Friday, January 17, 2014 5:38:37 PM
Increasing heatwaves threaten farming
ABC Rural By Sarina Locke Posted Tue 14 Jan 2014, 2:04pm AEDT
Photo: Cattle standing in a bare paddock, north
of Julia Creek, Queensland. (Virginia Tapp)
Audio: Climate scientist, Professor Andy Pitman, director of Centre of Excellence for Climate Science (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/andy-pitman-climate-change/5199380
Audio: Ann Britton, of Goodwood Station near Mt Isa, on managing drought through destocking. (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/ann-britton-queensland-grazier/5199382
Audio: John Bethel, grazier at Huonfels Station, near Georgetown in Queensland. (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/john-bethel-drought-qld/5199384
Map: Sydney 2000 .. http://maps.google.com/?q=-33.8631,151.2043(Sydney%202000)&z=5
A climate scientist says farmers need more help to adapt to heatwaves.
The head of the Centre of Excellence for Climate Science at the University of NSW, Professor Andy Pitman, says climate change is driving up temperatures much faster than was predicted.
He says scientists might have been too conservative about how fast the climate is changing, because the heatwaves appear to be hotter and are lasting longer.
"I think that tends to mean the adaptation responses are lagging much too slow," he said.
"We thought that, by talking about changes by 2050 or 2100, people thought they had time, but what the climate scientists are now discovering is we underestimated the capacity of nature to change dramatically quickly."
The comments spring from debate on social media, after a Darwin columnist Bob Gosford posted a piece on Crikey that called western Queensland graziers "bone collectors and rent seekers".
He wrote: "If the arid-zone country of western Queensland cannot sustain grazing activity from year to year, through drought and good seasons both, then it seems environmentally foolhardy and financially irresponsible to keep flogging a dead horse."
But grazier John Bethel says the drought was exacerbated by the Federal Government decision two years ago. He has cattle on Huonfels Station, Georgetown, inland from Cairns, in the Gulf Country.
"If governments had got out of the way, not made stupid decisions like the live export ban, we wouldn't be in this situation. Because of the glut of cattle Australia-wide, the beef industry's collapsed."
Putting aside the variable, which was the suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia, most of western Queensland has experienced low rainfall during the warmest year on record.
"We certainly are seeing a build-up of heat over the Australian continent over spring and summer, leading to large-scale heatwave conditions, which are, as far as we know over 150 of historical records, unprecedented," said Professor Pitman.
"Rainfall is harder to link to global warming. There has been sea surface temperature warming, which has driven quite high rainfall along the coastal strip of Queensland, but further inland they've been surprisingly dry, given the long double-dip La Nina, and they've been in neutral conditions more recently.
Professor Pitman says the more complex picture is soil moisture.
"The warm temperatures through multiple seasons have enabled quite a lot of vegetation that would otherwise have died back or reduced during winter to carry on transpiring through cooler periods.
"That tends to strip moisture out of the soil, evaporate it into the atmosphere.
"So when we move into a growing season, the soil moisture anomalies tends to be a lot drier than would otherwise have been."
The challenge for Queensland graziers is coping with the years between poor seasons.
"I don't know about a long term trend," said grazier John Bethel.
"2002-3 were really bad. It goes in 11-year cycles. We were due for a bad year.
"Looking at the cycles; the 80s were dry, the 70s were wet, 60s were dry, the 50s were really wet. I don't think there's anything unique about it."
But climate scientists emphasise that what has changed is the hotter temperatures.
"We certainly have had some periods of dry before. We haven't seen the periods of heat!" said Professor Pitman.
"If someone doesn't think four degrees' warming doesn't sound very much, they're misunderstanding how the climate works.
"Four degrees, on the global mean, might be six degrees on the mean/average over Australia, which might be seven to eight degrees on the maximum temperatures.
"So if you're used to 33-34 degrees, adding seven or eight degrees to that, it adds immense stress to agricultural systems. You can't just ignore it."
Ann and Ric Britton graze cattle on three properties 300 kilometres south of Mt Isa in north-west Queensland. The Brittons' adaptations are to rainfall, and Ann Britton is not thinking in terms of climate change.
But they're giving it until April before they get rid of the rest of their cattle.
"We've got our breeder stock 2,000-3,000 head of cows. If we have to sell them, that's years and years of genetics - better than them dying in the paddock.
"The average is one really good season in ten, but while it had rained for three years in a row, in 2012-13 the heatwave over weeks and weeks burnt the grass, turned it into powder and blew it away."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/climate-change-heat-waves/5199258?§ion=news
See also:
10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93141324
Dick Cheney and The One Shot Antelope Hunt
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92297275
Is extreme weather caused by global warming?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95669114
Slim Dusty - Outback.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93903307
ABC Rural By Sarina Locke Posted Tue 14 Jan 2014, 2:04pm AEDT
Photo: Cattle standing in a bare paddock, north
of Julia Creek, Queensland. (Virginia Tapp)
Audio: Climate scientist, Professor Andy Pitman, director of Centre of Excellence for Climate Science (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/andy-pitman-climate-change/5199380
Audio: Ann Britton, of Goodwood Station near Mt Isa, on managing drought through destocking. (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/ann-britton-queensland-grazier/5199382
Audio: John Bethel, grazier at Huonfels Station, near Georgetown in Queensland. (ABC Rural)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/john-bethel-drought-qld/5199384
Map: Sydney 2000 .. http://maps.google.com/?q=-33.8631,151.2043(Sydney%202000)&z=5
A climate scientist says farmers need more help to adapt to heatwaves.
The head of the Centre of Excellence for Climate Science at the University of NSW, Professor Andy Pitman, says climate change is driving up temperatures much faster than was predicted.
He says scientists might have been too conservative about how fast the climate is changing, because the heatwaves appear to be hotter and are lasting longer.
"I think that tends to mean the adaptation responses are lagging much too slow," he said.
"We thought that, by talking about changes by 2050 or 2100, people thought they had time, but what the climate scientists are now discovering is we underestimated the capacity of nature to change dramatically quickly."
The comments spring from debate on social media, after a Darwin columnist Bob Gosford posted a piece on Crikey that called western Queensland graziers "bone collectors and rent seekers".
He wrote: "If the arid-zone country of western Queensland cannot sustain grazing activity from year to year, through drought and good seasons both, then it seems environmentally foolhardy and financially irresponsible to keep flogging a dead horse."
But grazier John Bethel says the drought was exacerbated by the Federal Government decision two years ago. He has cattle on Huonfels Station, Georgetown, inland from Cairns, in the Gulf Country.
"If governments had got out of the way, not made stupid decisions like the live export ban, we wouldn't be in this situation. Because of the glut of cattle Australia-wide, the beef industry's collapsed."
Putting aside the variable, which was the suspension of live cattle exports to Indonesia, most of western Queensland has experienced low rainfall during the warmest year on record.
"We certainly are seeing a build-up of heat over the Australian continent over spring and summer, leading to large-scale heatwave conditions, which are, as far as we know over 150 of historical records, unprecedented," said Professor Pitman.
"Rainfall is harder to link to global warming. There has been sea surface temperature warming, which has driven quite high rainfall along the coastal strip of Queensland, but further inland they've been surprisingly dry, given the long double-dip La Nina, and they've been in neutral conditions more recently.
Professor Pitman says the more complex picture is soil moisture.
"The warm temperatures through multiple seasons have enabled quite a lot of vegetation that would otherwise have died back or reduced during winter to carry on transpiring through cooler periods.
"That tends to strip moisture out of the soil, evaporate it into the atmosphere.
"So when we move into a growing season, the soil moisture anomalies tends to be a lot drier than would otherwise have been."
The challenge for Queensland graziers is coping with the years between poor seasons.
"I don't know about a long term trend," said grazier John Bethel.
"2002-3 were really bad. It goes in 11-year cycles. We were due for a bad year.
"Looking at the cycles; the 80s were dry, the 70s were wet, 60s were dry, the 50s were really wet. I don't think there's anything unique about it."
But climate scientists emphasise that what has changed is the hotter temperatures.
"We certainly have had some periods of dry before. We haven't seen the periods of heat!" said Professor Pitman.
"If someone doesn't think four degrees' warming doesn't sound very much, they're misunderstanding how the climate works.
"Four degrees, on the global mean, might be six degrees on the mean/average over Australia, which might be seven to eight degrees on the maximum temperatures.
"So if you're used to 33-34 degrees, adding seven or eight degrees to that, it adds immense stress to agricultural systems. You can't just ignore it."
Ann and Ric Britton graze cattle on three properties 300 kilometres south of Mt Isa in north-west Queensland. The Brittons' adaptations are to rainfall, and Ann Britton is not thinking in terms of climate change.
But they're giving it until April before they get rid of the rest of their cattle.
"We've got our breeder stock 2,000-3,000 head of cows. If we have to sell them, that's years and years of genetics - better than them dying in the paddock.
"The average is one really good season in ten, but while it had rained for three years in a row, in 2012-13 the heatwave over weeks and weeks burnt the grass, turned it into powder and blew it away."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-14/climate-change-heat-waves/5199258?§ion=news
See also:
10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93141324
Dick Cheney and The One Shot Antelope Hunt
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92297275
Is extreme weather caused by global warming?
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95669114
Slim Dusty - Outback.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93903307
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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