Australian climate rapidly changing, experts say
Pastor Dale Morgan
Australian climate rapidly changing, experts say*
Be it flood or drought Australian farmers always expect to get a
government bailout.
by Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) Jan 6, 2008
Australia experienced one of its hottest years on record in 2007, and
climate experts have warned that the higher temperatures are likely a
taste of things to come as weather patterns change.
The country has already kicked off 2008 with a spate of extreme weather
-- several cities, including Perth and Melbourne, have suffered summer
heatwaves, while bushfires have raged on the east and west coasts.
Meanwhile, heavy rain has caused flooding along the east coast, huge
waves have forced the closure of Sydney beaches and Cyclone Helen has
brought winds of up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour to the northern
city of Darwin.
The Bureau of Meteorology said Thursday that Australia had experienced
its sixth warmest year on record last year, with the average annual
temperature of 21.8 degrees Celsius some 0.67 degrees above normal.
In the southern states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia,
as well as the major agricultural zone, the Murray Darling Basin, the
effect was more pronounced.
These areas, which account for the majority of Australia's 21 million
people and 75 percent of the country's irrigated farmland, experienced
their hottest year since records began in 1910.
"Really, what we've seen in the last year is confirmation of what we've
known is going on," David Jones from the bureau's National Climate
Centre told national radio.
"Australia is warming, it's warming quickly.
"It really confirms the direction our climate's going and where we're
going to end up in the future."
Neil Plummer, acting head of the climate centre in Melbourne, said it
was too early to confirm whether man-made global warming was responsible
for the rising temperatures and drier conditions.
But he said the Australian climate was altering, and this was in line
with higher temperatures experienced around the world which evidence
suggests has been caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere.
"We are already seeing a change of climate," he told AFP, adding that in
16 of the past 18 years Australia has experienced warmer than average
temperatures.
"There's a fair weight of evidence now that what we've seen in terms of
temperature changes, most of it is due to greenhouse gas emissions."
Plummer said the reduction in rainfall over the southeast of Australia
in the past 11 years, the cause of the worst drought in living memory,
was "at least partly a consequence of the enhanced greenhouse effect".
"Not only have we had reduced rainfall over significant parts of
Australia, that has also come with warmer temperatures which exacerbate
the water deficiencies," he said.
Professor David Karoly, one of the authors of a landmark report issued
by the International Panel on Climate Change, said 2007's temperatures
came as the country experienced the La Nina phenomenon -- generally
associated with cooler and wetter conditions.
"For Australia to have above normal temperatures during a La Nina is
very unusual," he said.
Karoly said Australia was like other areas around the world, including
the southwest of the United States and sub-Saharan Africa, which are
projected to experience warmer temperatures as a result of the impact of
carbon pollution.
"It's not just happening in Australia, it's happening in similar
climates around the world," he told AFP from his office at the
University of Melbourne.
John Connor, head of Australia's independent Climate Institute which
works to raise public awareness about global warming, said 2007's
weather fitted with projections that global warming will lead to wilder
conditions.
"The projections are for intense storms, flooding, droughts and
bushfires, and we had all of those in 2007," he said.