The volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 led to a significant cooling of the tropical ocean surface due to the cloud belt formed by the eruption. This cooling resulted in a temporary reduction in the rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Despite ongoing human CO2 emissions and natural […]
When it comes to extreme weather, cyclones are top of my list. The most extreme cyclone to hit Queensland, Tropical Cyclone Mahina, was arguably the world’s most intense with a central pressure recorded at 880 hectopascals, a 12-metre storm surge, and 300 kilometre per hour winds. It was named, by Queensland government meteorologist, Clement Wragge. […]
It could be that all the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – the steady increase year on year, reported since 1958, despite all the airplanes grounded through covid it kept on increasing – is a consequence of the oceans breathing out a bit more, and nothing to do with you and me. The amount […]
In his inauguration speech, on becoming the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump stated very categorically that there are only two genders: male and female. In making this statement, he seemed to have no problems offending the transgender community. Trump made no such bold, or counter cultural pronouncements about climate change. He avoided […]
Cinders are the black pieces that are left after something such as wood or coal has burned away. People can also burn. There was a terrible bushfire in southeastern Australia on 6 February 1851. Quoting from the National Museum of Australia: In the hills west of Geelong, a man helping fight a fire disappeared. His […]
The debate between the Coalition and the Labor Party has long had an ethereal dimension. They are in furious contention, though both are promoting a wind/solar future. Labor says it wants to see wind, solar, hydro, and batteries supplying all but 2 per cent of the market, while the Coalition – as per Frontier Economics […]
Southeast Queensland has experienced heavy rain with storms dumping more than 80mm in some parts, causing widespread flash flooding. I am sorry for everyone who has been flooded. It can be devastating – flooding and losing things. Totals of 80 mm, 86 mm and 70 mm in just a few hours are being quoted in […]
"Climate change has increasingly become an issue where parties are being held accountable because of assumed causation by human greenhouse gas emissions. At the international level, the United Nations COP21 led to the Paris agreement in 2015, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, adopted by 196 parties. Subsequently in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow, […]
One of my interests is in understanding how and why the climate is so stable, for sure it has been over the last several thousand years. Where I live, on the Tropic of Capricorn, daily atmospheric temperatures may fluctuate by 20C, yet the seasonal variation in sea temperatures is less than 10C and if there […]
