The rise and rise of the 2015 El Niño: The Bureau of Meteorology has officially declared that we are in an El Niño, shifting its tracker from ALERT (a greater than 70% chance of El Niño forming) to an actual event. Speculation began in early 2014 that the world would see an El Niño, possibly a significant “super” event, by the end of that year. However the event development hit a few setbacks, and many thought the El Niño was already dead. In March this year, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially declared that the “most-watched” 2014-15 El Niño had finally arrived. Now our own Bureau has followed suit. So what’s going on? And how severe could the 2015-16 El Niño turn out to be? Read More here
Category Archives: The Science
BOM: We’re calling it, the 2015 El Niño is here: We’re calling it. The Bureau’s ENSO Tracker status has moved from ALERT to EL NINO, signalling the official declaration by the Bureau of Meteorology of El Niño 2015.
Click to enlarge
El Niño is often associatedwith drought in Australia. It may be cold comfort for those toughing out the current dry in parts of eastern Australia, but while El Niño certainly raises the risk of drought, it doesn’t guarantee it. Of the 26 El Niño events since 1900, 17 have resulted in widespread Australian drought. Read More here
11 May 2015, SCIENCEINSIDER: Antarctic researchers ponder challenges posed by increasing sea ice. Scientists working in Antarctica are feeling the impact of climate change in ways the public might find surprising. Although global warming is causing Arctic ice to melt and glaciers around the world to shrink, the problem in Antarctica is that the sea ice surrounding the continent is increasing and now hampering ship navigation and resupply operations. This week, scientists and logistics experts from the 30 nations working on the continent are meeting in Hobart, Australia, to exchange ideas on coping with the sea ice challenge. Read More here
6 May 2015, RTCC: Fossil fuels just pushed CO2 levels to a 3 million-year high: Global concentrations of greenhouse gases surpass “significant milestone”, US climate science agency says, the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million in March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported today. That’s the most in 57 years of measurements, a near 50% rise on pre-industrial levels, and probably the highest since the Pliocene Epoch, 2.6-5.3 million years ago. Read More here