an attorney ready to defend all of us and for free.] ED
32
About the same time as South Australia got it’s Stevenson screens This was printed in the USA and was supplied along with most of the kit required : Instructions for Voluntary Observers . There are instructions for a thermometer shelter on page 22 which is interesting of itself but what caught My eye is on page 18 there is mention of an issue of the thermometers reading 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit too low .
And yet thermometer readings from this period are almost exclusively adjusted down by the usual suspects .
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p 10. “A trustworthy record of the weather is always of interest to any community”.
Indeed!
91
A comment from Zeke Hausfeather on Judith Curry’s blog
The BOM official maximum temperatures for the day are usually half a degree more than the highest half hour reading so they are adjusting for the difference. I couldn’t find details on the site of what they actually do but the sudden step up in temperature around 2000 suggests that it is not warranted. eg. Boulia Q.
42
When minimums are higher than max.
It’s not about eliminating flawed measurement
errors, 2014, it’s about … check out George
Orwell’s 1984.
http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=3541
62
WTF! Did you notice the comment about Bourke (Airport). There is about 4 years of data between 1998 and 2002 where the temperatures are rounded of to the nearest degree.
So much for not trusting a PO master in 1890 to do measure the temperature precisely!
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notrickszone reports
http://notrickszone.com/#sthash.Es2IbMZo.sAqMRsUB.dpbs
So the BEST adjustment seems to be in the wrong direction based on this German study.
00
[sarc]Sorry. No grants will be authorized for research that goes against the meme[/sarc]
Abe
153
Nicholls had an article on The Conversation the other day trying to justify the “adjustments” to the temperature records. It was truly pathetic.
http://theconversation.com/global-warming-trend-unaffected-by-fiddling-with-temperature-data-37700?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+18+February+2015+-+2453&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+18+February+2015+-+2453+CID_347da49b01e972828a2f78fda5c9be52&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Global%20warming%20trend%20unaffected%20by%20fiddling%20with%20temperature%20data
About as close to zero information content as it is possible to get.
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Mike ,
see My comment at #2 ( when it comes out of moderation ), an indication that TOBS adjustments are actually in the opposite direction they need to be to correct an error in accuracy which tends to suggest that said adjustments are made to get a required result rather than a correct measurement .
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Typical of “The Conversaion”, look at the very long list of “Comment removed by moderator.”
See if you can possibly find a skeptic comment anywhere there……..
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I was actually referring to My post here being in moderation at the time but Your point still stands about about “The Conversation” et al and censorship of dissenting opinion .
61
I bet you will never find your comment.
I just posted there:
172
The Backslider,
They’ve posted a reply to you saying:
Maybe you should go ahead and do that. Then come back and let us all know what they reply. Nice experiment, yes?
Abe
42
I have already done that. The last I heard weeks ago was “Our board will give you a decision is a few days”
50
Yes, JAG, good suggestion. I hope Backslider takes it up.
what do you think, Backslider?
They need to answer to the public for their taxpayer-funded indulgences and then have those answers passed on to their money suppliers.
They would need a fair amount of staff to run that alarmist shop.
62
‘I have already done that. The last I heard weeks ago was “Our board will give you a decision is a few days”’
Well done, Backslider! Be interesting to hear their answer.
50
62
142
Again, the claim that adjustments have no effect. So why are scientist spending thousands developing algorithms and going through the data if it makes do difference? This makes no sense. From very smart climate scientists, you would expect a statement to make sense……
222
Thanks for the thought. I just posted this on The Conversation. I wonder what skill in sophistry and rhetoric will be displayed in a reply, if there’s any.
“So we could have simply used the raw data to calculate global warming over the past century.” Now that this is known, why not do it? Why keep wasting all that effort on elaborate algorithms and computer time, and as a bonus null out the irritating criticisms of those who dispute the adjustments.
62
The gravy train operators will not tolerate passengers who do not conform to the rules of the train.
52
I should note that the writer says they could have used the raw data because now we know the adjustments have no effect. Yet the adjustments continue. If the raw data is good, why are they not using it?
233
Has anybody done that? They say it themselves, “No Effect”, it would be interesting to compare the 2 sets and put the lie (again) on the warmist!!
62
Peter Carabot,
The Wood for Trees website allows anyone to plot most of the temperature data currently available all over the internet from one convenient location. I went ahead and ploted the world unadjusted temperature data against the adjusted/homogenized BEST temperature data that was singled out by Neville Nichols, the author of the article at The Conversation.
His claim that the adjustments had “no effect” is incorrect. He should know better than to publish unsubstanciated claims.
Abe
132
Peter Carabot,
Notice that although both sets start out at the same point, they diverge with the BEST data-set rising at a steeper angle. Meaning a greater warming trend.
At that rate, the divergence at the end of this century will be almost double what it is now.
Abe
52
That ‘small’ difference is important when arguing if +0.3°C since 1950 can be attributed to fossil fuel use (or a record is meaningful, or if there is a pause)
The HadCrut3 is adjusted but without estimated temps for the Arctic region, and is for sea surface as well as land.
You need to do a comparison with CRUTEM.
The difference is small because both treat the data similarly but still up to 0.5°C difference. It shows how idiotic it is to claim a record hot year when its not greater than 0.5°C hotter than 15 years ago. The differences are about half as much with CRUTEM4
Antarctica is about 10% of the world’s land area and its actual temperature measurements show no warming.
Australia is 5% and again, without adjustments and/or putting back the hot years pre 1908, you get no warming. The large parts of South America that have warmed greatly have been shown to be due to ridiculous adjustments. Without these, another 5% has not warmed.
The unadjusted data of the USA shows 1940 to be as warm as now so how can we possible also have similar results using the unadjusted data?
42
RB,
The legend on the graph itself doesn’t mention that this is unadjusted data. If you scroll to the right side of the page on that link you will see that the graphed data for HadCrut3 is the unadjusted HadCrut3 data.
Abe
10
That ‘unadjusted’ is not ‘extra adjustment’. Its a combination of CRUTEM3 and SST.
CRUTEM3 is described as “As well as the mean anomaly, estimates are made of the uncertainties caused by poor measurements, uncertainties in the station data, sampling uncertainties caused by the limited number of measurements available, and large-scale biases such as urbanisation.”
and
“Variance adjusted data
Because the number of observations forming each grid-box average in CRUTEM3 is not constant in space or time, the variability in the gridded anomalies also changes: grid-box averages made from many observations have a smaller variance than those made from few. We have made a “variance adjusted” version of the dataset, where the anomalies have been statistically processed to homogenise the variances.”
So the unadjusted is not just grid averages. They are still adjusted.
10
RB,
If I understand you correctly, you’re saying that because the Hadcrut3 is basically a combination of CRUTEM3 and SST, then Hadcrut3 unadjusted still has some adjustments made to it, then yes I’ll have to agree, and thank you for pointing it out.
The Wood For Trees website does have the Hadcrut3 (combination CRUTEM3 and SST) both with and without the additional variance adjustments so I just used the least adjusted one. And I admit the I was unaware of those partial adjustments. My search for a description of the Hadcrut3 unadjusted data set on the Hadley website was unsuccessful.
Some further observations:
1. When examining your graph of the BEST and CRUTEM3 data set comparison, we still see a steeper rise in the slope of the linear trend line for the BEST dataset. This still shows that adjustments make a difference especially when making projections a full century into the future. That was my original point with regards to the claim made by Nicholls that the adjustments made no difference. That point still stands.
2. Your last reply forced me to notice a more flagrant error in my original graph, one that could be used against me by the AGW adherents. I plotted land temperatures against land/sea temperatures. Apples and oranges.
3. If we look at the older CRUTEM3 and the newer (i.e. more adjustments) CRUTEM4, we see that new slope for CRUTEM4 is now also steeper. So . . .The more adjustments they make, the more warming we get.
This is the central, overriding objection that many skeptics have to making adjustments in the first place. And this is the objection that Nicholls wants to brush away by denying that the adjustments make a difference.
Abe
00
Glanced to about a third of the way through the comments. ALL sceptical comments have been removed.
112
Ahem, and I’m removing some of the cyclone comments form here (and posting them on a new Hyping Cyclones thread)
11
Yes, Mike, but you must wonder how a taxpayer funded site like “the con” can justify deleting and removing all evidence and pertinent info pointing to the other side of the argument.
When they have that incredible groupthink it speaks volumes as to how climate science has truly become a religion.
It’s a perfect example of the point Jo is making.
On a similar thread, why doesn’t the BoM give the barometric pressure of the cyclone centres anymore?
We have Cat 5 Cyclone Marcia threatening us and my Torricelli is telling me above normal BP.
92
Well, I just posted there and pointed out to them that it is against the law (international treaty, no less):
http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/PublicSectorGuidanceSheets/Pages/Righttofreedomofopinionandexpression.aspx
52
Backslider, let’s hope they take notice. I’ve been banned from there and tried to point out similar requirements that they need to observe but they have an impervious hide and a matching skull.
52
Who is the person giving 2 thumbs down to everyone? Speak up!
31
Just looking at Lam on the BOM site. No data after 8am for Bulman and Maningrida Airport with both showing winds around 50km/h up till then. They show about 90 and 100km/h on the map at 9.54.
Cape Vessel is not up but it only showed Cat2 bordering Cat 3 winds in the last two days.
Same with Samuel Hill. Shows 175km/h wind on the map but the data stops at 8.30 with a gust of 105Km/h.
Gympie, well away from the eye has 140km/h, but 6km/h at 8.30. No data after that.
Definitely take the Cat 5 with a pinch of salt. Better still, sack the bastards.
52
Yes RB, Wind gusts predicted of up to 295kmh but best recorded that I could see was 170kmh with a sea level BP of 976.6mb
Yasi was 929mb with wind gusts of 285kmh
From now on they should all be named Cyclone Nanny.
42
Guys!!!! BOM has to make Fantasia “The Savior” look good in a Disaster!!
32
You might want to ignore the wind speeds on the map that I quoted. I suspect a cock up.
21
SD, ABC Principles and Standards policy states,
#Independence, integrity and responsibility.
#Accuracy.
#Correction and clarification.
#Impartiality and diversity of perspectives.
#Fair and honest dealings …
http://about.abc.net.au/reports-publications/editorial-policies/
41
Beth, “our” ABC just had Annastacia warning us in an address to the people of Qld that TC Marcia’s storm surge has been reassessed by the BoM from 2.6 to 3 metres ABOVE the high tide level [she should have said the new tide height had been reassessed at 3m instead of 2.6].
Just a slight exaggeration of 3m in sea levels.
Imagine the screams if Tony did that.
But we’ll await the correction and clarification c/w “there, there” back pats.
72
The ABC news present on the breaking news at 1.30pm, Jane, seemed to be wetting herself with delight that Queensland will be hit by a Cat 5. Take that you denier!
41
So much depends on context, S D,. Political
context, or shall we say, the frame work.
10
Try posting a comment at various ABC websites that do not conform to left side group think.
61
There is this comment in the article.
Nicholls is a Emeritus Professor at Monash and still supervising. I suspect that he gets more than a box of chocolates for doing that. Flannery got paid S180 000 per year for 3 days a week and he was a Paleontologist.
It looks like the Conversation is a tax-payer funded place for astroturfers to spin around the arguements of sceptics.
132
It’s all about the messaging as the Psychology Department of the UWA says in this latest piece from SNWA. Introducing “framing and normative messaging” is the key, the Professor said. I am certain Jo can destroy this crap piece at SNWA better than I can.
72
Wow, 2 thumbs down already. Lew and UWA friends?
21
I reckon the 1910 cutoff date is only an administrative convenience, nothing technical to do with Stevenson screens or calibration, data quality, etc. The Commonwealth agency replaced the separate state agencies in 1908 and, like any bureaucracy, likely took a couple of years to establish a common format of data collection paperwork to replace the separate state forms. And like many bureaucracies, they haven’t gotten around to compiling the earlier data in a common format.
Note – This is a guess based on other research of material that passed from states to commonwealth, such as naturalisation and immigration. Someone who has researched the archives, both data and internal administrative memos and instructions, would be able to verify or dispute it.
31
Gary
I would be very surprised if the explanation was so innocent.
The maximum temperature recorded in Australia of 52 degrees C was recorded in the 1890’s
22
The reason today for non-inclusion might not be so innocent, but that doesn’t apply to data compilations done before (say) the 1980s. Did BOM include pre-1910 data before talk of climate change then remove it more recently?
42
Trust me, it’s been significantly hotter than that in Australia. Try at least 56C.
52
“And like many bureaucracies, they haven’t gotten around to compiling the earlier data in a common format.”
Seeing old data as valuable would be what makes Jennifer Marohasy by contrast serious and the bureaucracy not.
52
Great article, but ‘lack of interest’ not ‘disinterest’.
51
We can be sure of one thing: these older records will support the warmist meme.
Indeed, it’s all so predictable. If you start with N sites and each decade 50% don’t fit the warmist meme, then each decade 50% more sites disappear from the record. Otherwise, you have to include sites that don’t support your required warming and so you get what is known as “the pause”.
But it’s like one of those old films with the rooms with spikes on either wall closing in slowly. As each year passes, they have less and less room to fiddle the data and less and less sites that fit …
112
But they won’t need many more years, before the required “international response to the greatest threat of our time”, has morphed into global communism, administered from New York and Brussels.
122
Thats why they keep saying “this is the last chance”, they know their wiggle room has ran out. They’re playing a game of keep the people scared/ignorant.
I do wish somebody or something would happen to nullify all the hype from the last 10 years. A cooling trend would do it, or somebody clued up in real science establishment who had some weight to throw around.
82
Refreke,
The big push is on if they can get a global consensus by the time the cooling global commences they will claim the credit – which explains the push to homogenise and trend up by .001 degrees to make each succeeding year the hottest evvaaa – but they are running out of upwards trend and the historical data has already been massaged into jelly.
This year will be no resord breaker Jan and Feb in the Southern Tablelands has been up to ten degrees cooler than averages for the same time last year.
42
“international response to the greatest threat of our time”
Can we expect (predict?) that when enough countries have signed up to rule by the UN, then suddenly scientists will discover the climate hasn’t been changing nearly as much as was thought.
22
The whole World should read Atlas Shrugged, then they would see things as they really are.
32
Notice in that old photograph how all of the Stevenson screens have simple wooden bases.
Now Google images for “BOM Stevenson Screen” and see just how many of these come up with a heavy steel base that would be too hot to touch on a hot day. We all know that hot air rises, so what influence does this have on the recorded temperatures?
Even the BOM website displays such a screen which it describes as a “site with good exposure“: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/cdo/about/sites.shtml
152
Yes Backslider. I have wondered if any of the following could be true.
Is that steel post connected to a steel plate inside to help the solar heated post convect around inside the box?
Also does the metal post during the night help to conduct warmth up from the post ground depth.
Does the modern screen also let more reflected light in from underneath?
It would be great if someone had photos.
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1973307
92
A very warm to hot steel substructure under a screen would most likely extend the higher temperatures of the middle of the day well into the evenings as the steel substructure radiated it’s heat away as the evening air cooled particularly in calm wind conditions.
In calm conditions such as in the evenings, the heated air rising from the cooling steel substructure could make a significant difference to the recorded temperature within the screen.
More so with an electronic MMTS system which responds in seconds to increases or cooling of temperatures whereas the LIG type thermometers take some tens of seconds to stabilise with any changes in temperature.
A lot of what we are seeing in suposedly higher peak temperatures could be due to the fast response characteristic of the electronic MMTS temperature recording sensors.
A lot of today’s automated weather data collectors are now on airfields and close to black topped sealed runways which are bloody hot even in just very warm conditions. A zoom in on Horsham’s airfield in western Victoria on Google Earth, the airfield is situated about 5 kilometres NW of the city, you can see the location of the BOM station at the windsock and black topped ground signal circle which is about 50 metres from the junction of the two sealed runways.
Now standing on a sealed runway in 30C plus and rapidly increasing temperatures, sometimes going on towards 36C on up while waiting for convective activity to begin so we can launch the competition glider fleet , those above the sealed runway air temperatures can reach close to 50C when the BOM’s recorded temperatures get to the 40C plus mark.
In those fortunately irregular 40 C plus occasions down here in SE Australia, it becomes a man killer out there for the glider competition ground / launch crews on those black topped runways.
As they say you don’t have to be crazy to go gliding in that heat. You just have to be mad!.
As thermals pass through across the sealed strip we can often feel a very rapid change of a couple of degrees in temperature for perhaps no more than some seconds between the warmer air of the passing thermal, the convective rising column of air that gliders use to soar, and the “cooler” air of the “normal” surrounds.
In situations like Horsham’s BOM station, a short hot pulse of heated air, a thermal in fact, coming through from the sealed adjacent runways could very easily create a spike of a degree or so in the temperature recordings when a fast respone MMTS electronic sensor is being used.
This short fast spike recorded by the fast response of the MMTS will then become the current highest recorded temperature and be reported as such.
Such a fast rising and falling spike in temperature would never be recorded by the much slower responses of the older LIG thermometers.
So consequently we may be seeing supposedly higher temperatures recorded by the BOM stations for no other reason that the modern electronic MMTS sensors respond much faster to very short lived spikes in temperature from quite small transient patches of very warm air passing over the fast response electronic sensors.
Similar few second long temperature spikes would never have been recorded by the older LIG thermometers.
62
A self professed meteorologist tried to explain to me that the electronic thermometers “average” the temperature over several minutes, so according to him no such spike in the record would occur.
Now, I think that temperature rises of much more than one degree would occur (I have felt them) and even if the readings were averaged, they would still be noticeably higher.
42
It depends, not on the resolution of the sensor, but on the clauses in the software specs that define how to decide whether a spike is possibly a momentary meaningless aberration. For instance, has something else on the same circuit just switched on or off and caused a spike in the voltage supply. Has someone physically bumped the equipment when an inspection door was opened or shut. Averaged over several minutes doesn’t sound right. More likely it’s in quiescent low current state and wakes up on a “several minutes” cycle to take readings for a couple of hundredths of a second. That’s a common practice to extend the working life of a battery charge.
41
If two different measurement devices are used, and one is more accurate than the other, you get what is referred to as a “precision anomaly”. If both measurements are taken at the same time, then you obviously use the reading from the more precise device, and discard the other one.
However, if they are separated in time, and you wish to compare readings, then you need to restate the more precise reading, as a range of values determined by the tolerance of the less precise device. Any range overlap is taken to mean that the time differentiated readings from both devices, are essentially the same value.
I don’t know if this concept is part of the BOM adjustment methodology, but if it is not, then they may well be lying by omission.
62
Backslider
Its a while since I have looked at it but the Horsham station has a local output screen in the Aero club rooms which I wander over to have a look at sometimes.
As well as temperatures there are the usual current barometric pressure, an essential for setting of pre flight aircraft altimeters, humidity, precipitation and wind speed numbers and direction.
The wind speed number has three or four outputs if I remember correctly but will have to check.
They are current wind speed every minute, the most recent gust velocity, the highest gust velocity within some recent period and the running average of the wind velocity over the last ten minute recording interval.
Looking at today’s BOM’s Latest Weather Observations for Victoria the running average wind speed is not labelled a such although it is on our local station screen.
I suspect that it is the 10 minute running average for wind that is listed under “wind” in the BOM observations as separate gust strength and directions and specific timing are listed on the RH side of the Observations list.
As for temperatures being averaged there are at least four temperatures listed in the observations.
The first may well be be an averaged temperature which even the BOM seems to not give much respect to as they list two temperature readings including a “feels like” temperature and then go on to list the low and high point temperatures at very specific times, obviously now a capability with the fast reacting MMST temperature recorders and something that could not be done with the slower reacting LIG thermometers
I suspect your self professed meteorologist is getting confused between the “10 minute average running wind velocity” and the temperature read outs particularly if he / she is referring to maximum / minimum temperatures
42
I’m a bit late here (been out working in the heat) but concerning metal structures under Stevenson screens yes the thermal conductivity would make a difference in temperature readings however very subjective to the materials used, in this link to Thermal Conductivity of some common materials and gases they give a good example near the bottom of the page comparing the heat transfer of a stainless steel and aluminum pot, also compare the W/(m k) of 1% carbon steel and the woods listed, the differences don’t surprise me as from metal work experience I can attest to just how fast certain metals can heat up and cool down, got a few scars to jolt the memory too. 🙁
31
You too! 🙂
31
Yes ROM, a trade qualified Boilermaker here, but concerning the thermal conductivity list I linked you would think the timber used in the screen (Beech in Siliggy’s link) have a certain level of insulating properties, we need an experienced engineer or mathematician to do the math on the heat transfer of different combinations of screen structures, honestly it’s a bit over my head but I’ll have a go if anyone else doesn’t.
Other factors would be the suns position in relation to direct UV/sunlight on the materials, this could be a large factor in direct thermal radiation vs a screen shading effect during the yearly southern hemisphere solar cycle, also a simple factor of white paint covering steel gives a good metallic albedo again altering the W/(m k) input.
31
Yonniestone;
The temperature effects of the various and different composition paints on Stevenson Screen temperatures was researched by Anthony Watts, who asked the same question, way back in 2007.
In fact Anthony’s reporting of the differences that different paints made to the screen temperatures was how WUWT got started.
A while since I have read Anthony’s report but the only comparable temperature comparison from the older measurements via the Stevenson screens was for the screens to be white washed, just the same as the original screens.
Any other paint job on the screens left sometimes quite large differences in recorded temperatures even though the screens were identical in structure, just the paint job being different.
Anthony reported all this on a new blog he had created for the purpose and from there it just grew until today WUWT is the warts and all climate science reporting gorilla of the internet.
Anthony Watts of course is a trained meteorologist plus being a former weather man on some US TV stations plus having his own weather analysis company which Chris “Turkey” Turney of the Antarctic “Ship of Fools” had to turn to for the latest Antarctic weather report while the various national Antarctic organisations had to abandon their research projects to extract the imbecilic Turney and co from their not very serious predicament.
***************
WUWT; January 14, 2008
A typical day in the Stevenson Screen Paint Test
52
Great link ROM, thanks so much this completely slipped my mind, I thought of the materials thermal conductivity from making a few wood heaters/stoves etc.. over the years and know some basic ignition points of various metals, I know a very experienced stainless steel fabricator specializing in cooking/kitchen products so I might get some good information about heating/cooling properties there.
Stuff it I’ll have a go at the math on various designs myself and compare the differences, this’ll be a long weekend methinks.
20
Well, I certainly know from 13 years mining in Lightning Ridge that if I were outside working on one of my trucks during summer I could not pick up any of my tools without wearing gloves…..except of course for my wooden mallet.
00
An example of the high quality of Meteorological data for Adelaide in 1856 from sir Charles Todd.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49755075?zoomLevel=5
61
Here is the year 1856 from two sources so the typos can be found.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49745791?
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/161256308?
There were also records from Mt Lofty.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/49750261?
61
The BOM is probably under instruction from the Green Blob not to rock the boat by publishing inconvenient historical data.
I bet that didn’t require much persuasion.
This article begs the question, “How much of the BOM’s bloated bureaucracy is dedicated to keeping the myth of imminent Thermageddon alive and well?”
112
I have been wondering for a while if there were records kept of the construction specs of these standardized Stevenson Screens.
It would be a useful excercise to recreate a few & run parallel tests in several locii to put the disregarded data in some error spread & bring as much in to the
historical data set objectively.
Further, as there are a few qouted records where the T Max was consistently at 114’F, was this a case of the maximum graduation on a government issued thermometer?
Do government supply tenders exist with specs in the historical record?
31
I have seen specifications for them on the web. They use a particular type of wood and the slats and spacings are all specified, but if you’re going to create one; the paint is the main driver of temperature inside the screens. So pay particular attention to the paint.
41
Pattoh see my link at #8.1 above. It takes you to a plan.
Lance Pidgeon (Siliggy).
11
Ahoy Sliggy
I just went up to my local BoM Station ( Cobar) & checked out the Stevenson Screen on site.
It was supported on a galvanized steel post as described above. The post supported a rectangular ( open ) base which held the louvred box.
The surrounding ground while not grassed to lawn standards was about 50% covered.
Photos available.
10
Parallel measurements have been done in some places as reported by Pierre Gosselin earlier this year. Quoting 44-year veteran meteorologist Klaus Hager:
52
Pattoh
You might be interested in this , there’s an article at WUWT from 2008 on the temperature variance re: whitewash vs latex paint on Stevenson screens . The newer latex paints read 0.8 degrees F higher at TMax 95 degrees vs whitewashed ones and 0.3 of a degree cooler at a Tmin 55.38 .
10
Doh ! ROM’s already posted that above ( note to self read all the comments , don’t skim )
20
More and more evidence of global warming culprits doing all they can to torture the real data, ignore the real data, and degrade data to show artificial global warming. If this were stock market firms and advisors, banks, tax accountants, etc. they would all be in jail. It as if the orders and precise directions to climate scientists are coming from the Pravda of the 50’s.
62
Or from Obama in 2015.
61
Is a shade temperature on a wooden wall about at eye level much different to that in a screen? Everybody knows the hottest time of day is around 3 pm. unless you have an early sea breeze.
20
Some weather-folk don’t want to know,
What the Stevenson screens might show,
As today’s climate spin,
Just doesn’t fit in,
With warming not that long ago.
152
Say what you like about Wraggle and Todd, but they just do not cut the mustard compared with today’s super heros who can sit at a keyboard and monitor for days on end and produce fair dinkum tripe.
62
Disinterest means no vested interest ie unbiased.
Uninterested means a lack of curiosity.
I would say that BoM are uninterested in seeing inconvenient evidence because they have a serious interest in keeping the hoax alive.
52
‘the BOM could even recreate some historic sites and do modern side-by-side comparisons’
Yeah, what harm. The BoM hierarchy is a disgrace and should be routed, but this is unlikely to happen until global cooling sets in.
42
Will these f[snip]sters be held accountable for the high cost to the nations (to all nations) caused by their lack of honesty?
[There fixed that for you. The “F” word is prohibited here unless you are an attorney ready to defend all of us and for free.] ED
12
The BOM are right about one thing: it’s going to get warmer across Australia in the future.
It may be wetter, it may be dryer, it may stay the same.
But they are extremely premature with their predictions.
It will be in the far distant future.
About 50MY in the future.
By then, the island/continent will be straddling the equator, or thereabouts.
Plate tectonics just can’t be beat.
32
What about an Global Movement Tax, would that slow the movements? [wink]
31
… depends on which movements are referenced.
A campaign could be initiated to put rowlocks around the western and eastern coasts to mount oars to move everything backwards. Think of the CO2 which could be generated!
21
The map quotes 1906-1908 for Victoria – yet Melbourne had the Stevenson screen before 1880.
http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=604
And at the 1881 Intercolonial Met Conference Ellery is quoted as saying “In a Stevensons stand made for one of the country stations…”.
32
As we are discussing temperatures, severe weather literally this time, I find it truly remarkable or then maybe not, that the media as in the ABC and BBC web sites have not got a single item I can find on the what is likely to soon be the worst snow storm / blizzard in the USA’s NE since the The Great Snow of 1717
From the NoTricksZone blog;
“The New England Glacier”! Dr. Ryan Maue: “Arctic Cold On Lockdown…Brutal”. Global Warming Gets Obliterated! Great Lakes “100% Frozen Over Next Week”!
&
Ryan Maue; Weatherbell
32
Have a look over Piers Corbyn’s WeatherAction website. You might find it interesting.
11
Oodnadatta has the record temp of 50.7c. The BOM wants to ignore that Mildura equalled that in January 1906. Mildura was then a very young town with a large financial backing for the irrigation scheme and I assume would have had the best of all things including nasty Stevenson screens.
42
Aunty on the ropes.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/02/19/data-models-and-the-australian-abc/
42
Nice pickup from El Gordo and well worth the visit to the provided link.
Is this a classic example of cherry pick and fudge?
The subject involves Data models …ABC…Goyder Institute and the message of woe involves:
‘Climate change will halve inflow to SA’s biggest reservoir.’
Could someone with expertise and/or experience in this rainfall measuring area do a “Pauline” and please explain why this government funded body:
-Is funded.
-Chooses to use 23 of the 93 rainfall records -only.
-Begins its measurement at 1970 when records for annual SA rainfall go back to 1900.
Does the ABC fact check unit actually fact check
the ABC?
–
31
re:
From the BOM:
Colonial and Federation period data
Pre-1910 temperature data
While the national analysis of temperature begins in 1910, the Bureau of Meteorology also holds temperature data from earlier periods.
Working with this early data is challenging, due to the relative sparseness of temperature records across the country, and the large range of unstandardised instrumentation and observing practices.
The Bureau reports temperatures back to the late 19th century for those sites with long histories and good data. This includes capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart.
More significantly, the Bureau is interested in reconstructing regional temperatures from the colonial period.
Recently, the Bureau collaborated with researchers from the University of Melbourne on the South Eastern Australian Recent Climate History (SEARCH) project.
This Australian Research Council project—which also involved the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, Melbourne Water, the UK MetOffice, Monash University, The National Library of Australia and the State Libraries of NSW and Victoria—recently won the 2014 University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.
Not hard to find!
211
I didn’t know a Eureka Prize was a climate forcing.
Let me know when they do a massive press release and 20 page gloss report about extremes in Australian weather in the 1800s.
133
Would that be for the benefit for time lords?
01
You need to talk to the Berkley guys. They have the average temperature for the area around my town going back to almost 1840 with only a &plumn;1°C error. No temperature recording at the town until 1888. Nothing within at least 200 km until 1868 but the data is not even good enough for monthly averages according to BOM until 1907.
The closest data that goes back to 1840 is 400 km away but BOM only use data back to 1887.
30
The RF of the Eureka prize probably equates to that of the Sun in relation to impact on global warming. A big fat zero.
111
SF,
You say:
“The RF of the Eureka prize probably equates to that of the Sun in relation to impact on global warming. A big fat zero”
I ask:
If the sun has no impact on global warming what produces the heat that allegedly causes the greenhouse affect?
91
Since the seventies TSI and temperatures are trending in opposite directions; so there must be another cause. Can you postulate?
01
SF,
Certainly, TSI data is not being homogenised because warmists ignore it as a factor in global warming because when the TSI trended down in the 70’s, and (as all your peer reviewed papers suggest) global temeperatures ‘paused’ in the 90’s then the theorised lag between TSI and temperature can’t be ignored.
01
SF,
Oh yeah, that’s SNAP I think.
00
SF,
FYI:
This is not a critisism on you personally, but it does make a game much more enjoyable if the game isn’t held up while the other player continually refers back to their coach for advice before each move.
Okay, it was a critisism on you personally… but you can learn to think independently again.
Look, you are already taking the first steps to recovery by seeking out the truth on open and transparent sites that don’t require registration and don’t enforce a biased agenda under threat of censorship.
01
the game isn’t held up while the other player continually refers back to their coach for advice before each move.
Not my choice but that of the site moderators.
01
Just keep moving towards the light, sillyfilly.
00
SF,
Green thumbs don’t count when you tick your own.
32
SF,
“Pre-1910 temperature data While the national analysis of temperature begins in 1910, the Bureau of Meteorology also holds temperature data from earlier periods.Working with this early data is challenging, due to the relative sparseness of temperature records across the country, and the large range of unstandardised instrumentation and observing practices.”
While you allude to all this, did you actually look at the raw data from the 1800’s to verify the BOM’s claim of ‘sparseness’ or its claim of “unstandardised instrumentation and observing practices”.
Really, SF, even unstandardised readings from dedicated people in the 1800’s is far more accurate than the homogenised data of a station 300 miles from the preferred location.
“The Bureau reports temperatures back to the late 19th century for those sites with long histories and good data. This includes capital cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart.”
Good old BOM – sticking to those sites reliably guaranteed to benefit most from the UHI.
63
pardon me for some o/t…but there’s some hilarious stuff online today. e.g.
18 Feb: Reuters: EU introduces new rules to make cooking greener
The sale of energy wasting ovens and cooking hobs will be banned across the European Union after the latest set of rules to make household appliances more efficient takes effect from Friday.
The European Commission said on Wednesday getting rid of inefficient cooking appliances would cut average consumer energy bills by around 50 euros ($57) per year, while the cumulative savings from the rules across the bloc would run into billions.
The policy, known as ecodesign, chimes with the EU goals of reducing fossil fuel imports and greenhouse gas emissions.
(LOL) Industry bodies representing European appliance makers, such as Bosch Siemens Haushaltsgeraete [BSHBS.UL] and Philips, were involved in consultations and have welcomed the new rules, which will apply to new ovens and hobs…
But critics have portrayed ecodesign as another example of Brussels bureaucracy. Last year, rules limiting the power of new vacuum cleaners were whipped up into a media frenzy dubbed Hoovergate…
***The Commission said the difference for consumers in terms of performance would be “invisible”…
“These rules mean that design standards will go up, and low quality Asian imports that cannot stand the heat will have to leave the kitchen,” Stamatis Sivitos, campaigner for the lobby group Coolproducts Campaign, said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/18/us-eu-energy-ovens-idUSKBN0LM1KW20150218
32
EU protectionist policies masquerading as so-called environmental safeguards.
As with Turnbull’s light globe legislation, the issue isn’t better efficiency etc. but consumer freedom of choice.
21
Yes, they’ve ordered that coffee percolators shut off after 5 minutes. This will save electricity as everybody in the EU realises that the second cup tastes better when it is cold. Not likely that they would make another run to get a hot cup is there?
Of course EU manufactured coffee percolators (if any are still made) won’t be popular in export markets. And what happens if chinese manufacturers refuse to make a special model for the EU? Customs officials ordered to brew up on each imported unit?
21
two 19 Feb pieces from Harvard –
19 Feb: Harvard Crimson: Samuel E. Stone: $800,000 in Grants Awarded to Climate Change Projects
As part of the Climate Change Solutions Fund’s inaugural round of awarding, seven Harvard affiliates collectively received roughly $800,000 in grants for projects focusing on climate change last week.
The fund, which University President Drew G. Faust created last April, seeks to support research about “long-term global climate change—as well as immediate threats to the natural environment,” according to a University press release…
“Harvard has the capacity and responsibility to address the challenge of climate change boldly and with conviction,” the statement said…
The fund will accept online proposals later this year for its second round of grants. The value of the fund, according to the press release, was $20 million at the time of its creation.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/2/19/climate-fund-awards-grants/
19 Feb: Harvard Crimson: After Snow Days, College Asks Student Groups To Prioritize School
By Noah J. Delwiche and Ivan B. K. Levingston
As faculty scrambled to rearrange schedules after Harvard canceled three days of classes in as many weeks when historic snowfall hit New England, the Office of Student Life reached out to student groups requesting that they alter their schedules so their members prioritize academics over extracurricular commitments…
Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67, for his part, said the number of snow days this early in the semester makes it difficult for students to stay focused on their academics…
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/2/19/snow-days-student-activities/
32
17 Feb: RTCC: Sophie Yeo: Catholics across globe to hold 40-day fast for the climate
Catholics in 45 countries hope to send a climate message through their Lenten chain of fasting
A chain of one-day fasts will sweep across 45 countries between Ash Wednesday and Easter, beginning in Peru and ending up in Botswana.
“We think it is very important that Catholics understand climate change and the importance of the UN negotiations in Paris,” said ***Ciara Shannon, who is coordinating a Hong Kong fast on 23 February.
The action has been organised by the Global Catholic Climate Movement…
It has also become a theme for climate activists, since Filipino climate commissioner Yeb Sano initiated a two week fast during the UN’s 2013 climate talks in Lima in protest at the lack of progress.
Campaigners are also holding a 365-day fasting chain, which began on the 1 December 2014, and will run until the 30 December 2015, when the UN’s climate negotiations kick off in Paris…
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/02/17/catholics-across-globe-to-hold-40-day-fast-for-the-climate/
***holy fast! here’s Ciara:
CleanBizAsia: Ciara Shannon, Eden Ventures
Ciara Shannon heads up Eden Ventures advising business on sustainability and climate change strategy, policy and risk management issues. Eden Ventures also does bespoke sustainability leadership training, stakeholder engagement / envisioning and communications. Prior to this, she initiated and ran the Climate Change Business Forum for the Business Environment Council and for her work in motivating business on climate change issues she was named an Outstanding Earth Champion. Hong Kong born, Ciara has worked for more than 12 years on environmental sustainability working with government, business, NGOs and academia, as well as six years on the ‘social’ side of sustainability via working with various development charities.
http://www.cleanbiz.asia/source/ciara-shannon-eden-ventures
32
AUSTRALIA joined! really?
Australia joins Global Catholic Climate Movement
http://mediablog.catholic.org.au/?p=3627
should the Pope become a Catholic?
18 Feb: RTCC: Ed King: Should journalists become climate change campaigners?
Global warming is a threat, but subject matter and lack of regular climatic events makes covering it a challenge
That was the provocative title of a debate held in London last week, hosted by Jon Snow, anchor of the UK Channel 4 news, and a purveyor of colourful socks and ties. I say provocative because journalists are not – typically – expected to be campaigners…
The views from the panel were an intriguing mix. Here’s Tom Chivers, one-time Daily Telegraph hack now working for Buzzfeed:
“The word campaigning is a tricky one. This is a complex and difficult subject. You yourself are not an expert but you’re taking the words of experts and in a complex subject… and full of uncertainty. And with climate change you’re talking about something which has the added problems of an existential threat to humanity.”…
Tom Clarke, science editor at Channel 4 news and one time entomologist: “It is the greatest threat facing humanity – I think you could look at it that way – it’s a big story. Yet because it hasn’t changed much in the past 10 years, there’s not much new to say about it. That’s one of the challenges I face as a news reporter.”…
Guardian columnist Zoe Williams: “Professional neutrality is pandering to the status quo. If you let that stand for journalism you’re making a much bigger ideological mistake. …
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/02/18/should-journalists-become-climate-change-campaigners/
22
Hell — there’s a link between Climate Change™ and everything.
52
Thank you Jo, correct as usual.
62
Ciara Shannon and the Global Catholic Climate Movement can kiss My Irish Catholic ancestors hairy arses . I’m going to make a point of overindulging in barbequed choice cuts of some sort of mammal on the day .
40
Let’s have a good party when it’s Australia’s turn !
30
Last Tango in Paris?
41
With that thought, I’m just worried about who’s getting buttered up! 🙁
30
re;
To be fair no blame was attributed to the engineers in the interim report until this report by noted lefty Hedley Thomas in the Oz: What the floods inquiry didn’t hear: Wivenhoe ‘breached the manual’.
The Commission reconvened to consider the new evidence. Three engineers have been referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
And your quote from Flannery is not correct (the transcript courtesy ABC Landline)
SALLY SARA: What will it mean for Australian farmers if the predictions of climate change are correct and little is done to stop it? What will that mean for a farmer?
PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: We’re already seeing the initial impacts and they include a decline in the winter rainfall zone across southern Australia, which is clearly an impact of climate change, but also a decrease in run-off. Although we’re getting say a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall in some areas of Australia, that’s translating to a 60 per cent decrease in the run-off into the dams and rivers. That’s because the soil is warmer because of global warming and the plants are under more stress and therefore using more moisture. So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems, and that’s a real worry for the people in the bush. If that trend continues then I think we’re going to have serious problems, particularly for irrigation.
00
“Climate Change.” The Greenies version of Creation Science.
11
Jo, you and your readers are invited to visit my new blog on reconstructing past climates from instrumental data, initially mainly Australia:
https://climanrecon.wordpress.com/
Its still a work in progress, hope to have several more posts shortly.
11
Jo,
Are you sure that picture is actually Brisbane. I lived there for thirty years, but I don’t remember a building like that in the background. The weather bureau used to be in a building on Wickham Terrace that looked like the structure of a windmill.
Regards.
00