Wednesday, February 28, 2007

VOA News - Chavez Orders Nationalization of Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Operations

Chavez Orders Nationalization of Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Operations

Hugo's there? - where ? -- to a socialised paradiso?!

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of oil projects run by foreign companies in Venezuela's Orinoco River region.

Mr. Chavez said Monday during a radio address that he would give the companies four months to agree to the terms and conditions of the nationalization - which will result in Venezuela's state oil company holding at least 60 percent interest in the projects.

The companies affected are Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total SA and Statoil ASA.

Mr. Chavez has undertaken a program of nationalizing privately-held industries since he began his second term in office earlier this year.

Venezuela's legislature in January gave the president the power to rule by decree for a period of 18 months.

Venezuela has already taken control of a foreign-run telecommunications company and an electrical power company.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.


VOA News - Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax

Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax

Who are these dudes? - some kind of global controllers? - "Major Tom we have got a problem!?"

A panel of scientists has presented the United Nations a detailed plan for combating climate change. VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports the strategy involves reaching a global agreement on a temperature ceiling.

A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change.

In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease.

The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations.

Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe. "Climate change is real, it's already happening, it's already causing harm, it's accelerating and we need to do something about it, and we need to do something about it seriously, starting now. Our specific conclusions are that if the world were to go past the point of an increase above pre-industrial temperatures greater than 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius, we would be in a regime where the danger of intolerable and unmanageable impacts on well-being would rise very rapidly," he said.

The panel's recommendations include a series of steps to cut the rate at which temperatures are rising. Chief among them are a global agreement on an acceptable ceiling for temperature rise and finding ways of adapting to cope with the damage already done.

Holdren, however, says even these measure will achieve very little unless they are accompanied by a global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. "We don't think ultimately society will get it right in terms of the full range and scope of activities needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, until there is an additional incentive in the form of a price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a carbon tax or a cap and trade approach," he said.

The United States is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, but is not a party to the cap and trade system contained in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Nevertheless, the Bush administration has set a target of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012, and is spending $3 billion a year on climate change research.

Peter Raven, the head of the Sigma Xi Scientific society and co-author of the latest report, says success in limiting the effects of global warming will require private sector leadership, and a combined effort by the U.S. and the international community. "The private sector is doing a very good job, and kind of leadership we're calling for from the United Nations and international organizations and the kind of leadership the United States is moving towards will both be key ingredients in that," he said.

A U.N. spokesman says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering calling a summit meeting on climate change later this year. Environmental activists are calling on Mr. Ban to play a leading role in the process of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto agreement, which expires in 2012.

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VOA News - Captured Methane Alternative Energy Source

Captured Methane Alternative Energy Source

........ What's next ? Sit on your arse & get paid for the methane you don't release? ......


John Logan is basically a conservationist at heart. So, when the retired computer specialist and business man took over the eastern Mississippi chicken farm that had been in his family for seven generations, he wanted to try something new: growing a fuel crop. All he had to do was capitalize on the farm's existing resource: chicken manure.

Logan reasoned that if he could convert chicken droppings into methane gas, he could solve two problems facing many farmers in the southern poultry belt: how to meet tougher government standards for waste disposal, and how to reduce operating expenses, which have been rising along with the price of fuel.

He says he considered the farm's energy costs the only thing he had control over. "I began to look at ways to reduce that. Having seen these [waste converters] in other parts of the world, I just felt real sure that we could make natural gas, methane gas, from the poultry waste, so I began to research it." And that's how the Meth

Thousands of chicks roam free inside huge chicken houses
Thousands of chicks roam free inside huge chicken houses
ane Capture Project was born.

Logan began working with a team of chemists from Mississippi State University, to create a "recipe" that turns poultry waste into methane gas, which then can be used just like natural gas. And Logan points to an advantage of his approach. "We can control 100 percent of the total amount of solids in our mixture. Whereas in a dairy barn, they wash it down and wash the manure out. They have no control over how much litter and how much solids you have. Same in a swine operation. Here, it's unique. I know by the pound exactly how much I'm working in each one of those recipes." And that means he knows exactly how much methane he'll produce.

Chicken waste is converted to methane gas in the large silos next to the experimental station
Chicken waste is converted to methane gas in the large silos next to the experimental station
Logan got several government grants to build an experimental station on his farm. There, several large silver tanks, powered by solar panels, convert waste from the 275,000 chickens in his 10 massive, high-tech chicken houses into methane. The gas then powers the generators, which supply electricity to his farm.

"For the last eight months we've been generating electricity and generating gas to heat the chicken houses," the farmer says proudly. "My goal was to replace my existing utility costs to heat the farm, which come to about $100,000 a year on this size operation. So at the present time, it replaces 100 percent of my electricity." He even has extra power to sell to the local utility company.

John Logan says his project now has three main objectives: put poultry waste processors on other farms; build cooperative systems to which farmers can sell their chicken litter; and supply an alternative fuel to reduce American dependence on fossil fuel.

The Methane Capture Project has caught the attention of nearby Mount Olive, home to a large plant currently under construction, which will create biodiesel and ethanol fuel. That plant will be powered by methane from poultry waste brought in from surrounding farms. Its developers hope the operation may someday fuel the entire city.

Mt. Olive officials hope captured methane will help generate alternative energy for the entire town
Mt. Olive officials hope methane will help generate alternative energy for the entire community
"It's definitely going to put Mount Olive on the map!" brags town mayor, Robert McNair. He predicts the project will bring more than 100 new jobs to this small community. "People who are just passing through might stop and take a look because of that business coming in." And, he says, the new plant will provide a showcase for what small towns can do to help the environment. "In the past, a lot of times small communities were overlooked, but when something like this happens, not only will they start looking at Mount Olive, they'll start looking at other small communities as being contributors."

Officials from government and industry are also starting to recognize the potential of the Methane Capture Project. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding experimental on-farm sites in Mississippi and several other states. Some large poultry processors are launching renewable energy divisions to power their feed mills. And a fuel company is investigating the possibility of pumping chicken-waste methane instead of natural gas through its pipeline, and to use it to power some of the generators along the way.

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VOA News - US President, Congress Push Alternative Fuels

US President, Congress Push Alternative Fuels

feed dem hogs Corn Flakes -it'd be cheaper

President Bush is looking for new ways to encourage the use of alternative energy, and Democratic Party leaders who control Congress appear to be only too ready to comply. That leaves the big oil companies urging government to slow down -- a message delivered this week by the industry's trade association in Washington. VOA's Jim Fry reports.

President Bush gets a look under the hood of a hybrid car on display with others at the White House Friday, February 23
President Bush gets a look under the hood of a hybrid car on display with others at the White House Friday, February 23
President Bush inspected a couple of alternative-energy vehicles at he White House -- one a gasoline-electric powered hybrid with an extra-strength battery.

He displays the cars at the White House, he says, to demonstrate that his goal of cutting gasoline usage dramatically is realistic. "I know it is a necessary goal. It is necessary for national-security purposes. It is necessary for economic-security purposes. And it is necessary in order to be good stewards of the environment."

Environmental advocate Deron Lovaas, who works for the Natural Resources Defense Council, says it is urgent that Congress act quickly. "If the president is serious about his goal of a 20 percent reduction in gasoline production in 10 years, it is very serious. We need this policy, this Congress."

Energy conservationists say the U.S. Congress must require new cars to get much higher gas mileage, and the government must encourage automakers to produce more alternative-fuel vehicles.

They say tax cuts are needed to encourage more production of ethanol. The fuel is mostly made from corn in the U.S., but the president wants researchers to study how to use other crops to make ethanol.

The alternative fuel is rarely seen in many parts of the country now, but advocates want the government to require gas stations nationwide to sell ethanol. The president of the American Petroleum Institute, Red Cavaney, speaking in Washington, said it would be a mistake to use tax incentives for these purposes. "Government policies should be performance based, and they should provide a level playing field for all alternative fuels, and not pick winners and losers."

The oil industry enjoyed billions of dollars in tax breaks enacted in 2005 to encourage exploration and production of oil. Many argued that was inequitable. Lovaas says, "It seems to me by adopting big tax breaks, you are picking winners and losers."

Environmentalists may have an ally in the new Democrat-ruled Congress. The House of Representatives voted last month to scale back industry tax cuts by $14 billion.

Yet the industry claims tax breaks are crucial for exploration -- and for more discoveries like the 15-billion-barrel pool of oil found deep under the Gulf of Mexico last year, the largest find in a generation.

The petroleum companies want Congress to slow down the campaign for alternative fuels:

"We are not trying to stall here,” says Cavaney. “What we want to do is make sure that every stakeholder has a chance to come up and present their case, [to] look at it before we head down that path, because it is going to influence billions of dollars of investments."

But high prices at U.S. pumps and record oil-company profits have combined to make the oil industry unpopular.

Lovaas says big oil cannot stall. "They need to come to the table very quickly, because if they are not at the table, they could be on the menu."

As President Bush pushes new fuels, and the new Congress attacks old oil, the petroleum giants find new risk not in the oil fields, but in the halls of government.

VOA News - Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax

Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax

One World Government -- at last -- hip hip kachoo!?!?!

A panel of scientists has presented the United Nations a detailed plan for combating climate change. VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports the strategy involves reaching a global agreement on a temperature ceiling.

A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change.

In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease.

The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations.

Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe. "Climate change is real, it's already happening, it's already causing harm, it's accelerating and we need to do something about it, and we need to do something about it seriously, starting now. Our specific conclusions are that if the world were to go past the point of an increase above pre-industrial temperatures greater than 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius, we would be in a regime where the danger of intolerable and unmanageable impacts on well-being would rise very rapidly," he said.

The panel's recommendations include a series of steps to cut the rate at which temperatures are rising. Chief among them are a global agreement on an acceptable ceiling for temperature rise and finding ways of adapting to cope with the damage already done.

Holdren, however, says even these measure will achieve very little unless they are accompanied by a global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. "We don't think ultimately society will get it right in terms of the full range and scope of activities needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, until there is an additional incentive in the form of a price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a carbon tax or a cap and trade approach," he said.

The United States is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, but is not a party to the cap and trade system contained in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Nevertheless, the Bush administration has set a target of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012, and is spending $3 billion a year on climate change research.

Peter Raven, the head of the Sigma Xi Scientific society and co-author of the latest report, says success in limiting the effects of global warming will require private sector leadership, and a combined effort by the U.S. and the international community. "The private sector is doing a very good job, and kind of leadership we're calling for from the United Nations and international organizations and the kind of leadership the United States is moving towards will both be key ingredients in that," he said.

A U.N. spokesman says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering calling a summit meeting on climate change later this year. Environmental activists are calling on Mr. Ban to play a leading role in the process of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto agreement, which expires in 2012.

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Researchers take poles' temperature - Yahoo! News

Researchers take poles' temperateur - Yah

The wind is wild on N.H. mountaintop - Yahoo! News

The wind is wild on N.H. mountaintop - Yahoo! News

some amazing facts on windpower ?!

MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. - It's a curious fact to know about yourself — how much wind you can withstand before you get knocked off your feet.
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But it's information that can save your life if your office is the weather station at the top of Mount Washington, where hurricane-force winds blow more than 100 days a year, and where the wind has been clocked at a world-record 231 mph.
Meteorologist Ryan Knapp's limit has been calculated at 112 mph, based in part on his body size. And he knows what can happen when he exceeds it: In October, he was walking alone around midnight outside the Mount Washington Observatory when the wind flattened him and the precipitation measurement container he was carrying went flying.
He was able to grab the container and finish the job. Back inside 15 minutes later, Knapp watched the instruments surge as the wind kicked up to 158 mph, or 23 mph faster than Hurricane Katrina when it came ashore.
"If I had been out there during that, I probably would not have been making it back to the building," said Knapp, one of four weather observers who live and work at the observatory on the Northeast's highest mountain.
At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is only one-third the size of Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak. But Mount Washington sticks up like a big toe at a point where storms from the north, south and west collide. As a result, it has some of the most ferocious weather on Earth, with snow and ice even in the summer.
Observers began recording the weather there 137 years ago, when the U.S. Signal Service, the military precursor to the
National Weather Service' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> National Weather Service, set up shop at the peak, long before winter woolens gave way to Gore-Tex. The building where the men worked still stands, with thick chains buckling it to the mountain rock.
Nicholas Howe wrote about one storm in January 1877 in the book "Not Without Peril." Winds of 150 mph knocked out windows and lifted a carpet a foot off the floor. Fearful of being swept away, the men "wrapped themselves in blankets and quilts secured with ropes and then they tied on iron crowbars lengthwise as further strengthening against the long fall that seemed inevitable."
The Signal Service's tenure on the peak ended in 1892. Forty years later, volunteers revived the observatory, setting up quarters in an old stage coach building. In April 1934, observers working there clocked the wind at 231 mph, the world's highest recorded wind speed along the ground.
The nonprofit observatory is the heir to that project. They young staff members are paid little and work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, performing hourly outdoor observations and maintaining equipment.
They also issue hiking forecasts describing conditions in the Presidential mountain range, where the rapidly changing weather has claimed 139 lives since 1849, many from the cold even in summer. Two observers died during the Signal Service operation; but no one working for the current operation has been killed or seriously hurt.
The staff members live in relative luxury, in part of a 1980s state-owned building made of reinforced concrete and steel, with 2-foot-thick walls and triple-layer windows four inches thick. Their lair beneath the observatory work room is cozy, with the communal air of a college dormitory suite. Living room shelves hold meteorology textbooks and movies; the pantry is well-stocked and a cat named Nin keeps them company.
"The job description isn't just being a good meteorologist or being good at computers. You have to have passion for experiencing the weather and a real ability to experience the weather," said observer Jim Salge, 25.
The observers get free food, long vacations, every other week off, and when conditions are right, the longest ski run in the Northeast at their feet. They also are minor media stars. Their daily radio forecasts, broadcast in New Hampshire and Maine, are known for their quirky, monotone delivery.
"I love the excitement of a snowstorm; the anticipation of world soon transformed to cushioned white," observer Neil Lareau wrote in a Jan. 16 blog entry. "I love the dampened sound in a forest when it snows, the slow hiss of steady snow piling up, the smell in the air the hour before the snow starts, the leaden grey of the nimbostratus. All of it, I love it, I live for it."
Weather junkies who want to get beaten up by the wind can pay a $45 membership fee, plus $459 for lectures, hikes and a bunk for one night at the observatory. Members can also visit free in return for a week's worth of cooking, cleaning or maintenance work. But there is a waiting list.
Volunteer John Lind of Huntington, N.Y., spent a week in January, building office cabinets. "It's like being on a ship at sea," he said. "When you crack 100, the building vibrates and the hair kind of stands on the back of your head."
That was when Lind headed outside to the observation deck.
"You get blown around out there," he said. "You don't get to feel that at home."
___
On the Net:
Observatory: http://www.mountwashington.org

La Nina's brewing, forecasters warn - Yahoo! News

La Nina's brewing, forecasters warn - Yahoo! News

.... but it's good news for Australia as she will break our drought ...


WASHINGTON - Forecasters warned Tuesday that a La Nina weather pattern — the nasty flip side of El Nino — is brewing, bringing with it the threat of more hurricanes for the Atlantic.
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the official end of a brief and mild El Nino that started last year. That El Nino was credited with partially shutting down last summer's Atlantic hurricane activity in the midst of what was supposed to be a busy season.
"We're seeing a shift to the La Nina, it's clearly in the data," NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher said. La Nina, a cooling of the mid-Pacific equatorial region, has not officially begun because it's a process with several months with specific temperature thresholds, but the trend is obvious based on satellite and ocean measurement data, he said.
"It certainly won't be welcome news for those living off the coast right now," Lautenbacher said. But he said that doesn't mean Atlantic seaboard residents should sell their homes.
Forecasters don't know how strong this La Nina will be. However, it typically means more hurricanes in the Atlantic, fewer in the Pacific, less rain and more heat for the already drought-stricken South, and a milder spring and summer in the north, Lautenbacher said. The central plains of the United States tend be drier in the fall during La Ninas, while the Pacific Northwest tends to be wetter in the late fall and early winter.
Of special concern is west Texas which is already in a long-term drought, which during a La Nina will likely get worse, Lautenbacher said.
Historically, El Ninos and La Ninas are difficult to forecast, said National Center for Atmospheric Research senior scientist Michael Glantz, who studies how they effect humans.
"I don't see it as a useful forecast," Glantz said. "Every event since they've been looking at El Nino ... surprised scientists."
La Ninas tend to develop from March to June and reach peak intensity at the end of the year and into the next February, according to Vernon Kousky, NOAA's top El Nino/La Nina expert. La Nina winters tend to be warmer than normal in the Southeast and colder than normal in the Northwest.
Andrew Weaver, a meteorology professor at the University of Victoria in Canada, said NOAA's forecast looks good because the signs of a brewing La Nina are apparent just below the ocean's surface.
"La Nina is the evil twin sister of El Nino, so it's good or bad depending on where you live," Weaver said. However, in general La Ninas do not have as costly effects on humans as El Ninos do, he said.
The last lengthy La Nina, from 1998 to 2001, helped cause a serious drought in much of the West, according to NOAA drought specialist Douglas Lecomte.
"There are winners and losers, people tend to concentrate on the losers," Lautenbacher said.
___

Tasmanian Greens - Media Release - LABOR’S INCREDIBLE SHRINKING ‘HANDS OFF THE HYDRO’ PLEDGE

LABOR’S INCREDIBLE SHRINKING ‘HANDS OFF THE HYDRO’ PLEDGE

The Tasmanian Greens today said that the Lennon Labor government was progressively whittling down its 1998 ‘Hands off the Hydro’ pledge, in a cynical ruse to set the scene for the possible sale of the Aurora and Transend government corporations.
Greens Opposition Leader and Shadow Treasury spokesperson Peg Putt MHA said that when Labor came to power on their Hydro promise Tasmanians understood that commitment to encompass the generating, transmission and distribution functions which were centralised in the old Hydro and only disaggregated at around that same time.
Ms Putt also reminded that Labor had voted down her 2001 Hydro-Electric Corporation (Hands Off The Hydro) Amendment Bill because it included the Bell Bay power station, and had also quarantined its windfarms from the promise.
“Tasmania is faced with a shrinking ‘Hands off the Hydro’ pledge as Labor progressively whittles down the promise to exclude the transmission and distribution companies Transend and Aurora, as well as leaving the Bell Bay power station and the windfarms up for grabs,” Ms Putt said.
“Michael Aird should be embarrassed to be claiming that the Lennon government is keeping faith with Tasmanians when their hands are all over substantial parts of the old Hydro counting up the dollars if they decide to sell.”
Ms Putt reiterated the Greens’ call for Labor to rule out selling Aurora or Transend in order to fund the new Royal Hobart Hospital.

News: Nokia supports GSM and WCDMA LBS - Mobile Monday



Nokia supports GSM and WCDMA LBS


so what is SUPL?

location based services


Timo Poropudas
11 Feb 2005 at 19:33
Nokia is introducing the Nokia intelligent Gateway Mobile Location Center (iGMLC) 4.0, a new platform for location-based services (LBS) as part of the Nokia mPosition System. The Nokia iGMLC platform simultaneously supports both GSM and WCDMA 3G location based services, giving operators a future-proof and cost-effective solution for providing mobile services based on the location of the user. In the new iGMLC platform, Nokia is also combining its competencies in positioning systems with technology from Cambridge Positioning Systems (CPS) to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art solution. The platform supports a variety of positioning technologies for both GSM and WCDMA 3G, including new support for enhanced Cell Identity and Mobile Station-based A-GPS, based on the Secure User Plane (SUPL) protocol. In addition, it supports Cambridge Positioning Systems’ SUPL Matrix for 2G. Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), which is mobile network agnostic, does not require additional investments in the core and radio network. The Nokia iGMLC 4.0 platform, including support for enhanced Cell Identity, will be available in the second quarter. Support for MS-based SUPL A-GPS and CPS’ SUPL Matrix for 2G will be available as a software upgrade in the third quarter. “The platform supports the entire range of complementing positioning methods, from low-accuracy to high-accuracy technologies. Also, our collaboration with Cambridge Positioning Systems enables the smooth introduction of totally new position determination technologies, such as Matrix for 2G,” says Heikki Hemmi, General Manager, Location Business Program, Networks, Nokia. With the Nokia mPosition System, mobile operators can build a complete end-to-end system for Location Based Services, while supporting both legacy and LBS enabled handsets. The Nokia mPosition System offers a modular, extensible and scalable platform that operators can use to provide their mobile customers with managed access to LBS services.
Related News

WA under pressure as gas prices double | Mining & Energy | The Australian

WA under pressure as gas prices double

DOMESTIC gas prices in Western Australia have more than doubled in the past year with the latest contracts understood to have reached $5.50 a gigajoule.
But prices in the eastern states are relatively stable because of long-term supply contracts signed earlier this decade by Origin and AGL, and competition with coal.
The West Australian price surge comes as gas customers are complaining there is insufficient domestic gas supply to fuel new projects.
Yet producers say there is plenty of gas; it's just the potential customers are not prepared to pay today's historically high rates.
Last month, Santos announced it had secured a new gas contract to supply Newmont Australia's Jundee goldmine and the Parkeston power station at Kalgoorlie for three years from the John Brookes field in which it has a 45 per cent stake, with Apache Energy holding the rest.
While Santos has not disclosed the price, it is understood Newmont has paid about $5.50 a gigajoule.
The latest edition of EnergyQuest's quarterly review of an Australian energy statistics shows that new West Australian domestic contract sales are being struck at an average of more than $5 a gigajoule.
A year ago the average price for domestic gas reported by the West Australian Department of Industry and Resources was $2.43 a gigajoule.
The equivalent DOIR price for LNG exports was $7.56gj, up from $6.46 a year earlier.
WA Premier Alan Carpenter, last year instituted a new policy that demands new LNG project proponents commit 15 per cent of their reserves to domestic use if commercially viable.
At the time Mr Carpenter said the move had nothing to do with keeping domestic prices low but everything to do with LNG prices being higher than domestic prices, thus threatening future supplies of gas for domestic use.
EnergyQuest chief executive Graeme Bethune said average prices received by Australian LNG producers fell by 3.4 between the December quarters of 2005 and 2006, which he ascribed to lower international oil prices, to which LNG sales contracts are linked.

Spark could fire up portfolio with Basslink, Origin assets - Business - Business

Spark could fire up portfolio with Basslink, Origin assets -


POWER distributor Spark Infrastructure Group may bid for assets that could be sold by Origin Energy and Alinta, as well as overseas units, as it seeks to expand beyond its three original businesses.
Spark, 9.9 per cent owned by Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, may also bid for the Basslink power cable linking Tasmania with the Australian mainland to be sold by National Grid, chief executive Bob Stobbe said yesterday.
The Sydney-based company failed to win either of two assets it bid for last year, one in Australia and one in Britain, because the prices rival buyers offered were too high, he said.
Spark, which owns 49 per cent of three power distribution companies in southern Australia, raised $1.64 billion in an initial public offer in December 2005, intending to seek acquisitions of regulated power, gas and water assets.
"They are specifically saying they are going to do something, going to add to their portfolio of assets," said Nathan Lim, an infrastructure analyst at Aegis Equities Research.
"It's more likely to be something negotiated or amicable. I don't think Spark are undisciplined and if they do make an acquisition they've made it very clear it would have to be accretive to the distribution."
Shares in Spark Infrastructure gained 2.5¢, or 1.8 per cent, to $1.39 yesterday.
The Origin assets "would fit and some of the assets in the Alinta group fit our mandate as well", Mr Stobbe said. Spark also had "a couple" of potential overseas acquisitions, in Britain, Europe or the US, "in the pipeline", he said.
The company, jointly managed by Cheung Kong Infrastructure and a unit of Deutsche Asset Management, may make acquisitions together with those partners, Mr Stobbe said.
"I'm hearing that they're finding a lot more opportunities out there in the northern hemisphere, they're finding that prices are not quite as full as they are in Australia," Mr Lim said.
"There are obviously a lot of opportunities still out there," Mr Stobbe said in a media conference call.
"If they meet our mandate, we will be looking at them and are looking at them. We will keep a disciplined approach in relation to acquisitions but we still have a view of building our portfolio of assets during 2007."
Mr Stobbe said Spark bid "aggressively" for assets last year, and still failed to win any. The prices paid for some assets in the past year would not have provided value for Spark's shareholders, he said.

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Analysis - China and India face up to curbs on carbon

China and India face up to curbs on carbon


developments to watch!?

Beijing’s eerily mild winter has provoked anxious media coverage in the Chinese capital. In India, the melting of the Himalayan glaciers that feed the country’s great river systems is alarming policymakers. The world’s two fastest-growing large economies are growing increasingly conscious of the global warming in which their rapid development is playing a part.
The politics of pollution has also been brought home in recent weeks with the publication of the report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – containing a fresh and, in Beijing and New Delhi, unwelcome focus on the role of the two Asian behemoths.

Torrens Energy to raise $6m in IPO - WA Business News

Torrens Energy to raise $6m in IPO -


...... The slow radiogenic decay which heats these rocks is a nuclear phenomena -- but don't tell the green anti-nukers this though .......

West Perth-based geothermal energy exploration company Torrens Energy Ltd has announced plans to raise $6 million through its initial public offer, using the money to assess its exploration portfolio. The full text of a company announcement is pasted belowOne of Australia's most unique and timely public share offers, a $6 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) for Australian geothermal exploration company Torrens Energy Limited, opens today (Tuesday, 27 February 2007). The capital raised from the IPO will be applied to the initial exploration of the Company's large GEL land position in South Australia.Unusually hot rocks are known to occur in South Australia. These rocks are a vast untapped reservoir of energy, which can be used to generate electricity. Cold water is pumped into the ground, with superheated water being returned to surface which is "flashed" into steam, to drive a turbine, to generate clean, reliable electricity. The Company's portfolio of geothermal exploration licences near Adelaide in South Australia capitalises on the unique combination of the right geological conditions coinciding with infrastructure and markets.The Company plans to identify geothermal targets for development, to become a dominant player in efficient, reliable electricity generation in Australia, using sustainable, renewable, emissions-free geothermal energy. What sets Torrens apart is its proximity to infrastructure and markets, being the first Company to recognize the geothermal potential which exists just kilometres north of Adelaide, on the National Power Grid.Torrens has already completed work that has confirmed the prospectivity of its licence areas; drill hole temperature data and rock thermal property measurements completed and independently verified, show temperatures of 200oC modelled to 5000m depth, on all of the Company's tenements in South Australia.Headed by a management team experienced in HFR geothermal exploration, corporate management, research and project development, Torrens Energy's business model has already attracted strong endorsement, demonstrated by a $100,000 matching funding PACE (Plan for Accelerating Exploration) grant from the South Australian Government and great interest from the market in its up coming IPO.The IPO comprises the offer of 30 million shares at 20c each, with one free listed option for every two shares, to raise $6 million. Perth- and Melbourne-based Cygnet Capital is Lead Manager to the issue have acknowledged a high level of interest in the IPO.Torrens will use the IPO funds to initially assess a portfolio of 14 Geothermal Exploration Licences (GELs) known to contain both an active heat source and an insulating sedimentary "blanket" of rocks. The GELs, covering three separate project areas, are ideally located, close to South Australia's major transport, domestic infrastructure and Australia's national power grid. Torrens Energy's Chief Executive Officer and geothermal expert, Mr Chris Matthews, said the IPO provided Australian investors with a unique opportunity to gain exposure to exciting commercial opportunities provided by the significant and growing demand for additional power generation across Australia, while at the same time contributing to a reduction in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions."For the first time we have been able to show the potential of these (GEL) areas to produce viable temperatures at accessible depths, and have confirmed their prospectivity through detailed thermal test work, heat flow estimation and temperature modelling," Torrens CEO, Chris Matthews said."Most geothermal exploration in Australia to date has been conducted in remote areas, but Torrens' highly prospective exploration licences are close to established electricity markets already experiencing supply pressures," Mr Matthews said. "Torrens' potential to make a real difference in the alternative energy market has already been recognised by the South Australian Government with the awarding of a $100,000 PACE Grant, and the Federal Government is also showing it strongly supports renewable energy development, last week announcing a $5 million grant for a hot rocks project in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia."Australia is a standout producer of greenhouse gasses per capita, which as a socially responsible nation we should not tolerate. There has been a resurgence in interest in clean alternatives in Australia, and the investing public is rushing in to get exposure in this new industry. Our view is that of the sustainable energy sources, such as solar, wind and waves, geothermal energy stands alone in its ability to offer large scale, 24/7 baseload power with no fuel, no emissions, and no waste. It has also been assessed as being more cost efficient, under a carbon levy system, than most traditional forms of fossil-fuel based energy production."Torrens' IPO is offering 30 million shares to raise $6,000,000 at an offer price of 20 cents each, with one free attaching listed option for every two shares. The current Prospectus timetable has both the Priority and Public Offers opening on the 27th of February 2007, with closing dates to be 12th of March 2007 for the Priority Offer and 21st of March 2007 for the Public Offer. It should be noted that the Torrens Board reserves the right to close off early in the event that share allocation is filled.
Viking navigation hypothesis under foggy and cloudy skies requires more light


location based services

did Eric the Red have a GPS?


Members of the group that investigated skylight polarization, taken during the Beringia 2005 Arctic expedition. Credit: Gabor Horvath.While history portrays the Vikings as skillful masters of the sea, sailing treacherous routes in the northern Atlantic Ocean during the 10th-13th centuries, just how much knowledge, technology and ability they possessed is debatable. One theory claims that the Vikings could navigate even on cloudy or foggy days using skylight polarization, which would not only require specific atmospheric conditions, but technology beyond anything known in Viking culture.
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Vikings - In year 7 or 8? Find info on the early modern Viking society here! www.skwirk.com.au



Scientists Ramon Hegedus, Susanne Akesson, Rudiger Wehner, and Gabor Horvath have recently investigated the idea of polarimetric Viking navigation, which was first proposed in 1966 by the archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou. While no archeological evidence has been found to support the idea, several pieces of published material cite the Viking polarization hypothesis as an assumed fact. The scientists, however, have found that more light needs to be shed on the Viking navigation polarization hypothesis for confirmation.
Polarimetry images measured by full-sky imaging. Credit: Credit: Gabor Horvath“Since the Vikings did not possess a magnetic compass, it is an enigma how these excellent sailors could have navigated on the open waters,” Horvath told PhysOrg.com. “This enigma was partly solved when archaeologists found some remains of a Viking sun-dial, a splendid instrument composed of a wooden disk with a perpendicular gnomon in its center. In the disk, some hyperbolas were engraved, which corresponded with the curves described by the tip of the gnomon’s shadow cast on the disk from sunrise to sunset during the sailing season from April to August on the 61 degrees north latitude. “To read the direction of geographical North, the disk was rotated around the vertical gnomon until the tip of the gnomon’s shadow touched the appropriate hyperbola. This is the so-called 'solar Viking navigation'. However, the Viking sun-dial could have functioned only in sunshine. Thus the next enigma was how the Vikings could have navigated by their sun-dials under cloudy or foggy conditions.” To detect skylight polarization on cloudy or foggy days, the idea is that the Vikings could have used a sunstone, an enigmatic birefringent (double-refracting) crystal, like cordierite, turmalin, or calcite, which are common in the Scandinavian region and even mentioned in a Viking saga. The sunstone could signal the direction of the sun by the display of polarized light traveling through the crystal, which would be useful on the Viking’s typical east-west route between Greenland and Norway. “In polarimetric Viking navigation, first the direction of polarization of light from a clear, blue sky region should be determined,” Horvath explained. “Then, from the direction of polarization of skylight, the azimuth direction of the solar-antisolar meridian is obtained (according to the Rayleigh theory of skylight polarization, these two directions are perpendicular to each other). “The idea that the azimuth direction of the sun occluded by a cloud can be determined from the direction of polarization of light from the clear, blue sky regions, originates from the Austrian biologist Karl von Frisch (later Nobel Prize winner). In 1949, von Frisch discovered the polarization vision of honey bees, and showed that these insects are able to navigate by means of the sky polarization when the sun is hidden by clouds, as long as there are some clear, blue sky regions.” In investigating the validity of the idea, a group Horvath belongs to at the Biooptics Laboratory at the Eotvos University in Hungary has been traveling on a journey of its own. In 2005, this group tested an assumption that solar positions, or solar azimuth directions, could be estimated by the naked eye, even if the sun is behind the clouds or below the sea horizon (Roslund and Beckman, 1994). If true, then the Vikings would have had no need for using skylight polarization during cloudy or foggy skies to determine the sun’s position. “Our data from 2005, obtained in psychophysical laboratory experiments, did not support the common belief that the invisible sun can be located quite accurately from the celestial brightness and/or color patterns under partly cloudy or twilight conditions,” said Horvath. ”Thus, Roslund and Beckman’s counter-argument cannot be a valid criticism of the hypothesis of polarimetric Viking navigation.” In their current paper, Horvath’s group performed a second important step, defining five prerequisites for the possibility of navigation by polarization. The group investigated two of them: how similar the pattern of the angle of polarization of a foggy or cloudy sky is compared with a clear sky, and whether or not an adequate degree of linear polarization exists on cloudy or foggy days. The other three conditions were based on the Vikings’ knowledge and technology, which require further examination. “Using full-sky imaging polarimetry, we have shown that one of the two atmospheric optical prerequisites of the polarimetric Viking navigation is always fulfilled under both foggy and cloudy conditions,” said Horvath. “The distribution (pattern) of the direction of polarization of skylight on the foggy or cloudy celestial hemisphere is similar to that of the clear sky, which was a great surprise for us. However, we would like to emphasize that the Dutch meteorologist Guenther P. Koennen has already hypothesized this phenomenon in his famous book Polarized Light in Nature (Cambridge University Press, 1985).
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“If the fog layer is illuminated by direct sunlight, the other prerequisite is usually satisfied only for cloudy skies,” he continued. “In sunlit fog, the Vikings could have navigated by polarization, only if the polarization of light from the foggy sky was sufficiently strong.” Although by using modern linear polarization filters, the scientists could determine the sun’s approximate location on an average cloudy day, they speculate that the Vikings’ crystals likely would have required more than the available amount of polarization. For now, physics cannot rule one way or another until further research reveals more about the Vikings’ culture and technology—anything else is speculation. But the political aspect of speculation is intriguing in itself: it’s easy to romanticize the past, to project modern knowledge onto ancient peoples, without realizing that we may be making too many assumptions. On the other hand, we have often underestimated the abilities of past peoples, and been surprised at discovering that some of our modern inventions have been invented more than once. Citations: Hegedus, Ramon, Akesson, Susanne, Wehner, Rudiger, and Horvath, Gabor. “Could Vikings have navigated under foggy and cloudy conditions by skylight polarization? On the atmospheric optical prerequisites of polarimetric Viking navigation under foggy and cloudy skies.” Proc. R. Soc. A. 463 : 1081-1095 (2007). Barta, Andras, Horvath, Gabor, and Meyer-Rochow, Benno. “Psychophysical study of the visual sun location in pictures of cloudy and twilight skies inspired by Viking navigation.” Journal of the Optical Society of America A 22: 1023-1034 (2005). Copyright 2007 PhysOrg.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be

An inconvenient truth: eco-warrior Al Gore's bloated gas and electricity bills | Energy | Guardian Unlimited Environment

An inconvenient truth: eco-warrior Al Gore's bloated gas and electricity bills

Great article -- there should be more of this -- exposing the hypocrisy of those carbon eunuchs -who hog the stage, sing all the high notes --- but don't have the cojones to actually deliver the goods



Household consumption 20 times national average· Supporters claim smear campaign after Oscars win

Al Gore knows a thing or two about the vicissitudes of public life. Six years ago he was virtually written off as a has-been vice-president after he won the popular vote only to lose the 2000 race for the White House. On Sunday night his rehabilitation was completed as he was crowned the moral mouthpiece of Hollywood, receiving an Oscar for his global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
In front of the cream of the movie industry and the world's cameras, he stood alongside fellow eco-warrior Leonardo DiCaprio and proclaimed the ceremony the first in the Academy Awards' history to be run on "environmentally intelligent" lines. "And you know what?" he told the adoring crowd. "It's not as hard as you might think. We have a long way to go but all of us can do something in our own lives to make a difference."


Twenty four hours is a long time in green politics. By Monday night Mr Gore found himself back in that all-too familiar place - the eye of the storm.
A little-known group based in his home state, the Tennessee Centre for Policy Research, had the idea of looking up Mr Gore's energy bills for his large home in the Belle Meade area of Nashville to see whether he practised what he preached.
The headline figures, released to the group under federal freedom of information rules, were striking. Last year the Gore household consumed 221,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity - more than 20 times the national annual average.
His household consumption of energy rose between 2005 and 2006, the bills showed, from 16,200 kWh a month to 18,400 kWh last year. In addition, he spent on average $1,080 (£550) a month on natural gas. Combined, his electricity and gas bills reached almost $30,000.
The group released the information on Monday night under the title "Al Gore's personal energy use is his own inconvenient truth". Its president, Drew Johnson, told the Guardian that he had no objection to someone spending $30,000 on energy to light and heat a multimillion dollar house. "I only have a problem with that person telling us what light-bulbs to buy and that we should get a new low-energy refrigerator. That's hypocrisy, and I'm proud to have exposed it," he said.
By yesterday the news of Mr Gore's energy bills was flying around the internet at a rate which, were the web petrol-powered, would have led to instant sea level rises. Conservative and libertarian bloggers, from Instapundit to Hot Air and Red State, luxuriated over the details, while progressive and liberal blogs led by the Huffington Post tried to discredit the report by describing it as a typical smear campaign. It had been timed for the Oscars, the Post's blogger said, by a group that had no official status and had connections with rightwing groups funded by ExxonMobil.
Mr Johnson denied the oil industry link and said he had no intention of smearing Mr Gore, but had been motivated simply by a desire to hold public figures to account.
His group, which is registered as a non-profit organisation, describes itself as an independent thinktank that promotes a vision of a free society grounded in property rights, individual liberty and limited government.
By yesterday morning Mr Gore's team was pulled into the controversy. Kalee Kreider, his environmental adviser, told the Guardian that "you can attack the messenger but the message remains the same". She said Mr Gore's fuel bills failed to tell the whole picture. All the energy used for the Nashville home came from a green power provider to the Tennessee Valley that draws its energy from solar, wind-powered and methane gas supplies, among other sources.
The Gores were installing solar panels on the roof of their home, Ms Kreider added, and making efforts to reduce their energy needs. Besides, Mr Gore had adopted a "carbon neutral" life whereby any emissions for which he was personally responsible were offset by buying green credits such as parcels of forests.
"The point about vice-president Gore is that he's devoted 30 years of his life to educating people about global warming. That says something about the man," she said.
Laurie David, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, said that the furore was only to be expected. A leading global warming campaigner, she is familiar with criticism of this kind having been called a "jetstream liberal" for using private planes. "What this lame attempt to discredit Al Gore tells me is that we are winning. This is comedy at its best - it's straight out of the David Letterman show."
Mr Gore, or the Goracle as he is now known, has so far kept out of the fray. He is flying high, his old image as Bill Clinton's wooden sidekick long since forgotten. The Washington Post has dubbed him Al Gore: rock star, and he is planning a global round of Live Earth concerts for the summer. Rumours persist that he will make a late run for the 2008 election, prompting an elaborate joke at the Oscars in which he pretended to be announcing a presidential bid only to be shooed off stage.
With all that riding in his favour, he will wish to swat away the present noise as quickly as possible. If nothing else, though, this is a reminder that in politics - even if it's green - you should never take anything for granted.Interactive guidesGlobal warmingThe slowdown of the Gulf StreamSpecial reportsSpecial report: climate changeSpecial report: G8Useful linksIPCCUN framework convention on climate change
Scientists develop remote-controlled pigeon


location based services

The implications of this story are amazing - e.g. cyberbirds filling the sky -- get them to poop on your pals for a joke?

Hitchcock's "Birds" revisited?


"Chinese scientists may have found a solution to the problem of pigeons in Trafalgar Square: the first remotely controlled bird.

The new development could help London's Mayor wage a war on pigeons in Trafalgar Square

They have successfully implanted electrodes in the brain of a pigeon to control its movements via a computer.
Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology in eastern China said the electrodes could make the pigeon fly right or left or up or down.
'The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and force the bird to comply with their commands,' said Xinhua news agency.
'It’s the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world,' the centre’s chief scientist, Su Xuecheng, added.
advertisementThe development could help Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, with his war on pigeons in Trafalgar Square.
He has repeatedly been criticised by animal rights activists who claim that he has indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of birds through starvation and by deploying Harris hawks to scare the pigeons away.
The Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons group say that Mr Livingstone broke a 2002 contract, under which the pigeons would continue to be fed but in reduced quantities.

"

Turnbull says Labor waging nuclear scare campaign. 28/02/2007. ABC News Online

Turnbull says Labor waging nuclear scare campaign.

tell me more ! -- says Natasha

it's a conspiracy ! -- says Christine

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has attacked what he calls Labor's scare campaign on nuclear reactors.
The Opposition is pushing the Government to explain where nuclear power plants might be built if a nuclear industry is developed in Australia.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday told Parliament that last year he spoke to Melbourne businessman Ron Walker, who is behind a new business called Australian Nuclear Energy.
Mr Turnbull says it is too early to discuss the location of nuclear sites.
"There is a scare campaign being run but people are concerned about all sorts of developments, people are concerned about wind farms, people are concerned about coal-fired power stations, naturally they'll be interested in what is happening in their backyard," he said.
"But the siting of a nuclear power station, or indeed a coal power station or a wind farm, has to take in a whole range of considerations."
He says Labor's opposition to nuclear energy casts doubt over its commitment to addressing the impact of climate change.
"You cannot run a modern economy on wind farms and solar panels," he said.
"It's a pity that you can't, but you can't.
"Labor refuses to recognise the reality of the challenge - they panic about the challenge then they take the solutions off the table, for no reason other than their own ideology."
Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja says John Howard should reveal more details about his conversation with Ron Walker.
Senator Stott Despoja says she wants to know more.
"I'd like to hear the Prime Minister detail his conversation," she said.
"Nuclear energy and power is not currently sanctioned in this country and yet this is a business company that is going to invest in and potentially develop nuclear energy if it's allowed.
"And he's had a chat with the Prime Minister - you bet I'd like to know more."
Greens Senator Christine Milne says Mr Howard has more questions to answer over his conversation with Mr Walker.
"I'd be very interested to know about the relationships between the Prime Minister, the polling, the waste dump, the task force and nuclear reactors," she said.
"These businessmen have got access to polling companies, the same companies the Government uses.
"The whole thing looks very much like a little inner cabal."
Convincing public
Federal Liberal backbencher Mal Washer says the Government must act quickly to convince the public that nuclear power is the way forward.
"We have a lot of work to do to to allow our public to do that appropriately and that's going to take some time, and I think we should be starting now," he said.
"Let's not worry about the electoral cycle, let's start now."
Another Liberal backbencher, Russell Broadbent, says he would not support a nuclear power plant in his Victorian electorate.
Mr Broadbent says his electorate in the Latrobe Valley produces coal-fired power and is not an appropriate location for a nuclear plant.
"Quite seriously, why would you put a nuclear plant that's 20 times dearer than clean coal, right on top of the opportunities that we have in Victoria?' he said.
"Yes, there are other parts of Victoria that you might put a power plant but you wouldn't put it in Gippsland."

Brazilian move into local coal - Business - Business - smh.com.au

Brazilian move into local coal -

The Australaian coal mining industry gets a "brazilian treatment" i.e. trimming off the unsightly black bits

BRAZIL'S Companhia Vale do Rio Doce has launched a major push into the Australian market just weeks after overtaking Rio Tinto to rank as the world's second-largest mining company.
The rapidly expanding Brazilian iron ore group yesterday said it would acquire privately owned coal producer AMCI Australia for $835 million to help diversify its product mix.
Senior CVRD executives told analysts they were likely to consider additional Australian purchases in the future.
"Australia is a country that has been on CVRD's radar for some time now, because it is a geological terrain that is very similar to the Brazilian one," CVRD non-ferrous minerals head Jose Lancaster said through a translator. He said Australia had lots of iron ore and uranium, so it "makes sense we conduct research in that country".
The AMCI acquisition represents CVRD's first major push into Australia, although in 2005 the company signed a deal with AMCI and Aquila Resources to study the Belvedere coking coal project in Queensland.
It has also picked up interests in local projects and companies such as Heron Resources through its $US16.8 billion ($21.2 billion) purchase of Canadian nickel producer Inco last year. That deal propelled CVRD into the same league as London-listed rivals BHP Billiton, Rio, Anglo American and Xstrata.
CVRD's move came just days after former BHP Billiton chief executive Brian Gilbertson formed a private equity consortium which includes US-based AMCI to make a tilt at Perth miner Consolidated Minerals. Analysts had speculated AMCI's Australian coal assets might eventually be folded into ConsMin.
AMCI Australia, which is headquartered in Brisbane, produces 8 million tonnes of predominantly coking coal a year at open cut and underground mines in the Hunter Valley and the Bowen Basin.
"The deal complements CVRD's overarching strategy of providing a complete suite of steel-making raw materials," Macquarie Equities global resources analyst Sophie Spartalis said. "[It] provides a platform for CVRD to further launch its coal growth strategy."
CVRD business development director Pedro Jose Rodrigues noted his company was also interested in AMCI's 7000 square kilometres of exploration assets, which could contain 3 billion tonnes of coal resources.
"The production numbers for AMCI are not so great," he said. "The important fact is we are entering a major basin [Bowen] where all the major producers of coking coal are present. This is a very strategic position we have entered, with all our competitors aiming at expanding their businesses more."
Climate Change
What is climate (and weather)?

a mighty fine article which puts things in perspective


The (Australian) Bureau of Meteorology [1] define climate as “the sum or synthesis of all the weather recorded over a long period of time. It tells us the average or most common conditions, or extremes, or counts of events, or frequencies”. Whereas they describe weather as “a description of conditions over a short period of time - a "snap shot" of the atmosphere at a particular time”. In simple terms, climate is what is generally most likely to occur (i.e. what you expect); weather is what you get.
Natural Climate Variability in Australia
There is a great deal of natural variability in the climatic zones across Australia. Some of this variability is obvious i.e. summer versus winter or the wet versus the dry. Other important - yet not so obvious - sources of natural climate variability in Australia are changes in circulation patterns associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) or Southern Annular Mode (SAM). We provide brief descriptions of each of these changes below.
ENSO El Nino- Southern Oscillation
El Niño refers to the extensive warming of the sea surface region in the central and eastern Pacific that leads to a major shift in weather patterns across the Pacific. In Australia (particularly eastern Australia), El Niño events are associated with an increased probability of drier conditions (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Typical impacts of El Nino events [4].
The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is calculated from the monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin.
Sustained negative values of the SOI often indicate El Niño episodes. These negative values are usually accompanied by sustained warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, a decrease in the strength of the Pacific Trade Winds, and a reduction in rainfall over eastern and northern Australia. The most recent strong El Niño was in 1997/98.
Positive values of the SOI are associated with stronger Pacific trade winds and warmer sea temperatures to the north of Australia, popularly known as a La Niña episode. Waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become cooler during this time, shifting convection associated with the Walker circulation over the Australian region (Fig. 2). Together these give an increased probability that eastern and northern Australia will be wetter than normal [4].

Figure 2. A schematic of the typical circulation pattern and those associated with El Nino events [4]
IPO (Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation)
The Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) is similar to El Nino in that it is a change in climate related to sea surface temperatures (SST). However the IPO events tend to last much longer, 20-30 years as opposed to 18 months, and the changes manifest themselves mainly in the northern and southern Pacific with only secondary characteristic seen in the tropics, the opposite to ENSO [5]. What is unclear at this time is how, or if, and to what extent IPO is separate from ENSO. This important as understanding IPO could lead to better long term projection of ENSO events that will directly affect Australian rainfall [6].
IOD (Indian Ocean Dipole)
The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a climate mode that occurs in the tropical parts of the Indian Ocean. During a positive IOD event, the SST drops in the southeastern part of the Indian Ocean: off the northern coast of Australia, the eastern coast of Japan and throughout Indonesia; while the SST rises in the western equatorial Indian Ocean: off the eastern coast of Africa, from the northern half of Madagascar to the northern edge of Somalia. In a negative IOD event the reverse conditions exist, as illustrated below.

Figure 3. Positive and Negative Indian Ocean Dipole modes. Red indicates high sea surface temperatures light blue indicates lower sea surface temperatures. From the UN Atlas of the Oceans [7]

AAO or SAM (Antarctic Oscillation or Southern Annular Mode)
The Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) or Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is a mode of variation in the atmosphere of the high latitudes in the southern hemisphere; there is a northern hemisphere equivalent, the Artic Oscillation. Some research has suggested that a strengthening of the Antarctic Vortex “pulls” the westerlies that bring rain to the southern part of the Australian continent closer towards the South Pole. This could reduce rainfall in Australia and may have contributed to the decline seen in south west WA over the past 30 years [8].

What is Climate Change?
Climate change, as opposed to climate variability, is the term used to describe changes in average weather over time periods ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes may be driven by external forces (i.e. predictable orbital variations or solar variation), result from processes internal to the Earth (i.e. plate tectonics or volcanic activity) or be caused by human activities (anthropogenic) such as global warming.
An increase in greenhouse gas levels (global warming) is only one impact that humans have on climate. Recent research has suggested that the aerosols and particulate pollution from industry and vehicles has lead to a similar cooling effect that might be reversed as these processes are cleaned up [2] [3]. The clouds, or condensation trails (contrails), produced by Aircraft are other impacts that is not well understood. Clouds are thought to produce a cooling effect by reflecting in coming radiation from the sun. However they also serve to prevent infrared radiation from leaving the atmosphere resulting in a heating affect. Which effect has the greater impact on average temperatures is dependent on the elevation of the cloud, its thickness and also its optical properties.
Considerations for measurement and interpretation of climate change
Detection
Detection is the process of determining whether or not a change in the climate is occurring, and how it is manifested (i.e. temperature change, rainfall change, etc.). In the case of climate change, changes most be shown to be statistically larger than what could be expected form natural variability (discussed below). As the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as storms is extremely variable, it is very difficult to demonstrate whether or not they are changing.
The most statistically valid example of recent climate change in Australia is the stepwise decrease in rainfall observed in south west Western Australia. As discussed on the Global Warming page, total annual rainfall in Perth and its surrounds dropped dramatically in the mid 1970’s and has remained well below long term averages through to the present. This decrease in rainfall has led to a much larger decrease in the runoff into Perth’s water supply reservoirs and for environmental flows in rivers throughout south west WA.
Attribution
Attribution is the process of determining the causes of change. In the case of climate change, while we can determine the causes of increased CO2 levels and we can correlate the severity of storms with warmer sea surface temperatures, we can not attribute the occurrence of one severe storm to climate change.
Abrupt Changes
As shown in the global warming page, some changes can occur abruptly without warning. These changes are not slow gradual variations that can be monitored or predicted and therefore will not be accounted for through planning or mitigation. These sudden rapid transformations in conditions could devastate an ecosystem.
Significance of Climate Change
The global warming fact sheet discusses observed changes and potential impacts of climate change with emphasis on the coastal zone.
Existing information and Data
Long term Australian data on temperature, rainfall and sea surface temperatures are available from The Bureau of Meteorology. The BOM website allows users to create trend maps and time series graphs of various data for specific regions or for all of Australia.
The Australian Greenhouse Office through the Australian Climate Change Science Programme has produced a number of publications on the climate change science in Australia and the potential impacts of climate change on Australia. These include: Climate Change- An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts by Barrie Pittock and Stronger Evidence but New Challenges- Climate Change Science 2001- 2005 by Will Steffen.
Key questions and further research needs
Impact of climate change on major circulation patterns (ENSO, IPO, IOD and AO) and their significance on climate variability in Australia
Impact of storm intensity and frequency on estuaries
Likelihood and significance of abrupt climate change conditions
References
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/
Bellouin, N., O. Boucher, J.Haywood and M. S. Reddy. (2005) Global estimate of aerosol direct radiative forcing from satellite measurements, Nature, 438, 1138-1141
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Author
Chris Hepplewhite, Geoscience Australia
Coupled and Ocean Model Studies of the Stability and Variability of the Earth


when googling ENSO IPO SAM IOD you get some great references that counter the IPCC line that pushes man-made climate change is dominant

here is one of them ............

There remains great uncertainty as to how variable the earth's climate system is. We propose to study the variability and stability of past and present and future climates using coupled ocean-atmosphere-ice-land surface models and stand-alone ocean and atmosphere models. This project covers four diverse yet intimately linked areas of research. 1. Investigation of large scale patterns of climate variability. While much focus on climate variability is associated with the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Southern Hemisphere extratropics has its own distinct patterns of variability. Of particular importance is the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) which is characterised by changes in the strength and position of the strong midlatitude westerlies. This ‘mode’ of variability is particularly robust – occurring in many climate models, even where ENSO is not captured – and has far reaching effects on the ocean and ice systems as well as regional climate. This has recently become an area of intense research, in particular as a robust trend in the characteristics of the SAM have become evident. Our work will investigate the response of the climate system to both variability and trends in the SAM. Continued research will also focus on the effect of the interaction between the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice systems in modulating the SAM. 2. While the patterns of variability may be hemispheric in nature distinct regional effects are evident. Australia (and New Zealand) are within the domain of the SAM and as such a large part of the continental climate variability (including rainfall and temperatures) are likely influenced by the SAM. In addition other patterns of variability including ENSO and an Indian Ocean counterpart – the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)– will have a controlling effect over the continent. We will be investigating the mechanisms behind the variability and trends for both Australian and New Zealand rainfall and determine the associated predictability of extreme climate events. The synoptic-style character of midlatitude climate hampers predictive skill at extended timescales. This is especially important for a country such as Australia with its semi-arid to arid climate and the predisposition to droughts. Increased knowledge of the influence the extratropics have on Australian climate, especially in terms of precipitation patterns and temperatures, will help to increase the skill of seasonal forecasting and thus be able to improve agricultural and water management decisions. The respective influences of the SAM, ENSO and IOD will be explored across the Australian continent, and more regionally for southwest Western Australia (as a continuation of the work by England et al., 2006) and Southeastern Australia (following on from previous work by Pook et al., 2006) 3. Over the past few decades significant changes in ocean circulation have also become apparent. A part of these trends is likely due to long term variations in the SH variability and associated changed in sea-ice distributions. Our work will focus on present day changes in the Southern Ocean thermohaline circulation, in particular changes associated with Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). Simulated changes in sea-ice, atmospheric-ocean interactions and freshwater fluxes will be related to AABW variability. This in turn, will give us a better understanding of the stability of the Southern Ocean to climate pertubations. A number of perturbations (related to trends in Antarctic ice cover, the Southern Annular Mode and freshwater fluxes) will be applied to a present-day control run in order to establish the response of the Southern Ocean THC to climate change. The above work will revolve around both available observations and simulations carried out on one of the leading climate models – the NCAR CCSM – whose efficacy has been demonstrated on the APAC (SGI Altix) supercomputer. This is a computationally expensive model – simulating the global atmosphere, ocean, land and sea-ice at high spatial resolution, and as such requires significant time even across large numbers of processors. It also generates very large datasets of climate variable timeseries, and as such also has significant storage requirements. 4. Finally we will continue on a rather distinct line of interdisciplinary work that will look at the dispersal ability of marine species using a coupled global biological-ocean model. This research has the ability to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic species introduction - a particular concern as climate patterns, that affect both ocean circulation and habitat suitability, change. This research carried out on the APAC Linux cluster received the 2006 Eureka Prize for Environmental Research.