Author: Neville

Sea level rise doubters don’t hold water
Feb. 27, 2013, 9:33 a.m.

LEAKY LOGIC: The writer says the sea level rise case put by Carl Stevenson (pictured) of Dora Creek is less than watertight. Picture: Paul Callaghan

LEAKY LOGIC: The writer says the sea level rise case put by Carl Stevenson (pictured) of Dora Creek is less than watertight. Picture: Paul Callaghan

ONCE again, we have misinformation from those who seek to deny the reality of climate change (“Policy tide set too high”, Lakes Mail, February 21).
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Cr Paxinos said “the science on global warming was divided”. What he did not say was that 97 per cent of climate scientists support the predictions of the IPCC.

Also, the claims put forward by the other 3 per cent have been shown time and again to be false.

The arguments put up by Mr Stevenson are also not valid (“Local pours water on sea benchmarks”, Lakes Mail, February 14). He quoted the small amount of sea rise due to melting of polar ice caps over the past 20 years to claim future predictions are wrong.

However, his calculations are wrong on two counts.

Firstly, the melting of polar ice is only a small part of the predicted sea level rise.

Most of the rise will come from the warming of the oceans. When water heats it expands and takes more room.

Secondly, his use of past figures to calculate a future one is not sound statistically. Trends and future effects need to be factored in.

As an example, take another set of figures. The global population grew from 1 billion in 1804 to 2 billion in 1927, a period of 123 years.
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Using this figure to calculate the future population, it would grow to 7 billion by the year 2542.

In fact, that figure of 7 billion was reached in 2011.

– John Moyse, Dora Creek
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Parties come clean on coal seam gas positions
28 Feb 2013 | Larissa Waters
Mining

The old parties have made it clear they support coal seam gas, by voting against the Australian Greens’ motion in the Senate to stop this new high-risk fossil-fuel industry.

“Despite a flurry of recent opposition to coal seam gas in urban marginal seats, today’s vote on my motion confirmed that the old parties are wedded to the mining industry and the Greens are the only party that cares about our land and our water and the communities that rely on them,” Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens mining spokesperson, said.

“How politically convenient for the old parties that new state rules in New South Wales only apply to urban areas, protecting western Sydney, where both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are so blatantly campaigning – but what about rural and regional areas?

“Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is trying to claim credit for the New South Wales Government’s pitiful coal seam gas restrictions, happily ignoring that they do nothing to protect rural land and communities.

“Minister Burke has approved every single coal seam gas project that has crossed his desk, including enormous gas fields across Queensland’s best farmland and most recently in New South Wales at Gloucester.

“Minister Burke is channelling AWU Secretary Paul Howes who last week called on the government to expand coal seam gas mining across Australia, risking our food security and jobs in agriculture and tourism.

“Australians are deeply concerned about the damaging and lasting effects of coal seam gas and are outraged by the attitude of the old parties. One brave protester had to endure being sprayed with capsicum spray on Tuesday at the hands of a New South Wales police officer.

“The Greens are the only party standing up to the big mining companies, on behalf of Australians that care about protecting our land and water for generations to come,” Senator Waters said.

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New Tool for Measuring Frozen Gas in Ocean Floor Sediments

Feb. 26, 2013 — A collaboration between the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the University of Southampton is to develop an instrument capable of simulating the high pressures and low temperatures needed to create hydrate in sediment samples.

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Dr Angus Best of NOC and Professors Tim Leighton and Paul White from the University of Southampton’s Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) have been awarded a grant of £0,8 million by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to investigate methods for assessing the volume of methane gas and gas hydrate locked in seafloor sediments.

Dr Best, who is leading the project, explained: “Greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, are trapped in sediments beneath the seafloor on continental shelves and slopes around the world. Currently, there are only very broad estimates of the amount of seafloor methane and hydrate.”

The team plan a series of experiments on a range of sediment types, such as sand and mud. They intend to map out the acoustic and electrical properties of differing amounts of free methane gas and frozen solid methane hydrate.

The laboratory-based approach adopted by the team will involve the development of a major new Acoustic Pulse Tube instrument at NOC. Using acoustic techniques and theories developed by the ISVR team, they aim to provide improved geophysical remote sensing capabilities for better quantification of seafloor gas and hydrate deposits in the ocean floor.

“Not much is known about the state of gas morphology — bubbles. Muddy sediments show crack-like bubbles, while sandy sediments show spherical bubbles. Only dedicated lab experiments can hope to unravel the complex interactions. By creating our own ‘cores’ of sediment material in a controlled environment where we know the concentrations of methane or carbon dioxide, we can create models to help us with in situ measurements on the seafloor.”

There is significant interest in sub-seafloor carbon-dioxide storage sites. Methane hydrates are a potential energy resource that could be exploited in future. They may also contribute to geo-hazards such as seafloor landslides — it is thought that earthquakes and the release of gas hydrates caused the largest-ever landslide, the Storegga Slide, around 8,000 years ago.

Professor Leighton said: “The three of us have collaborated in recent years in an experiment that used acoustics to take preliminary measurements of gas in the muddy sediments revealed at low tide. Those measurements, and the acoustic theory we developed to interpret the data, provided exactly the foundation we needed to undertake this critically important study that will be relevant to the seabed in somewhat deeper waters.

“As a greenhouse gas, methane is 20 times more potent per molecule than carbon dioxide. There is the potential for climate change to alter sea temperatures and cause more methane gas to be released from seabed hydrates into bubbles which reach the atmosphere. It is therefore vital that we have the tools to quantify and map the amount of methane that is down there.”

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Council merger fight rears again as new report highlights positives

Vikki Campion, Urban Affairs Reporter
The Daily Telegraph
February 27, 20134:11PM

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MAYORS have clashed over amalgamation in Sydney today, with some saying proposed mergers could create stronger governments, and others calling it “absolute rubbish” that would create burdened bureaucracies.

Liberal Waverley mayor Sally Betts told an Urban Taskforce forum today a new study investigating merging three eastern beaches councils revealed it would allow for real strategic capacity.

“After paying all our debts, bringing assets and infrastructure to satisfactory level, in ten years, the three councils would achieve a $400 million surplus,” she said.

“I believe that may tick all the boxes.”

Ms Betts said there is a danger in Sydney of being not able to deliver the Governments view of change and planning with a single Sydney council – but that Waverley had been in talks with it’s neighbours about sharing services.

“For the first time we are talking and sharing resources – we know that our councils can work together,” she said.

Labor-aligned Burwood mayor John Faker said amalgamation was not a solution to council reform, with his council delivering a large surplus but his neighbours delivering much smaller results.

“I’ve yet to see one council go broke. If you have two broke councils and put them together you get one larger broke council,” he said.

“The argument for amalgamation is absolute rubbish. It’s people trying to hoodwink you that bigger is better.”

“The answer is having council share resources, share services. We have saved more than $110 million in the last 10 years.”

He said the recently amalgamated Queensland councils had seen rates rise by more than 20 per cent since they were merged.

“It will slow and stop the property industry because you won’t get a decision, you will be dealing with a bureaucracy,” he said.

Liberal Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun said his council was trying to encourage jobs growth in the west to ease peak congestion and the impact on infrastructure and the economy, with a GDP big enough that if it were a country, it would rank 130th in the world.

“We are a large council, we need to get bigger. We want to support amalgamation. It is possible but we cannot amalgamate without a complete reform,” he said.

“We have begun a restructure, its leading the way in local government.”

Mr Mannoun said being a mayor was not a part time job, with councillors given just days to read thick, complex documents before making decisions.

“Being a mayor should be a full time position if we are serious about it,” he said.

“A full time governing body would get better outcomes.”

He said councils should be information sharing, and sharing the costs of social services and youth programs.

“If we can save money there we can put it in services matter,” he said.

“We want to be engaged and hopefully this reform can lead to that.”

Liberal Holroyd mayor Ross Grove said the Queensland model of amalgamation, where the ward councillor was paid more than Federal MP’s would “inspire a degree of reluctance from the community”.

“My residents are very sensitive to rating issues. When local government says its financially unsustainable it need to look at the structure of its services,” he said.

“There is a lot councils should be doing to create revenue streams and they should be rationalising their services internally.”

Botany mayor Ben Keneally said size was not the only dimension to deliver effective local government.

“When I hear people complain about local government, it’s mostly issues of governance, about politics intruding on decisions, about dysfunctional councillors and a revolving door of mayors and GMS who never get up to speed on local issues,” he said.

“Those things can be addressed through governance.”

Mr Keneally said simply putting councils together was not the way of creating a Boris Johnson.

“We need to think about the power and responsibility of local government,” he said.

“Our State departments are among the biggest in the world. Those are services that in other parts of the world are delivered at local government scale. Simply bringing council together to do the same thing, footpaths, parks and development assessment is no way to create a Boris Johnson.”

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China’s sea level continues to rise
Updated: 2013-02-27 07:16
By Wang Qian ( China Daily)

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China’s sea level hit a record high in 2012 due to global warming and land subsidence, threatening millions of coastal residents, according to a government report.

The State Oceanic Administration report released on Tuesday said that last year, the sea level rose 122 millimeters more than the average level from 1975 to 1993, about 53 mm higher than 2011.

“The rising temperatures from increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the land subsidence nationwide led to the high seas,” said Liu Kexiu of the National Marine Data and Information Service.

Average air temperatures in coastal areas rose 0.4 C above the average from 1975 to 1993 in 2012, and sea temperatures rose 0.3 C, according to the report.

High seas can aggravate storm tides, exacerbate monsoon flooding, erode shorelines, cause seawater invasion and inundate crops, homes and livelihoods at great risk.

Scientists estimate the situation will be worse in 2050, when sea levels may rise up to 200 mm and submerge about 87,000 square kilometers of coast, the report warns.

By 2100, about 20 percent of the sand area in the Dadonghai beach in Sanya, Hainan, is predicted to be under water.

Sea levels rise when oceans absorb large amounts of heat and the global warming accelerates melting from land-based ice such as glaciers.

In 2012, China was hit by 24 storm tides, causing economic losses of nearly 13 billion yuan ($2 billion), about 32 percent more than the average damage caused during the past five years, the report said.

Storm tides damaged 897 ships and ruined nearly 116 km of shoreline in Zhejiang province, causing more than 4 billion yuan in direct economic losses.

Wang Feng, director of the SOA’s marine forecast and disaster relief department, said the Liaoning, Jiangsu and Shandong province coastlines were harder hit by the rising sea than the rest of the country in 2012.

The report said due to the higher sea level, the shoreline in Suizhong, in Liaoning, has retreated about 60 meters since 2000, and about 18 km from the coastline in Panjin was covered by seawater, leading to soil salinization.

The effects of land subsidence in 2011 pushed the ground in Tianjin Binhai New Area at least 3.4 meters lower than in 1959, according to data, which will worsen the effects of the rising sea level.

Besides the increasing marine disasters, land losses and shoreline damage caused by the sea level rise, Wang also worried about the inundation of base point islands in the South China Sea. The SOA is accelerating the protection and monitoring of base point islands.

To control the sea level rise, the SOA is classifying coastal areas according to the risk from climate change and rising sea levels, providing guidance in marine economic development and large-scale projects, Wang said.

wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/27/2013 page3)

Updated: 2013-02-27 07:16
By Wang Qian ( China Daily)

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China’s sea level hit a record high in 2012 due to global warming and land subsidence, threatening millions of coastal residents, according to a government report.

The State Oceanic Administration report released on Tuesday said that last year, the sea level rose 122 millimeters more than the average level from 1975 to 1993, about 53 mm higher than 2011.

“The rising temperatures from increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the land subsidence nationwide led to the high seas,” said Liu Kexiu of the National Marine Data and Information Service.

Average air temperatures in coastal areas rose 0.4 C above the average from 1975 to 1993 in 2012, and sea temperatures rose 0.3 C, according to the report.

High seas can aggravate storm tides, exacerbate monsoon flooding, erode shorelines, cause seawater invasion and inundate crops, homes and livelihoods at great risk.

Scientists estimate the situation will be worse in 2050, when sea levels may rise up to 200 mm and submerge about 87,000 square kilometers of coast, the report warns.

By 2100, about 20 percent of the sand area in the Dadonghai beach in Sanya, Hainan, is predicted to be under water.

Sea levels rise when oceans absorb large amounts of heat and the global warming accelerates melting from land-based ice such as glaciers.

In 2012, China was hit by 24 storm tides, causing economic losses of nearly 13 billion yuan ($2 billion), about 32 percent more than the average damage caused during the past five years, the report said.

Storm tides damaged 897 ships and ruined nearly 116 km of shoreline in Zhejiang province, causing more than 4 billion yuan in direct economic losses.

Wang Feng, director of the SOA’s marine forecast and disaster relief department, said the Liaoning, Jiangsu and Shandong province coastlines were harder hit by the rising sea than the rest of the country in 2012.

The report said due to the higher sea level, the shoreline in Suizhong, in Liaoning, has retreated about 60 meters since 2000, and about 18 km from the coastline in Panjin was covered by seawater, leading to soil salinization.

The effects of land subsidence in 2011 pushed the ground in Tianjin Binhai New Area at least 3.4 meters lower than in 1959, according to data, which will worsen the effects of the rising sea level.

Besides the increasing marine disasters, land losses and shoreline damage caused by the sea level rise, Wang also worried about the inundation of base point islands in the South China Sea. The SOA is accelerating the protection and monitoring of base point islands.

To control the sea level rise, the SOA is classifying coastal areas according to the risk from climate change and rising sea levels, providing guidance in marine economic development and large-scale projects, Wang said.

wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/27/2013 page3)

Key Component of China’s Pollution Problem: Scale of Nitrogen’s Effect On People and Ecosystems Revealed

Feb. 25, 2013 — It’s no secret that China is faced with some of the world’s worst pollution. Until now, however, information on the magnitude, scope and impacts of a major contributor to that pollution — human-caused nitrogen emissions — was lacking.

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A new study co-authored by Stanford Woods Institute biologist Peter Vitousek reveals that amounts of nitrogen (from industry, cars and fertilizer) deposited on land and water in China by way of rain, dust and other carriers increased by 60 percent annually from the 1980s to the 2000s, with profound consequences for the country’s people and ecosystems.

Xuejun Liu and Fusuo Zhang at China Agricultural University in Beijing led the study, which is part of an ongoing collaboration with Stanford aimed at reducing agricultural nutrient pollution while increasing food production in China — a collaboration that includes Vitousek and Pamela Matson, a Stanford Woods Institute senior fellow and dean of the School of Earth Sciences.

The researchers analyzed all available data on bulk nitrogen deposition from monitoring sites throughout China from 1980 to 2010.

During the past 30 years, China has become by far the largest creator and emitter of nitrogen globally. The country’s use of nitrogen as a fertilizer increased about threefold from the 1980s to 2000s, while livestock numbers and coal combustion increased about fourfold, and the number of automobiles about twentyfold (all of these activities release reactive nitrogen into the environment).

Increased levels of nitrogen have led to a range of deleterious impacts including decreased air quality, acidification of soil and water, increased greenhouse gas concentrations and reduced biological diversity.

“All these changes can be linked to a common driving factor: strong economic growth, which has led to continuous increases in agricultural and non-agricultural reactive nitrogen emissions and consequently increased nitrogen deposition,” the study’s authors write.

Researchers found highly significant increases in bulk nitrogen deposition since the 1980s in China’s industrialized North, Southeast and Southwest. Nitrogen levels on the North China Plain are much higher than those observed in any region in the United States and are comparable to the maximum values observed in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands when nitrogen deposition was at its peak in the 1980s.

China’s rapid industrialization and agricultural expansion have led to continuous increases in nitrogen emissions and nitrogen deposition. China’s production and use of nitrogen-based fertilizers is greater than that of the United States and the European Union combined. Because of inefficiencies, more than half of that fertilizer is lost to the environment in gaseous or dissolved forms.

China’s nitrogen deposition problem could be brought under control, the study’s authors state, if the country’s environmental policy focused on improving efficiency in agricultural use of nitrogen and reducing nitrogen emissions from all sources, including industry and transit.

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