EXTREME WEATHER – ABC Catalyst explains why

Understanding exactly how a warmer world drives weather wild is crucial to predicting just how bumpy a ride we’re in for.  This excellent program  explains some of the new understandings about ocean/atmosphere and other forces at work generating the series of extreme weather events being experienced around the globe. View Extreme Weather:    

The temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958. The rate of increase is three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe for the same…

New research, led by the Australian Antarctic Division, indicates serious challenges facing Antarctic krill – the primary food source for whales, seals and penguins – due to acidification in the Southern Ocean.  The data has been animated by Dr Lisa Roberts of Living Data. Read the full paper and view Dr Roberts’ animation by scrolling to…

Others around the world experiment with expressing science in new ways: Global Warming Trend and Variations Charted by Cello Daniel Crawford, a cello-playing undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, came up with a new way to describe the trend and variations that both characterize our warming climate — a solo composition, “Song of Our Warming…

Photosynthesis – Art from Science at the Muse

For your diary: As part of the Ultimo Science Festival When:   12–21 September, 10am to 5pm Where:  The Muse Gallery, Ultimo TAFE, 651-731 Harris St, Ultimo Photosynthesis – Art from Science at the Muse: read more A dramatic art exhibition inspired by climate science. See through icy veils of mesh as art and data…

Critical choices in The Critical Decade

  Two years ago the Climate Commission warned that 2011-2020 is the ‘Critical Decade’ for tackling climate change. In particular, this is the Critical Decade for turning around rising emissions of greenhouse gases and putting us on the pathway to stabilising the climate system. One quarter of the way through the Critical Decade, many consequences…

Australia’s oil vulnerability

While some predict peak oil will soon be the end of industrial society, others shrug it off as scaremongering. But if we are running out of oil, is intervention needed to mitigate the impact of peak oil – or will market forces and technological innovation be a sufficient response? This discussion is moderated by Antony…

Emiliania huxleyi in the news

Pan genome of the phytoplankton Emiliania underpins its global distribution Read full article: Nature: Published online 12 June 2013 Coccolithophores have influenced the global climate for over 200 million years1. These marine phytoplankton can account for 20 per cent of total carbon fixation in some systems2. They form blooms that can occupy hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and are…

Do the Math(s) Climate Action Hobart will be hosting a live broadcast of Bill McKibben’s “Do the Math(s)” Canberra event on Wednesday June 5 at the Centenary Lecture Theatre, UTAS, Sandy Bay. 7.15 for 7.30 pm. The Australian tour is the first international leg of Bill McKibben’s hugely successful ‘Do the Math(s)’ tour through the…

Daniel Morden is a professional storyteller. At the Sydney writers’ festival this week Morden gave the opening address. This little story struck a cord – it is about Truth and raises ideas about the role of the arts in telling stories about climate change:  over and over in different ways. Truth went to town. Truth walked…