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Some reading for the “anti-warmalists” and “climate-change deniers”

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« on: February 16, 2009, 04:42:31 pm »

Warming catches up with big glaciers

By RUTH LAUGESEN - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 18 November 2007

DISAPPEARING ICE: The Tasman Glacier, the biggest of New Zealand's twelve largest glaciers, all of which are rapidly shrinking in response to regional climate warming.

DISAPPEARING ICE: The Tasman Glacier, the biggest of New Zealand's twelve largest
glaciers, all of which are rapidly shrinking in response to regional climate warming.


Climate change is making New Zealand's biggest glaciers melt twice as quickly as comparable ice masses overseas, according to research released today.

The Southern Alps' 12 biggest glaciers had crossed a "tipping point" into faster melting as they respond to regional warming, said National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research principal scientist Jim Salinger.

"These have now passed a threshold, where the ice is collapsing, rapidly expanding lakes at the foot of the glaciers," he said.

"It is not yet clear whether the glaciers will disappear completely with future warming, but they are set to shrink further as they adjust to today's climate."

The findings come as the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases a synthesis report in Valencia today on climate change, its likely impacts, and what can be done to mitigate it or adapt to it.

The report, which builds on the findings of three IPCC reports this year, will arm policymakers as they go into the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali next month. Those talks will begin work on an international agreement for responding to climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

The Niwa research, which is the first long-term study of ice mass in the Southern Alps, found 5.8cukm of ice had been lost in the past 20 years. That was almost 11% of the total ice mass. More than 90% of this loss was from the 12 largest glaciers.

Those glaciers Tasman, Godley, Murchison, Classen, Mueller, Hooker, Ramsay, Volta/Therma, La Perouse, Balfour, Grey, and Maud had lost an average of 22m in ice thickness since 1986. In comparison, figures from the World Glacier Monitoring Service found that a sample of large world glaciers had lost an average of 9.6m in ice thickness since 1980.

Smaller glaciers, having rapidly adjusted to regional warming earlier, had not receded much in the past 20 years or in a few cases have slightly advanced. They include two well-known West Coast glaciers, the Fox and the Franz Josef.

Salinger said the glaciers overseas had responded more quickly to rising temperatures, and had thus already experienced substantial melting. New Zealand mean air temperatures have risen 0.4C since 1950 but the big glaciers here would probably not disappear any sooner than those overseas because they had taken longer to respond to warmer temperatures typically being covered in an insulating blanket of thick rock debris.

However, Salinger says, "it is already clear that they will not return to their earlier lengths without extraordinary cooling of the climate because the large lakes now block their advance".

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4277239a6442.html
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2009, 04:43:05 pm »

Shrinking footprints

The Press | Saturday, 26 January 2008

The environmental challenges facing the world may seem overwhelming. JOHN McCRONE meets some people who are undaunted by the seeming hopelessness of responding as individuals.

The view from inside and outside a Hummer is very different. Inside is a driver feeling pride in the "power, capability, attitude, and authenticity" of a massive, military-style, 44 Yank tank.

But outside is a public now almost universally thinking "there goes a gas guzzling dickhead" says Carlin Archer, of the Christchurch eco-living webguide, ecobob. com.

"The driver's saying, ‘look at me. Aren't I great? I can afford to waste huge amounts of fuel’."

For many Kiwis, 2007 proved to be a tipping point. At least that is what those working at the grassroots of sustainable living are saying they have seen.

"People have woken up and want to know what they can do," says Rhys Taylor, national co-ordinator of the Sustainable Living Programme. "They certainly saw Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. But they say it is actually something that's been nagging away at the back of their minds for a long time. Now they are ready to act."

Taylor says for an old greenie like himself, the swiftness of the mood change has been a surprise. For decades society seemed to be going only one way - houses got bigger, cars faster, the travel more exotic. For example, he can remember when a room had one plug point. A newly built home could now have six to a room. And there will be something plugged into each of them. "If we talk about our carbon footprint, we can see it has been literally expanding."

People have got used to consuming more stuff every year. And even if it is only 2 or 3 per cent extra, it adds up. Suddenly people are looking around and realising it is not just their bodies that have grown flabby, says Taylor. Their lifestyle feels bloated, heavy-footed. There is a desire to put the process in reverse and start shedding the kilos again.

The question is how to reorganise their lives? No-one wants to go back to the past, to give up on luxury and fun. So what is the mainstream response going to be? What is the blueprint for a sustainable future?

Archer seems as much as anyone the face of the new environmentalism. EcoBob stands for "best of both" - keep your lifestyle, but also keep the world.

Running a Christchurch website development company with his brother, Daniel, Archer never planned to be a sustainability activist. After returning from London four years ago, he had the dream of using family land near Woodend to build an ecologically-sound home for him and his South African girlfriend. In fact, it could become an eco-commune because his brother, sister, parents and a few friends want to build there too.

There is no intention to stint. "An eco-home doesn't have to be a hippy hovel," Archer says. It is just a matter of intelligent design - putting in all the energy-saving features, and using low-environmental-impact materials, that traditional suburban homes still ignore.

But Archer found it a struggle to gather the names of likely builders and architects, or suppliers of solar panels, energy-efficient appliances and other eco-home technology. So he set up a website to share practical information with others and found that instead of hundreds of visitors, he was getting thousands a day.

The side project has grown to the point that it pays for itself and could become a full-time business.

Archer agrees 2007 marked an attitude change. A few years back, many of his friends would rib him. "I was known as the eco man. They would joke about coming over to my place and tipping Roundup on the garden because I wasn't pulling up the weeds."

Now there is more likely to be interest than derision. People want to hear what kind of changes will be seen if sustainable thinking moves into the mainstream.

Archer details the lifestyle alterations he has made - and apologises for the fact there is a way to go.

Living and working in a rented house high on the hill in Mount Pleasant while he plans his eco-house, Archer says one of his commitments is to go zero waste.

So he now has to remember to take his cloth bags to the supermarket. He queues for meat at the counter to avoid the tray packs. He tries to side-step any packaging which cannot be recycled. "It's a bit irritating when I put my hand out for a juice I'd like, but then have to take something else in a bottle that can be recycled," Archer confesses.

Archer says none of the changes are extreme. It is simply a question of being aware there are choices and then not being too embarrassed to act upon them. Steadily you build a new set of habits into your life.

He says it does not even have to be a big-bang lifestyle conversion. The flab has built up a few per cent every year. Rather than a crash diet that is hard to stick to, it is better to start slimming down a few per cent every year. If this becomes a mainstream attitude, the impact would be significant.

A cross in Lyttelton, there is another grassroots effort to understand what sustainability will mean in practice.

Margaret Jefferies, chairwoman of Project Lyttelton, says the project started out with quite a different mission. Years ago its purpose was preserving the historic feel of the town. The group was involved in restoring the Timeball Station and creating the Torpedo Boat Museum. Then it became about community action, and now it's sustainable living.

Jefferies says people seem to have been quietly worried about rampant consumerism for years. Now they are ready to act. She says as a port with a strong artistic community, Lyttelton has always had a stroppy edge. And some locals are proposing quite radical action.

Lyttelton already has an "enviro-kindy", a community composting scheme, and a time bank for neighbourhood work. To tackle the woeful energy-efficiency of its heritage cottages, a bulk discount on home insulation has been negotiated for the town.

The community garden behind the swimming pool is a place where locals can grow their own food, sharing both effort and know-how. And the town's farmers' market has been a big hit, doing its bit for food miles by insisting all produce comes from within a 100km radius - although you see the odd bunch of bananas from stall-holders stretching the rules, Jefferies admits.

Next on the agenda is the possibility of making Lyttelton completely plastic bag free and tapping local land owners, like Lyttelton Port, for waste ground that could be cultivated.

Jefferies says experience has taught a few lessons. One of the biggest is that a community effort has to be open-minded and positive. People have to move at their own pace and not be made to feel that partial change is failure.

She says it was a mistake at one of Lyttelton's street parties to have people manning the recycling bins, telling people where they should put the rubbish. "People were in party mode. It got up their noses."

Chipping away at the problems is the pragmatic approach, Jefferies says. "It's got to be fun, not prescriptive. If worm farms are your thing, it's what you love, then you go and concentrate on that. If you don't want to be out agitating about plastic bags, that's fine."

Jefferies has also noticed a difference between those who see sustainability as about "tack on" changes and those looking for a deeper personal or spiritual change.

She says some want the same lifestyle, just with more efficient and renewable technology. Others want to get right out of the trap of working ever harder just to own more stuff.

Lyttelton is one of a number of "transition town" experiments that have sprung up around the country. Lincoln is another with its rather more academically oriented Envirotown programme.

Jefferies says while Project Lyttelton is rather homespun, Envirotown comes with a thick manual.

Rhys Taylor says hardly anything about sustainable-living practices is new. The difference is in the will to act.

Taylor says the country has problems that need to be tackled at a higher level, of course.

However, what people need most is the information. Then they will respond intelligently.

He points out that so much of our waste is hidden. We are happy to buy cheap plastic junk from China because we have no idea of the coal being burnt, the pollution being produced.

"We've managed to export the problem."

So one of the most necessary changes is to start making waste visible again. At the sustainable living evening classes he teaches, part of the homework is to carry out energy and refuse audits.

These days you can get speedometer-like devices like the Christchurch-developed Centameter which hooks up to your power meter with a radio link and sits in the kitchen telling you how many kilowatts per hour you are burning.

Taylor says once something can be measured, a target can be set to gradually reduce usage. For example, it is not hard to check your annual car mileage, then aim to cut out enough car trips to travel, say, 5% less each year.

But can society really be turned around while there are still Hummer drivers out there taking a perverse pride in their profligacy? Why should the few make sacrifices if most probably won't?

Taylor says perhaps it is rather that the wasteful are now becoming more visible to us as we become attuned to the issue of sustainability.

Surveys are showing more of the population is ready for a change than we think, Taylor says.

But right now people are still learning what it all must mean in practice: how can we go forward in a way that still gives us the best of both, a life and a world?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4373521a13135.html
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2009, 04:44:07 pm »

Climate change shatters huge ice shelf

‘Like an explosion’ — ancient landscape crumbles in shocking vision of global warming

By REBECCA PALMER and PAUL EASTON - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 27 March 2008

OFF THE SHELF: A 415sq/km chunk of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has collapsed into the Ancarctic ocean.<br /> REUTERS.A map of the Antarctic Peninsula.

          OFF THE SHELF: A 415sq/km chunk of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has collapsed into the Ancarctic ocean.

A gigantic Antarctic ice shelf is collapsing and global warming is being blamed.

An iceberg 41 kilometres long and 2.5km wide fell off the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula in late February.

That triggered the disintegration of 405 square kilometres of ice.

The entire ice shelf — the size of the Hawke's Bay region — is now in danger of disintegrating.

The destruction was captured in satellite pictures from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in the United States.

Scientists said a thin strand of ice about 6km wide was all that was stopping the remaining 13,680sq km shelf from collapsing.

Professor Tim Naish, of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre, said the breakup was part of a pattern seen for about 50 years. Ice breaks were fully expected.

"They're likely to be a more frequent event."

OTHER-WORDLY: An image taken from a British Antarctic Survey video, showing the breakup of the ice shelf. The BAS sent a Twin Otter aircraft to fly the length of the main crack. Massive rectangular icebergs are collapsing into house-sized rubble.

OTHER-WORDLY: An image taken from a British Antarctic Survey video,
showing the breakup of the ice shelf. The BAS sent a Twin Otter aircraft
to fly the length of the main crack. Massive rectangular icebergs are
collapsing into house-sized rubble.


The Antarctic Peninsula had warmed by about 2½ degrees in the past 50 years — more than other parts of the world. Remnants of the shelf could end up near New Zealand, he said.

In 2006, large icebergs drifted up the South Island's east coast.

Professor Naish said the breakdown of the Wilkins shelf would not contribute to rising sea levels. He compared it to an ice-cube in a glass of water — when the cube melts, the water level does not go up, as it has already been displaced.

But the disappearance of ice shelves could cause connected glaciers to melt and flow into the ocean more quickly, which would raise sea levels.

Niwa principal scientist David Wratt said the ice shelf collapse was likely to be a result of climate change. "It's certainly a sign that things are happening."

The peninsula's Larsen Ice Shelf had collapsed in 2002, with 500 billion tonnes of ice breaking up into bergs in less than a month.

Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the snow and ice data center, alerted the British Antarctic Survey when he saw a big chunk of the Wilkins shelf breaking away on satellite images.

An aircraft was sent to check the size of the collapse.

"Big, hefty chunks of ice, the size of small houses, look as though they've been thrown around like rubble — it's like an explosion," researcher Jim Elliot said.

By March 08, about 570 sq km had broken off, including the chunk Dr Scambos had seen.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly," British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan said. "The ice shelf is hanging by a thread."

Dr Vaughan, who earlier predicted the Wilkins shelf would collapse in 30 years, said the collapse was the result of global warming.

Dr Scambos said scientists believed the shelf had been in place for hundreds of years.





ANTARCTIC HEATS UP

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a plate of floating ice on the southwest Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches toward South America. Temperature rises in the region have been greater than other places on Earth.

The size of the threatened shelf is estimated to be about 13,680 square kilometres – about 22 times the size of Lake Taupo.

Satellite images show about 570 square kilometres of ice have collapsed so far, including a large chunk that broke away on February 28. The rest of the shelf is "hanging by a thread", the British Antarctic Survey says.

In 1998, the shelf lost 1100 square kilometres of ice, or about 6 per cent of its surface.

Several other ice shelves have collapsed in the region in the past three decades. In 2002, the Larsen B shelf disappeared in just over 30 days.




http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4452883a6479.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4452970a11.html
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DazzaMc
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« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2009, 04:44:23 pm »

You wanna see something really spooky?

I'll post it later tonight...
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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2009, 04:45:24 pm »

Glacier to go in 20 years

NZPA | Thursday, 24 April 2008

MELTING ICE: The terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier complete with icebergs that have calved from the terminal face as viewed from a skiplane on Easter Monday, 24 March 2008.

MELTING ICE: The terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier complete with icebergs that have calved from the terminal face
as viewed from a skiplane on Easter Monday, 24 March 2008.


Climate change will see most of the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps melt away over the next 20 years, scientists say.

"In the past 10 years, the glacier has receded a hell of a lot," said glaciologist Martin Brook.

"It's just too warm for a glacier to be sustained at such a low altitude — 730 metres above sea level — so it melts rapidly and it is going to disappear altogether."

The Tasman Glacier is the biggest in the Southern Alps and, at 29 kilometres, was one of the longest in the world's temperate zones.

In 1973, there was no lake in front of the Tasman Glacier. New measurements taken last week indicate the lake at its foot is now 7km long, 2km wide and 245m deep.

The lake has attracted regular excursions by boatloads of tourists, but Dr Brook warned yesterday that they may be at risk from huge chunks of ice unexpectedly breaking loose underwater and surfacing as far as 60m from the glacier face.

"There's actually a sub-surface apron of ice that slopes away under the water for at least 50m or 60m from the front of the glacier," Dr Brook said. As this ice-apron melted, blocks of ice broke off and floated to the surface.

"This happens pretty quickly and is potentially a hazard for the tour boats that cruise up to the cliff: the blocks just pop out on the surface and some are between 5m and 10m in size."

The lake has been formed as the ice which makes up the glacier melts, and is a key factor in its destruction: the deeper the lake, the faster the retreat of the glacier.

According to another glaciologist, Trevor Chinn, the development of the lake was a tipping point: no amount of snow at the head of the glacier, the neve, can compensate for melting triggered by the lake.

The last major survey of the glacier was in the 1990s. Since then, the glacier has retreated 180m a year, exposing a basin carved out of rock more than 20,000 years ago when the glacier was a lot larger and more powerful.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4494166a6479.html



Tasman Glacier could go in 20 years

Hot air blamed for Tasman Glacier's melt

By JOHN KEAST - The Press | Thursday, 24 April 2008

MELT DOWN: The Tasman Glacier is melting fast and will ultimately disappear, experts fear. DAVID HALLETT/The Press.

MELT DOWN: The Tasman Glacier is melting fast and will
ultimately disappear, experts fear.
— DAVID HALLETT/The Press


The Tasman Glacier in Mount Cook-Aoraki National Park is retreating at an alarming rate and will ultimately disappear, experts at Massey University warn.

Dr Martin Brook, lecturer in physical geography, said that in 1973 there was no lake in front of the glacier, but new measurements last week indicated the lake was now 7km long, 2km wide and 245m deep.

The lake is formed as ice in the glacier melts.

"In the last 10 years the glacier has retreated a hell of a lot. It's just too warm for a glacier to be sustained as such low altitude, 730 metres above sea level, so it melts rapidly and it is going to disappear altogether.

"Significantly, the deeper the lake, the faster the retreat of the glacier."

The lake could only grow to a length of 16km, which would mean a further 9km of glacier retreat.

"Using the empirical relationships between the water depth and glacier retreat rate, we could expect further retreat of between 477m and 822m each year. At these rates, it would take between 10 and 19 years for the lake to expand to its maximum," Brook said.

His work indicated that an extreme scenario for the future retreat of the glacier, developed by Dr Martin Kirkbride in the 1990s, was correct.

"The last major survey was in the 1990s and since then the glacier has retreated back 180m a year on average. This has exposed a huge rock basin which was eroded more than 20,000 years ago when the glacier was a lot larger and more powerful."

Research students are studying the glacier and lake using a new towfish sonar and echo-sounding equipment.

"The glacier followed a slow retreat phase for a while, in that a thermo-erosional notch in the ice cliff face would develop at the water line, melt back into the glacier undercutting the ice above, causing the ice to collapse into the lake.

"But what is happening now is that a short foot of ice is extending out into the lake away from the ice cliff, and the glacier is now in a period of fast retreat. This is because as the water depth increases, sodoes the speed of retreat — simply, a much larger part of the glacier is submerged and the water, even at only 2°C, is still able to melt the glacier ice," Brook said.

As well as looking at the Tasman Glacier, the team is analysing the newly exposed sub-surface landscape.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4495365a24035.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4494061a7693.html



Tasman Glacier retreat extreme

Created: Wednesday, 23 April 2008 | Last updated: Thursday, 24 April 2008
Massey University News

From left: technician David Feek, senior lecturer Dr Ian Fuller and PhD student Claire Robertson looking at sub-bottom sediment using the towfish sonar. In the background is a high-precision GPS transmitter attached to the towfish, which gives its location to about 5mm accuracy.

From left: technician David Feek, senior lecturer Dr Ian Fuller and PhD student Claire Robertson
looking at sub-bottom sediment using the towfish sonar. In the background is a high-precision
GPS transmitter attached to the towfish, which gives its location to about 5mm accuracy.


PhD student John Appleby (left) and Honours student Rob Dykes (right) in a boat on the lake measuring depth with an echo sounder.

PhD student John Appleby (left) and Honours student Rob Dykes (right) in a boat on the lake
measuring depth with an echo sounder.


The Tasman Glacier is retreating faster than ever and will ultimately disappear, glaciologists are warning.

In 1973 there was no lake in front of the Tasman Glacier, says Dr Martin Brook, lecturer in physical geography in the School of People, Environment and Planning. New measurements taken last week indicate the lake, formed by ice melt from the glacier, is now 7km long, 2km wide and 245m deep. The lake has been formed as the ice which makes up the glacier melts.

“In the last 10 years the glacier has receded a hell of a lot,” Dr Brook says. “It’s just too warm for a glacier to be sustained at such a low altitude, 730m above sea level, so it melts rapidly and it is going to disappear altogether. Significantly, the deeper the lake, the faster the retreat of the glacier.”

Dr Brook says the lake can only grow to a length of about 16km, which would mean a further 9km of glacier retreat.

“Using the empirical relationships between water depth and glacier retreat rate we could expect further retreat of between 477m and 822m each year. At these rates it would take between 10 and 19 years for the lake to expand to its maximum.”

His work indicated that an extreme scenario for the future retreat of the Tasman Glacier, developed by Dr Martin Kirkbride in the 1990s, was correct.

“The last major survey was in the 1990s and since then the glacier has retreated back 180 metres a year on average. This has exposed a huge rock basin which was eroded more than 20,000 years ago when the glacier was a lot larger and more powerful.”

Dr Brook and a number of research students are studying the glacier and the lake using a new towfish sonar and echo sounding equipment to measure the depth and analyse sediments under the lake.

“The glacier followed a slow retreat phase for a while, in that a thermo-erosional notch in the ice cliff face would develop at the water line, melt back into the glacier undercutting the ice above, causing the ice to collapse into the lake.

“But what is happening now is that a short foot of ice is extending out into the lake away from the ice cliff, and the glacier is now in a period of fast retreat. This is because as the water depth increases so does the speed of retreat — simply, a much larger part of the glacier is submerged and the water, even at only two degrees celcius, is still able to melt the glacier ice.

“The result is large pieces of ice fracturing off the ice foot and floating on the surface — the debris on the icebergs on the surface of the lake and the icebergs are a reflection of this.”

As well as addressing the future of the Tasman Glacier, which is in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, the team is analysing the newly exposed sub-surface landscape. The project is also interested in the glacier because it is very different to the clean-ice glaciers on the West Coast. Tasman is covered in rock and debris, and has a different relationship with climate, Dr Brook says, as well as different patterns of retreat.

“In particular, although there’s a near-vertical ice cliff at the front of the glacier that terminates in the lake, there’s actually a sub-surface apron of ice that slopes away under the water for at least 50m or 60m from the front of the glacier. As this ice-apron melts, blocks of ice break off and float to the surface. This happens pretty quickly and is potentially a hazard for the tour boats that cruise up to the cliff — the blocks just pop out on the surface and some are between 5m and 10m in size.”

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-us/news/article.cfm?mnarticle=tasman-glacier-retreat-extreme-23-04-2008
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dragontamer
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« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2009, 04:45:53 pm »

"The driver's saying, ‘look at me. Aren't I great? I can afford to waste huge amounts of fuel’."


Well, look at that.  I always thought they were thinking "Look at me.....I'm a wanker".

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2009, 04:46:21 pm »

Plug being pulled on nature's freezer

An Arctic traverse shows the ice is in retreat

By STACEY WOOD - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 19 July 2008

EXPEDITION LEADER: Grant Redvers traversed the Arctic ice pack on board the Tara, which in a former life was the boat Sir Peter Blake was murdered on. MAARTEN HOLL/The Dominion Post.

EXPEDITION LEADER: Grant Redvers traversed the Arctic ice pack on
board the Tara, which in a former life was the boat Sir Peter Blake was murdered on.
— MAARTEN HOLL/The Dominion Post


Scientists continue to debate the impact of global warming on the Arctic ice pack, but for the man who spent nearly a year and a half traversing it the picture is crystal-clear.

As expedition leader on board the Tara, Kiwi Grant Redvers oversaw atmospheric, oceanographic and meteorological testing, as the icebound boat made its way across the top of the world.

Retracing the 1893 journey of the wooden ship Fram, the crew ploughed the boat into the ice northeast of Siberia, allowing the Arctic drift to carry them more than 5000 kilometres.

In a previous life, the Tara was Sir Peter Blake's boat Seamaster. Sir Peter was murdered on the boat by Amazon River pirates in 2001.

Most of the Tara's data is being processed by scientists in France. Some startling observations speak for themselves, however.

Between the summers of 2005 and 2007 the team recorded a loss of more than a million square kilometres of ice. During one 12-month period, the ice retreated 400 kilometres, and Mr Redvers says the evidence of melting was highly visible.

"In summer, over 50 per cent of the surface area is covered in pools of surface melt."

The melting of the ice cap will not raise sea levels much, but the oceans may become warm enough to trigger more melting in Greenland. That could cause ocean levels to rise up to seven metres.

The journey, which took the Fram about three years, took half as long for the Tara. Thinner ice and stronger winds enabled Mr Redvers' team to emerge into the Fram Strait after only 507 days.

The warmer temperatures of the Arctic summer posed some problems for the crew on the Tara.

Despite being in the heart of nature's freezer, the team found it hard to keep food cold, forcing them to find other means of preservation.

"We ate a lot of Santa's reindeer," Mr Redvers says.

The schooner's sauna — "one of our few luxuries" — was turned into a meat-smoking room.

Mr Redvers was the only expedition member to stay on board for the whole journey. Others came and went by helicopter.

"It was a dream of mine," he says, "not just to go in as a researcher, but to ... live there."

Mr Redvers is back in New Zealand but heading for hotter climes. He has been invited to a premiere of a Central American film featuring the Tara. The film, De Los Mayas al Polo Norte (The Mayas at the North Pole) is one of several productions about the expedition.

After a whirlwind tour through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, Mr Redvers will retreat to his home on the shores of Lake Taupo to write a book about the Tara expedition.

For now, the Tara has returned to France, but Mr Redvers says there is plenty more adventure on it's horizons. The boat is expected to set sail on another epic journey early next year.

THEIR OWN ICE AGE

The team adopted the term "polar time", because everything takes 10 times longer than normal in the extreme environment.

Tara's owner, Etienne Bourgois, is head of fashion label Agnes B, which made special Arctic-friendly outfits to help the team combat the cold.

The crew enjoyed fresh salads, courtesy of the world's northern-most hydroponic vege garden, grown on board.

The expedition adhered to a strict no-waste policy, and offset their emissions by donating to a carbon capture programme.

Of the 507-day journey, 230 were spent in permanent darkness, and a further 230 in constant light, with the rest somewhere in between.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4621881a27490.html
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2009, 04:47:46 pm »

NZ glaciers smallest since records began

By TOM CARDY - The Dominion Post | Monday, 15 September 2008

WARMING SIGN: Marion Glacier in Arawata Valley has recently withdrawn from its proglacial state. Most of New Zealand's glaciers are the smallest they've been since records began. — DR TREVOR CHINN/NIWA.

WARMING SIGN: Marion Glacier in Arawata Valley has recently withdrawn from its proglacial state.
Most of New Zealand's glaciers are the smallest they've been since records began.
— DR TREVOR CHINN/NIWA


Most of New Zealand's glaciers are now the smallest they have been since records began — and they continue to shrink at a rapid rate.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, which made the discovery, said global warming was the main culprit.

Between April last year and March this year, glaciers in the Southern Alps lost about 2.2 billion tonnes of permanent ice — the equivalent in weight to the top section of Mount Taranaki. It is the fourth highest annual loss since monitoring began 32 years ago.

The total ice for the glaciers now comprises an estimated 44.9 cubic kilometres — the lowest on record. The volume of ice dropped by 50 per cent during the last century.

NIWA principal scientist Jim Salinger said glaciers were fed by snow, but because of the La Nina weather system over New Zealand, more easterly winds and warmer than normal temperatures during the period, there was less snow in the Southern Alps and more snowmelt.

Dr Salinger said while the glaciers were sensitive to changes in wind and precipitation as well as temperature, global warming was a big factor in their shrinking.

"It's one of the clearest signs that our climate is warming and that [the shrinkage] is a definite physical response. To have that amount of melting you would have to reduce the precipitation at least by a half or more or warm a degree," he said.

"We know that precipitation has not gone down in the Southern Alps. In the last quarter of a century it's gone up. So to make them retreat you've got to have more melting, which is higher temperatures.

"This is certainly a definite sign of warming in the New Zealand area."

Niwa has surveyed 50 glaciers in the Southern Alps for the past 32 years, recording the height of the snowline at the end of each summer. On average the snowline this year was 130 metres above where it would need to be for the glaciers not to shrink, Dr Salinger said.

It was unlikely the glaciers would disappear entirely, as that would require a temperature rise of 7 degrees celsius and no snow even at the top of our highest mountain, Aoraki Mount Cook.

But they would continue to retreat. Another sign of warming were 12 glacial lakes, including ones at Marion Glacier and Tasman Glacier.

"They are definitely a sign of warming. There is no doubt about it. You get a very rapid loss of snow and ice and that's what's been happening."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4692547a6479.html



Media Release

Glaciers continue to show significant ice loss

15 September 2008
National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA)

The large Tasman Glacier in Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park. (Photo: Dr Trevor Chinn, Alpine and Polar Research, Hawea)

The large Tasman Glacier in Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park.
(Photo: Dr Trevor Chinn, Alpine and Polar Research, Hawea)


New Zealand’s glaciers are showing the lowest total ice mass on record and most are continuing to shrink at a rapid rate.

Research released by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) shows the Southern Alps glaciers have lost 2.5 km³ (2.2 billion tonnes) of permanent ice from April 2007 to March 2008, the fourth highest annual loss since monitoring started.

The 2008 total ice volume estimate for the Southern Alps glaciers of 44.9 km³ is the lowest on record.

For the past 32 years NIWA has been surveying 50 glaciers in the Southern Alps, using a small fixed wing aircraft, to record the height of the snow line at the end of summer.

NIWA Principal Scientist Dr Jim Salinger says the photographs taken on this year’s survey showed the glaciers had lost much more ice than they had gained during the past glacier year.

“As a result of La Niña conditions over New Zealand, more easterlies, and warmer than normal temperatures, there was less snowfall in the Southern Alps and more snowmelt.

The higher the snow line, the more snow is lost to feed the glacier. On average, the snow line this year was about 130 metres above where it would need to be to keep the ice mass constant,” Dr Salinger says.

Dr Salinger says these results match trends of ice mass lost globally. International monitoring of mountains glaciers by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Switzerland shows most glaciers are retreating. Of the glaciers where continuous data is available, the mean annual average loss in ice thickness since 1980 is close to half a metre per year.

For more information contact:

Dr Jim Salinger
NIWA, Auckland
Tel: +64 9 375 2053
Mob: +64 27 521 9468

Background Information:

Worldwide, glaciers are regarded as a useful indicator of global warming, but New Zealand’s glaciers are more complicated because they have their source in areas of extremely high precipitation. West of the Main Divide in the Southern Alps, more than 10 metres (10 000 mm) of precipitation falls each year as clouds are pushed up over the sharply rising mountain ranges. This means the mass and volume of New Zealand’s glaciers is sensitive to changing wind and precipitation patterns as well as to temperature. So, for example, the glaciers advanced during most of the 1980s and 1990s when the area experienced about a 15% increase in precipitation, associated with more El Niño events and stronger westerly winds over New Zealand. The glaciers in parts of Norway are similar.

Despite the sensitivity of New Zealand glaciers to changes in both precipitation and temperature, the volume of ice in the Southern Alps dropped by roughly 50% during the last century. New Zealand’s temperature increased by about 1°C over the same period.

Globally, most glaciers are retreating. Of the glaciers for which there are continuous data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, the mean annual loss in ice thickness since 1980 remains close to half a metre per year. The Service has said that the loss in ice mass “leaves no doubt about the accelerating change in climatic conditions”. For world glacier data, see www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms.

The level of the glacier snow lines is not necessarily closely related to the amount of snow that falls on the country’s ski fields during winter. Most of the popular ski fields are east of the Main Divide, or in the North Island. Mount Hutt, for instance, gets its snow from big southeasterlies, whereas most of the glaciers are fed by westerlies.


Change in glacier ice volume since NIWA survey began.

http://www.niwa.co.nz/news/mr/2008/2008-09-15
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2009, 05:35:00 pm »

Heavy snow likely to bolster southern glaciers

By PAUL GORMAN, Science Reporter - The Press | Monday, 15 September 2008

GLACIAL FUTURE: Heavy alpine snowfalls in the South Island this winter could temporarily halt or even reverse the continuing decline of some glaciers in the Southern Alps. Meanwhile, Franz Josef Glacier (pictured) and the nearby Fox Glacier in Westland National Park both buck the worldwide trend as they continue to advance. ALAN WOOD/The Press.

GLACIAL FUTURE: Heavy alpine snowfalls in the South Island
this winter could temporarily halt or even reverse the
continuing decline of some glaciers in the Southern Alps.
Meanwhile, Franz Josef Glacier (pictured) and the nearby
Fox Glacier in Westland National Park both buck the
worldwide trend as they continue to advance.
— ALAN WOOD/The Press


Heavy alpine snowfalls in the South Island this winter could temporarily halt or even reverse the continuing decline of glaciers in the Southern Alps.

The latest survey by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) draws the gloomy conclusion that the country's glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate.

The total ice volume of the Southern Alps' glaciers is 44.9 cubic km, the least since the annual survey began 32 years ago.

The 50 glaciers in the survey lost 2.5 cu km, or 2.2 billion tonnes, of permanent ice in the 12 months from April 2007, the fourth greatest annual loss on record. That was reflected in a mean South Island snowline over the period of 1960m above sea level, 130m higher than the 1976-2008 average.

However, the stormy winter means the snowpack in some parts of the Southern Alps is the greatest it has been for about a decade.

Power company Meridian Energy is eagerly awaiting a large spring thaw and the boost it will give to its southern hydro-lakes, which are only just starting to recover from very low levels throughout the winter.

Niwa principal climate scientist Jim Salinger said that extra snow could boost the ice mass quite quickly in some smaller glaciers but would not show up in larger glaciers for years.

"It depends what happens over the summer. We've still got the snow melt to come that's November to February and maybe March. If it's a cold summer, it might halt the decline a little, but the general trend is downward."

There was also a chance of late spring snowfalls.

The shrinking of the glaciers was due to climate change, Salinger said.

"Temperatures have increased a degree over a whole century, and by about three-tenths of a degree since 1960."

The melting trend in New Zealand matched that globally.

"International monitoring of mountain glaciers by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Switzerland shows most glaciers are retreating," Salinger said.

"Of the glaciers where continuous data is available, the mean annual average loss in ice thickness since 1980 is close to half a metre per year."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4692591a19753.html
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Elric of Melnibone
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« Reply #9 on: February 16, 2009, 05:45:38 pm »

Yes, few deny climate is changing.

But is man the sole cause?

And is shuffling money the cure?
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2009, 05:58:05 pm »

NZ's eco footprint sixth largest

NZPA | Wednesday, 29 October 2008

NOT SO CLEAN AND GREEN: New Zealand's ecological footprint is the sixth highest in the world, ranking alongside the United Arab Emirates and the US in the top 10 worst offenders.

NOT SO CLEAN AND GREEN: New Zealand's ecological
footprint is the sixth highest in the world, ranking
alongside the United Arab Emirates and the US in
the top 10 worst offenders.


New Zealand's ecological footprint — measured per head of population — is the sixth largest in the world, according to a global survey released today.

Swiss-based conservation group WWF said in its Living Planet report that more than three quarters of the world's population lives in countries whose consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal.

The report, a leading statement on the planet's health, shows that only the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Kuwait, Denmark and Australia have larger ecological footprints than New Zealand on a per-head basis.

"As a country we are in dubious company in terms of our demands on the planet," said WWF-New Zealand's executive director Chris Howe.

The WWF calculations included carbon emissions from the production of imported goods and services and showed New Zealanders' use of natural resources was excessive.

Mr Howe said it made sense to look after nature as the country's health and prosperity depended on it.

"We are lucky in New Zealand to have a bountiful country with large biocapacity — but if we continue to consume our resources at this breakneck pace, its ability to provide for us will decline."

As world consumption rates increased, biodiversity was declining.

An ecological footprint measures the amount of resources humans use and the waste they generate: New Zealand has moved from requiring 5.9 "global hectares" per person in the 2006 WWF report to an average of 7.7 global hectares.

A global hectare is a standardised hectare of land able to produce resources and absorb wastes at world average levels.

Worldwide, the average ecological footprint jumped from 2.2 global hectares per person to 2.7 global hectares per person, but the world has only an average 2.1ha available per person.

"Humans are now exceeding the planet's regenerative capacity by about 30 percent," the report said.

If demand kept growing at the same rate, the equivalent of two planets would be required in the mid-2030s to sustain current lifestyles — or 3.5 planets if everyone on Earth used resources at the same pace as New Zealanders.

The report by WWF — also known as the World Wildlife Fund — said the largest human-induced pressure on the planet was from fossil fuel use.

In New Zealand, the main growth in carbon emissions since 1990 has come from the energy sector — mainly transport and electricity generation.

According to Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority reports New Zealand is now second only to the United States both in the number of cars owned per person and in the number of kilometres travelled in those cars.

Mr Howe said the most urgent priority in NZ should be given to reducing our carbon emissions.

"We have the will to change, but we need much more support from Government to do so, and that needs to happen now," he said.

The Government needed to commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels, by 2050.



The top 10 nations with largest ecological footprint per capita are:

1. United Arab Emirates

2. United States of America

3. Kuwait

4. Denmark

5. Australia

6. New Zealand

7. Canada

8. Norway

9. Estonia

10. Ireland


• Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2008.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4743115a7693.html
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #11 on: February 16, 2009, 06:08:17 pm »

See what excessive quantites of greenhouse gases can cause? 



Kiwi seas were as hot as spas scientists say

By RUTH HILL - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 30 December 2008

If you lived in New Zealand 50 million years ago, you could have had a warm dip in the sea all year round, scientists say.

The spa-pool-like conditions that existed in the early Eocene period a time of significant global warming suggest scientists may be underestimating the likely effect of climate change.

Using sedimentary rocks from the bed of the Waipara River in North Canterbury, an international research group led by GNS Science palaeontologist Chris Hollis has reconstructed ancient sea temperatures.

They found surface sea water exceeded 30 degrees celsius, and water at the sea floor hovered around 20°C during an episode of greenhouse gas-induced global warming that lasted for between two million and three million years.

"These temperatures are at the extreme end of modern tropical water masses," Dr Hollis said. Year-round sea surface temperatures of 25°C to 30°C are today found only at the equator.

In a study to be published in the international scientific journal Geology next month, scientists have inferred warm conditions in New Zealand for this period from a wide range of fossil evidence showing the country was once covered in lush tropical forest. But, till now, the degree of warmth was uncertain.

Dr Hollis said similar freakishly warm conditions had been reported for this period in high-latitude regions of the northern hemisphere. "It now seems likely that some, as yet unknown, heat-transport mechanism comes into play during times of extreme global warmth."

Co-author Matt Huber, of Purdue University, Indiana, said the new findings were at least 10°C higher than previous estimates, which indicated climate models had underestimated past warming episodes. "It is possible that models are also underestimating future warming projections."

Dr Hollis said research into extreme climatic changes in the past would benefit from New Zealand's recent decision to join the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme an international project extracting 2000-metre sediment cores from the ocean floor.

The recent findings, part of an eight-year study, will be presented at an international conference on climate change at Te Papa next month.

Funded by the New Zealand Government through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, the project involves an international team of 12 research scientists and graduate students.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4805564a6479.html
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« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2009, 07:10:04 pm »

No rules against spamming here huh?
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2009, 07:15:49 pm »

I originally posted all that stuff at the old group, so I simply spent half an hour reformatting it all for SMF groups (the original HTML code wasn't compatible with these groups) and re-uploading all the image files at Photobucket, then associating the URLs with those articles; then once I had everything just right, I reposted it all into this new group!  Grin
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« Reply #14 on: March 29, 2009, 05:54:46 pm »

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« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2009, 07:52:09 pm »

Spam #10 New Zealand's ecological footprint — measured per head of population — is the sixth largest in the world, according to a global survey released today.
Considering that NZ produces food for 50 million people, those 50 million should be included in our equation.
More bullshit propaganda.
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« Reply #16 on: March 29, 2009, 08:07:43 pm »

Spam #10 New Zealand's ecological footprint — measured per head of population — is the sixth largest in the world, according to a global survey released today.
Considering that NZ produces food for 50 million people, those 50 million should be included in our equation.
More bullshit propaganda.


I agree with that.
More bullshit and propaganda.

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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2009, 06:01:14 pm »


Arctic ice ‘gone in 30 years’

NZPA | Friday, 03 April 2009

ARTIC SEA ICE MELTING FASTER — GONE IN 30 YEARS

Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years.

A new analysis of changing conditions in the region, using complex computer models of weather and climate, says conditions that had been forecast by the end of the century could occur much sooner.

A change in the amount of ice is important because the white surface reflects sunlight back into space.

When ice is replaced by dark ocean water that sunlight can be absorbed, warming the water and increasing the warming of the planet.

The finding adds to concern about climate change caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, a problem that has begun receiving more attention in the Obama administration and is part of the G20 discussions under way in London.

"Due to the recent loss of sea ice, the 2005-2008 autumn central Arctic surface air temperatures were greater than 5C above what would be expected," the new study reports.

That amount of temperature increase had been expected by the year 2070.


BEARS' HABITAT DISAPPEARING: Global warming is destroying Arctic ice at a faster rate than expected.

BEARS' HABITAT DISAPPEARING: Global warming is
destroying Arctic ice at a faster rate than expected.


The new report by Muyin Wang of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean and James E Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, appears in Friday's edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

They expect the area covered by summer sea ice to decline from about 2.8 million square miles (7.25 million sq km) normally to 620,000 square miles within 30 years.

Last year's summer minimum was 1.8 million square miles in September, second lowest only to 2007 which had a minimum of 1.65 million square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre.

The Centre said Arctic sea ice reached its winter maximum for this year at 5.8 million square miles on February 28. That was 278,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average making it the fifth lowest on record.

The six lowest maximums since 1979 have all occurred in the last six years.

Overland and Wang combined sea-ice observations with six complex computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reach their conclusions. Combining several computer models helps avoid uncertainties caused by natural variability.

Much of the remaining ice would be north of Canada and Greenland, with much less between Alaska and Russia in the Pacific Arctic.

"The Arctic is often called the Earth's refrigerator because the sea ice helps cool the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space," Wang said in a statement.

"With less ice, the sun's warmth is instead absorbed by the open water, contributing to warmer temperatures in the water and the air."

The study was supported by the NOAA Climate Change Program Office, the Institute for the Study of the Ocean and Atmosphere and the US Department of Energy.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/2312253
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Nitpicker1
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« Reply #18 on: April 30, 2009, 02:01:52 pm »


just in case yas hadn't noticed

Niwa sacks Jim Salinger
24/04/2009

One of New Zealand's top climate scientists, Jim Salinger, has been fired from his job at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa).

The high-profile scientist, whose work contributed to a Nobel prize, is reported to have been sacked for ignoring a new Niwa policy against speaking publicly without prior approval.

"I can't understand it, it's not as though I'm doing bad science, it's not as though I'm under-performing, so I'm really astounded," Dr Salinger said on TV One News tonight.

TV One said Niwa had accused Dr Salinger of serious misconduct after he took part in a programme the channel produced about glaciers.

The Green Party said Dr Salinger was dismissed earlier this week for helping TVNZ weatherman Jim Hickey with climate-related inquiries.

The scientist has frequently appeared in TV climate reports and has spoken in the media about climate change.

"Niwa's actions will make all government scientists nervous about their jobs," said Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

"New Zealand is on a slippery slope when trying to provide Kiwis with a greater understanding of our climate is a sackable offence."

Ms Fitzsimons said scientists should be able to help the public and the media with scientific problems, particularly around issues like climate change.

"An investigation is needed into how it came to be that one of New Zealand's foremost scientists was frog-marched out of his job for what appears to be trivial and petty reasons."

Ms Fitzsimons said the Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Wayne Mapp, should call in Niwa and tell them to "get to the bottom of this messy matter".

Greenpeace said it wanted answers from Niwa and the Government.

"Dr Salinger has done some amazing work to educate New Zealanders about climate change and he is highly respected internationally," said Greenpeace senior climate campaigner Simon Boxer.

"He was very clear about the need for urgent climate action in New Zealand."

TV One reported Dr Salinger was considering claiming unjustified dismissal.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/2361900/Niwa-sacks-Jim-Salinger/





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« Reply #19 on: April 30, 2009, 02:03:12 pm »

Scientist lodges second claim
By PAUL GORMAN
The Press Last updated 05:00 30/04/2009
 Sacked scientist Jim Salinger has slapped a second grievance case on his former employer, Niwa.

The high-profile climatologist decided yesterday to challenge his firing by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) last Thursday as an unjustified dismissal.

Salinger will fight to be reinstated.

A separate personal grievance case over the way Niwa dealt with Salinger while he was still an employee had already been filed against the Crown research institute (CRI).

Salinger's lawyer, Alex Hope, confirmed the scientist wanted his job back.

A mediated hearing had been set down for mid-May, he said.

Salinger confirmed a hearing had been scheduled for May 12 or 13.

Niwa spokeswoman Michele Hollis repeated there would be no comment from the institute because it was a confidential employment issue.

Salinger yesterday declined to talk further about his sacking, which he had maintained was for doing his job and talking to the media.

However, this week he had told The Press things changed at Niwa about six months ago, before worsening in March and leading up to his firing.

"I had to pinch myself for about four weeks that this could be happening to me. It was clear what route it was going to take in the last week.

"Clearly, they weren't changing their minds along the track they were going to take. It's not nice being sacked. But, in a sense, I had prepared myself for it."

He had been threatened with "dismissal due to serious misconduct", he said, on returning to work on March 6 after taking part and commenting on an annual survey of the alpine snowline.

Two letters were waiting for him a long letter with a list of "allegations" and a smaller note on his snowline survey work, he said.

Labour Party list MP Moana Mackey, a molecular biologist who worked as a scientist, said Salinger's sacking had unnerved scientists around the country.

Scientists were now thinking twice about whether they could talk about their research.

She said Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp had avoided answering questions in Parliament about Salinger's dismissal, saying he could not comment because it was an employment matter.

He had also evaded her question in Parliament asking if he would assure scientists they were entitled, and encouraged, to talk publicly about science, she said

Mapp told The Press the existing practices of CRIs allowing scientists to speak out would continue.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/national/2373502/Scientist-lodges-second-claim
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« Reply #20 on: April 30, 2009, 04:26:11 pm »

Jim Salingers sacking has more behind it than they are prepared to say.
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« Reply #21 on: April 30, 2009, 04:27:19 pm »

Huge ice chunks break away from Antarctic shelf

Massive ice chunks are crumbling away from a shelf in the western Antarctic Peninsula, researchers have said, warning that 3,370 square kilometres of ice - an area larger than Rhode Island - was in danger of breaking off in coming weeks.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf had been stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the 1990s. Researchers believe it was held in place by an ice bridge linking Charcot Island to the Antarctic mainland.

But the 330-square-kilometre bridge lost two large chunks last year and then shattered completely on April 5.

"As a consequence of the collapse, the rifts, which had already featured along the northern ice front, widened and new cracks formed as the ice adjusted," the European Space Agency said in a statement Wednesday on its Web site, citing new satellite images.

The first icebergs broke away on Friday, and since then some 700 square kilometres of ice have dropped into the sea, according to the satellite data.

"There is little doubt that these changes are the result of atmospheric warming," said David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey.

The falling away of Antarctic ice shelves does not, in itself, raise sea levels, since the ice was already floating in the sea. But such coastal tables of ice usually hold back glaciers, and when they disintegrate that land ice will often flow more quickly into the sea, contributing to sea-level rise.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Huge-ice-chunks-break-away-from-Antarctic-shelf/tabid/209/articleID/101860/cat/61/Default.aspx?ArticleID=101860
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Laughter is the best medicine, unless you've got a really nasty case of syphilis, in which case penicillin is your best bet.
Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #22 on: May 01, 2009, 10:58:30 pm »


Kiwis unlock glacier secret

The Dominion Post with NZPA | Friday, 01 May 2009

Research by three New Zealand scientists may have solved the mystery of why glaciers behave differently in the northern and southern hemispheres.

New Zealand researchers, geologist David Barrell of GNS Science, Victoria University geomorphologist Andrew Mackintosh, and glaciologist Trevor Chinn, of the Alpine and Polar Processes Consultancy, have helped provide definitive dating for changes in glacier behaviour.

The three were part of a team of nine scientists, led by Joerg Schaefer of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which used an isotope dating technique to get very precise ages for glacial deposits near Aoraki-Mount Cook.

They measured the build-up of beryllium-10 isotopes in surface rocks bombarded by cosmic rays to pinpoint dates when glaciers in the Southern Alps started to recede. The technology is expected to be widely applied to precisely date other glaciers around the world.

Glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate changes, usually advancing when it cools and retreating when it warms.

The first direct confirmation of differences in glacier behaviour between the northern and southern hemispheres, the new work topples theories based on climate in the northern hemisphere changing in tandem with the climate in the southern hemisphere.

The research argues that at times the climate in both hemispheres evolved "in sync" and at other times it evolved differently in different parts of the world.

Dr Barrell told NZPA their research presents "new data of novel high precision" though the team has so far chosen not to roll out wider interpretations too quickly.

He said much of it reinforced work done 30 years ago by Canterbury University researcher Professor Colin Burrows, who used NZ glacier data to highlight some of the similarities and differences between northern and southern records over the past 12,000 years.

The paper published in Science magazine today showed the Mount Cook glaciers advanced to their maximum length 6500 years ago, and have been smaller ever since — but glaciers in the Swiss Alps advanced to their maximum only in the past 700 years — during the northern hemisphere's "Little Ice Age", which ended about 1860.

During some warm periods in Europe, glaciers were advancing in New Zealand. At other times, glaciers were well advanced in both areas.

In a commentary which accompanied the research, Greg Balco, from the Berkeley Geochronology Center in California, said the conclusion that glacier advances in the northern and southern hemispheres were not synchronised was "unexpected".

Dr Barrell said the paper presented only the first instalment of the dating work, and more will be revealed at an international workshop on past climates to be held at Te Papa on May 15.

"We expect that much progress will result from this new work and the discussions at that meeting," he said.

"The New Zealand findings point to the importance of regional shifts in wind directions and sea surface temperatures," he said.

Regional weather patterns such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) were superimposed on the global climate trends reflected in the behaviour of glaciers.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2378376/Kiwis-unlock-glacier-secret
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gladys2
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« Reply #23 on: May 02, 2009, 01:19:28 am »

KTJ - That bit about glaciers being sensitive indicators of climate change as above - Christ! Even in my lifetime the Franz Joseph and Fox have been up and down like a whore's drawers...
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guest49
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« Reply #24 on: May 02, 2009, 06:43:44 am »

Gladys, the warmalists - well, the human induced ones anyway, will tell you that because its warming, more snow falls, thus forming glaciers that advance.   In the same breath, they will tell you that because its warming, the snow melts, thus making the glaciers retreat.

They then evolve a convoluted theory, in order to prove what they have just spun up from moonbeams and a desire for the next grant.
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