Last 50 years were Australia's hottest: study


For the first time scientists have provided the most complete climate record of the last millennium and they found that the last 50 years in Australia have been the warmest.

The researchers from Melbourne University used 27 different natural indicators like tree rings and ice cores to come to their conclusion, which will be a part of the next United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change report.

The findings show that no other period in the last 1,000 years matches the temperature rises Australia and the region has experienced in the last 50 years.

Report co-author Joelle Gergis says the findings are significant.

"It does show that the post-1950 warming is unusual in the Australasian region," she said.

"A lot of these sorts of studies have come out of the northern hemisphere and for the first time we have been able to say 'well we have collected all of our natural records from our region and this is what it shows and the warming is real and it is in the Australian region. It is not in some far away place'," she said.

AUDIO: 1000 years of climate data points to a warming Australia (AM)
Dr Gergis says the study used decades of work from 30 scientists who had been collecting natural data to reconstruct temperatures before human records started in 1910.

"So really what these are are climate proxies. They are not direct temperature records but we use them as stand-ins or surrogates for temperature records," she said.

"What we do is compare these natural records with the observed temperature records and then develop a statistical relationship and take that relationship back centuries into the past."

Co-author Professor David Karoly says the strength of the study is that it relied more on direct observations and measurements than climate modelling.

"Nothing is absolutely certain in science, but we say with very high confidence because we have repeated the analysis alone for the uncertainties that the warming in the last 50 years is very unusual and very likely cannot be explained by natural climate variability alone," he said.

Dr Gergis says the scientists have minimised the variability in their model by crunching the data 3,000 different ways.

"What we were able to see is that in 95 per cent of the reconstructions, we actually see that the post-1950 warming observed in the region is unprecedented in the context of the last millennium so it is not dependent on a loss of records back in time or the different combination of record," he said.

The government-funded study will be Australia's contribution to the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report due in 2014.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-17/study-says-last-fifty-years-were-australias-hottest/4016304

____ wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 10:50am:

Last 50 Yrs, Australia's Hottest

Damn!!  When I saw the title of this thread, I was hoping for some pictures of some good looking men.....

I am sure the temperatures taken by the Aborigines 1,000 years ago are pretty accurate.

Andrei is a racist, lol: well I never!  ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)  :o

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 1:48pm:

I am sure the temperatures taken by the Aborigines 1,000 years ago are pretty accurate.

Hicks is just out to protect his carbon polluting interest. He wants to continue to profit out of other's suffering.

If AGW is real.

And world-wide emissions are going up, up, up.

Don’t you think Australia would be better off preparing for the doom and gloom scenario of AGW, rather than trying to curtail our pitifully small % of emissions?

:-?

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 1:48pm:

I am sure the temperatures taken by the Aborigines 1,000 years ago are pretty accurate.

Mmmm   ;)

And the "tree rings and ice cores".

Don't forget the "tree rings and ice cores".        ;D

(not sure how they manage to keep a straight face)

They even admit that they "reconstruct temperatures before human records started" and that they "are not direct temperature records but we use them as stand-ins or surrogates for temperature records".

Despite these admissions, the gullible AGW disciples continue to bow to their climate "science" gods.

::)

Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 1:48pm:

I am sure the temperatures taken by the Aborigines 1,000 years ago are pretty accurate.

The black fellas back then still had forests, unpolluted land, air and water, pristine lakes and rivers with an abundance of fish, birds and animal life so the temperature probably wasn't on the top of their list.
We do know however that with the mass deforestation, mass extinction and air, water and land pollution the white fella bought with him that he has increased overall temperatures and decreased levels of rain.
1000 years ago the country was still rich in all its natural resources.

____ wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 10:50am:

Last 50 years were Australia's hottest: study For the first time scientists have provided the most complete climate record of the last millennium and they found that the last 50 years in Australia have been the warmest. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-17/study-says-last-fifty-years-were-australias-hottest/4016304

Who can you really believe these days when it come to science experts ... I personally would not have a clue on whether these people are right or wrong.

Just 36 years ago ( mid 70s ) science experts was very concerned of global cool, an inevitable ice age.

I've come to the conclusion that SCIENCE is not an accurate tool.

Newsweek, April 28, 1975

http://denisdutton.com/newsweek_coolingworld.pdf   


Fred Singer, Science, October 9 1970
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/issue_pdf/edboard_pdf/170/3954.pdf   

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLBqB0qDko

metal_j wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 7:13pm:

[quote author=013A3B2C0A1437373A2121550 link=1337215836/0#0 date=1337215836]Last 50 years were Australia's hottest: study For the first time scientists have provided the most complete climate record of the last millennium and they found that the last 50 years in Australia have been the warmest. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-17/study-says-last-fifty-years-were-australias-hottest/4016304

Who can you really believe these days when it come to science experts ... I personally would not have a clue on whether these people are right or wrong.

Just 36 years ago ( mid 70s ) science experts was very concerned of global cool, an inevitable ice age.

I've come to the conclusion that SCIENCE is not an accurate tool.

Newsweek, April 28, 1975
http://denisdutton.com/newsweek_coolingworld.pdf

Fred Singer, Science, October 9 1970
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/issue_pdf/edboard_pdf/170/3954.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLBqB0qDko

metal_j wrote on May 17^th, 2012 at 7:13pm:

____ wrote on May 17th, 2012 at 10:50am: Last 50 years were Australia's hottest: study For the first time scientists have provided the most complete climate record of the last millennium and they found that the last 50 years in Australia have been the warmest. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-17/study-says-last-fifty-years-were-australias-hottest/4016304 Who can you really believe these days when it come to science experts ... I personally would not have a clue on whether these people are right or wrong. Just 36 years ago ( mid 70s ) science experts was very concerned of global cool, an inevitable ice age. I've come to the conclusion that SCIENCE is not an accurate tool. Newsweek, April 28, 1975 http://denisdutton.com/newsweek_coolingworld.pdf    Fred Singer, Science, October 9 1970 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/issue_pdf/edboard_pdf/170/3954.pdf       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLBqB0qDko

36 years ago we were in a cooling trend. We are currently in an interglacial period of an ice age. Global warming could tip that on it's head of course, but it does not mean the scientists were previously wrong.