June 16, 2011 | Graham

Garnaut report uses wrong figure on sea level rises



Reader John Robertson has provided me with this intriquing insight into the Garnaut report and sea level rise. It makes you wonder.

“In its May 2011 report the ‘Climate Commission’ put the danger of ‘sea level rise’, allegedly caused by extra CO2, front and centre. It included a map which showed that ‘sea level rise’ was 1.3 – 1.8 mm/year on Australia’s east coast and 7.9 – 8.1 mm/year on the west. The latter figure was used to support a predicted a sea level rise of 0.5 – 1 metre by the end of the century. The Commission did not ask itself how our single liquid ocean manages to rise continuously 5 times further and faster on one coast than on the other.

Of course, it is doing no such thing. Western Australia is moving vertically downwards relative to the earth as a whole and is sinking compared to the land on the east and to the ocean at large. The descent of the west relative to the globe is the vertical counterpart of Australia’s horizontal motion across the surface of the earth at 70 mm/year to the north east (70 km per million years).

A comparison might be with the stern of a ship squatting downwards as it moves horizontally in the water. Western Australia is sinking very slowly into the earth’s viscous magma. The sea remains at its same level. In many other parts of the world land is rising relative to the earth’s centre and to sea level. The net result is a slight gain in land area across the globe as a whole.

The sinking in WA is real but the cause is tectonics (which gives us continental drift and earthquakes) not carbon dioxide. Australia will have to cope with this subsidence in due course. Fiddling with CO2 levels now or later will avail nothing.Sea level rise in Australia



Posted by Graham at 8:26 am | Comments (8) |
Filed under: Uncategorized

8 Comments

  1. Graham, thanks for that observation.

    So it looks to me that we are talking about an error of 600% or 450% if we divide by likes (8.3/1.8 or 7.9/1.3) – that is message massaging to a high degree.

    But then again maybe they could argue that Australia is really moving on a vertical half way axis so they can produce other figures again.

    I do believe that man(un)kind is responsible for stored entropy release and should take action now to ameliorate the effects. However, what happens in 3 centuries or more should also be considered not just a 40 or 90 year horizon.

    We are been fed half truths (or less) from all sides. Self interest almost always trumps realistic analysis.

    Comment by Dick — June 17, 2011 @ 2:00 am

  2. “…7.9 – 8.1 mm/year on the west. The latter figure was used to support a predicted a sea level rise of 0.5 – 1 metre by the end of the century…”

    This is wrong, and misrepresents the report. The estimated (global) sea level rise of 0.5 – 1 metre by the end of the century is derived from several global scale studies projecting ice sheet loss and thermal expansion (e.g. Pfeffer et al. 2008), and is not based to any significant or undue extent on recent Australian sea level change observations.

    Comment by Mark Duffett — June 17, 2011 @ 12:54 pm

  3. I just don’t believe anything the IPCC or its’ accolades say anymore.It has been a litany of lies and deception with evidence of data being manipulated and salient factors like the Sun being omitted.

    Prof Hal Lewis of the Universtiy of California has resigned calling global warming a hoax.http://redwhitebluenews.com/?p=760 This is why the oligarchs are in such a hurry to bring in a carbon tax.Gillard has already signed a document giving 10% of our carbon taxes to the UN.The World Govt is not off the agenda.

    Alex Jones has reported that Obama has given the nod for 30,000 ground troops to invade Libya in Oct this year.He did not get the approval of Congress but from the UN.Obama heads the UN Securty Council and this is against the US Constitution for a President to have such a conflict of interest.

    The US people no longer control their country.

    Comment by Ross — June 18, 2011 @ 6:49 am

  4. Before the corruption of our beloved CSIRO there was truth: Err thats 1 mm !

    “There is a rate of sea level rise of about 1mm a year, consistent with other Australian observations,” says Dr David Pugh, from the UK’s Southampton Oceanography Centre.
    “This is an important result for the Southern Hemisphere, and especially for Australia, providing a benchmark against which Australian regional sea level can be measured in 10, 50 or 100 years time,” says Dr Pugh.

    Records Confirm Rising Sea Level. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 19, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2003/01/030122072142.htm

    Comment by Egeo Veritas — June 19, 2011 @ 7:44 am

  5. Help, Help my local council has said my house will be flooded. The “Dept Of Climate Change” told them too! Now my Insurance $$$$ has quadrupled.

    If your interested to know the truth! Resistance is futile, we are moving forward!

    Don’t be scared the truth never hurts but you will need to use alfoil over your hat in future. Watch out Juliar is adding more flouride to the water!

    http://psmsi.org/data/obtaining/

    Comment by Egeo Veritas — June 19, 2011 @ 8:01 am

  6. Egeo.How do we know that the land is sinking or the sea is rising? I have lived on the Northern Beaches of Sydney forover 45 yrs and it was during the storms of the 1970’s that buildings and the beaches were at greatest risk.Nothing since then has surpassed the storms of this era in terms of beach degradation and building destruction.I also notice that the average levels of the sea against our salt water pools has not changed.Even if there was change,how do we know that it is not our contiental plates sinking?

    Notice that how the fear of Global warming is waning,there is the new fear and the true agenda emerging, ie world over population which will be used to implement carbon taxes and austerity on us all.

    The UN to which more than 10% of our Carbon taxes will go, will be our new masters.This is why Kevin Rudd desperately wants a position there.The New World Order is not off the agenda.

    Comment by Ross — June 19, 2011 @ 11:31 am

  7. I really appreciated reading that. Thanks, its nice to be properly informed.

    stephenflegg.blogspot.com

    Comment by Stephen — June 19, 2011 @ 2:19 pm

  8. You are indeed correct to question all science & that has always been the process. The problem we all face now is the corrupted manipulation of data by all those who only want to adhere to the Green Agenda. They have infiltrated every dept of the Australian Gov & subsequently manipulate the very Information ministers rely on to form their own opinion. So even the Liberal/National ministers are not as informed as most electors. So many dirty secrets it’s hard to know where to start. Should be a Royal Commission into climate change propaganda. A link thats interesting.

    http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?tag=george-soros

    Comment by Egeo Veritas — June 20, 2011 @ 2:52 am

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