Some coral reef fish may be better prepared to cope with rising carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans — thanks to their parents. Encouraging new findings show that some fish may be less vulnerable to high CO2 and an acidifying ocean than previously feared.
Posted: 03 Jul 2012 10:41 AM PDT
Some coral reef fish may be better prepared to cope with rising carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans — thanks to their parents. Encouraging new findings show that some fish may be less vulnerable to high CO2 and an acidifying ocean than previously feared.
Cyanobacterial populations, primitive aquatic microorganisms, are frequently-encountered in water bodies especially in summer. Their numbers have increased in recent decades and scientists suspect that global warming may be behind the phenomenon, and are particularly concerned by the increase in toxic cyanobacteria, which affect human and animal health.
A favorite theme of science fiction is “the portal” — an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed. It turns out that they do, sort of, and a researcher has figured out how to find them.
Researchers use Doppler tracking to see, for the first time, loops of 1,800,000-degree Fahrenheit plasma flowing up from the sun at more than 12 miles per second.
1 new result for ACECRC’s Report Card: Sea Level Rise 2012
Coastal flooding may rise 2000-fold The Australian Co-author of Report Card: Sea Level Rise 2012 and ACECRC sea–level rise expert John Hunter said there would be an average 300-fold increase in coastal flooding nationally by 2100. “This means that a (coastal flooding) event which presently only … See all stories on this topic »
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As Oliver Hardy may have said “THIS IS ANOTHER FINE MESS YOU HAVE GOT US INTO” The tunnel at Glenbrook had to be enlarged some years back to accommodate Double Deck Trains. Sections of brickworks had to chipped out and concrete pumped in under high pressure. This is penny pinching and naive thinking at its worst.
Tunnel too small could make rail link a bridge too far
Skywalk is Sydney’s Highest Outdoor Experience. Buy Your Tickets Now!
No future for the double-deck inter-urban trains? … Transport planners fear that a commitment to smaller tunnels will lock off transport options. Photo: Simon Alenka
WHEN the tunnels for the North West Rail Link are finished in just over four years, they will have an internal diameter of about 6.1 metres, too small for the type of trains used in Sydney.
The Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, said the decision to bore smaller tunnels for Sydney’s biggest rail project in decades was not about saving money.
But the commitment to smaller tunnels has sparked fears among some transport planners that, for the sake of a few centimetres on either side, the government could be forever locking off transport options.
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This is because the size of the tunnels may not affect only the type of trains that use the North West Rail Link.
The government has also committed to connecting the north west link with another rail crossing for Sydney Harbour, so it will also have implications for the types of trains that use that crossing.
One concern is that it could limit the harbour crossing’s ability to accommodate double-deck inter-urban trains, or even high-speed trains if they were introduced on the east coast.
The project director for the North West Rail Link, Rodd Staples, told an industry briefing last week the tunnels would have an internal diameter of 6.1 metres. This is about 40 centimetres smaller than tunnels bored for the Epping to Chatswood link.
It is also too small to fit a Sydney double-deck train and its overhead wiring, according to the government and several rail industry sources.
The trains are about 4.4 metres high and are powered by overhead wiring, which on RailCorp’s guidelines, has to sit more than six metres above the rail.
One consultant who attended last week’s industry briefing said if the North West Rail Link was built only for single-deck trains, it would be ”almost inevitable” the second rail crossing would be limited to similar trains.
Another planner said it was crucial the second crossing allow express services from the central coast or Newcastle, using double-deck trains, or high-speed rail.
”The basic question is are we thinking about the Sydney basin, or also areas beyond the Sydney basin? If we are going to be spending so much money [on another harbour crossing] we should be,” the planner said.
On the government’s timeline, the contract for tunnelling the twin 15.5 kilometres underground for the North West Rail Link will be signed in about a year. This will allow the four tunnel boring machines it is ordering to be in the ground by the middle of 2014.
The chief executive of industry group the Tourism and Transport Forum, John Lee, said it was conventional to shape the size of a tunnel around the type of train to run through it.
”I think it has been a smart decision,” Mr Lee said.
Ms Berejiklian said: “There will be some cost savings in building smaller tunnels, however, there will also be some additional costs like the conversion of the Epping to Chatswood rail tunnels to this new rapid transit system.”
“The second harbour crossing will be part of the rapid transit network. Fast, high-capacity, single-deck trains means we can move more people every hour than regular double-deck services.”
However, the Herald’s transport inquiry of 2009 and 2010 argued against this analysis and found that double-deck trains could carry more people.
THOUSANDS of coastal property owners have been given relief after their council dumped a controversial clause on planning documents which labelled their homes as in danger of sea level rise.
Residents said the message devalued properties and sent insurance premiums up.
Gosford City Council last night moved to withdraw a message on planning certificates saying: “This land has been identified as being potentially affected by sea level rise of up to 0.9m by the year 2100”.
The message triggered more than 500 phone calls and letters from residents concerned about the “lack of consultation, doubt regarding the credibility of the science that supports the sea level rise projections, the effect the encoding may have on property prices and, more recently, the effect on insurance premiums”, council documents said.
ALP Councillor Jim Macfadyen said there were 56 NSW councils affected but only 16 had put the message on planning certificates.
“There has been a lot of concern and angst, of property prices falling because of that certificate, concern of insurance companies increasing their premiums, all for a report that looks at an event that may happen in 100 years,” he said.
“It’s fairly tough that we did that, I think common sense prevailed last night.”
Mr Macfadyen called on the NSW Government to issue clear regulations for all affected councils.
“We withdrew them until such time as the State Government ensures the message is consistent across NSW,” he said.
Coastal Residents Incorporated secretary Pat Aitken said home owners had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the values of their homes, and insurance premiums had risen up to 1000 per cent.
He said he was shocked at suggestions the decline in property values was because of the GFC and had nothing to do with sea level rise policies.
“The message had a devastating impact on their wellbeing and their livelihoods, people are faced with crystallised losses,” he said.
“You can’t bury your head in the sand, there has to be away through it. We haven’t seen a real effort to consult and engage. The NSW Government must intervene. There is no consistency in any council that has done this – but there is no way in the world they would get away with it in Woollahra.”
A report by a council officer said the council could face court action by landholders who believed the loss of value was directly because of the sea level rise warning.
The same report also said that the council could find itself before the court if it removed the information, saying there is “a risk that a person may instigate action if that person considers that council was aware of a matter and did not disclose that information to the person’s detriment”.
Four councillors voted to remove the S.149(5) Planning Certificate Message relating to sea level rise until the NSW Government regulates that all councils in NSW to provide a clear direction to property owners affected.
Two voted against the move, and four councillors did not attend the meeting.
The NSW government announced a 1.2 per cent annual labour expense cap in its June state budget but now says this could mean axing more than 10,000 jobs.
The government announced a 1.2 per cent annual labour expense cap as part of its June budget, saying this could result in the loss of 10,000 public sector jobs over the next four years.
The foreshadowed cuts came on top of 5000 redundancies announced in September.
Unions are now condemning the uncertainty around redundancies after a leaked Treasury note indicated there may be no upper limit to the cuts.
The internal email from a NSW Treasury official, dated June 12, states ‘there is no floor or cap on redundancies’.
It also says the job losses announced in the budget were only an ‘indicative figure’, Fairfax reports.
Acting NSW Premier Andrew Stoner confirmed on Tuesday there were never any caps and no guarantees.
‘We deliberately didn’t put any number on public sector job cuts,’ he told reporters in Sydney.
‘It may not be anything like 10,000 jobs but neither is 10,000 a cap beyond which departments couldn’t go.
‘There’s no guarantees in this life.’
However, Mr Stoner said he hoped no more than 10,000 would be lost, with government departments working to save money in other ways.
‘That could include (cutting) overtime, it could include contractors, that could include temporary staff,’ Mr Stoner said.
The note sparked outrage from the Public Service Association (PSA).
‘We are concerned that there will be pressure from the government on government heads to fund the 1.2 per cent cut,’ assistant secretary Steve Turner told AAP.
It was hard to get information out of the government departments, Mr Turner said.
‘There is so little information flowing that the stress is just building.’
Opposition Leader John Robertson said the email exposed that frontline jobs were under threat.
‘This email confirms there are no caps on redundancies and there are no protections for frontline workers,’ Mr Robertson said.
‘That means paramedics, firefighters, child protection workers, teachers’ aids and physiotherapists are among the thousands of workers that could be sacked.
The government denied this, saying frontline jobs were quarantined from its cost cutting measures.
