New Study: Scientists Find ‘Recent UK Flooding Is Not Unprecedented’
The apparent increase in flooding witnessed over the last decade appears in consideration to the long-term flood record not to be unprecedented; whilst the period since 2000 has been considered as flood-rich, the period 1970–2000 is “flood poor”, which may partly explain why recent floods are often perceived as extreme events.
The much publicised (popular media) apparent change in flood frequency since 2000 may reflect natural variability, as there appears to be no shift in long-term flood frequency. –Neil Macdonald and Heather Sangster (2017), Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 21: 1631-1650.
Well, that wasn’t in the script, was it? A couple of scientists working at the University of Liverpool have found that recent floods in the UK are not, contrary to received wisdom, anything exceptional at all. “But wait”, I hear you say: “Weren’t we told that flooding was going to get worse and that it was all down to global warming?” Indeed we were. One should always be careful about correlations, but the fact that the floods are not without precedent seems clear. So is it too much to ask the alarmists to now tone things down a bit? –Andrew Montford, GWPF Comment, 17 June 2017
The 24 million people in Australia generate 1.5 per cent of annual global human-induced CO2 emissions. The USA emits 14 times and China emits 26 times more CO2 than Australia. Australia has 0.33 per cent of the global population. Our high standard of living, a landmass of 7,692,024 square kilometres with a sparse inland population and greenhouse gas-emitting livestock combined with the transport of livestock, food and mined products, long distances to cities and ports and the export of ores, coal, metals and food for 80 million people result in high per capita CO2 emissions. Australia’s exports of coal, iron ore and gas contribute to increasing the standard of living, longevity, and health of billions of people in Asia.
If Australia emits 1.5 per cent of global annual CO2 emissions, 3 per cent of the total annual global emissions are anthropogenic and the atmosphere contains 400 parts per million by volume of CO2, then one molecule in 6.6 million molecules in the atmosphere is CO2 emitted from humans in Australia. This molecule has an atmospheric life of about 7 years before it is removed from the atmosphere by natural sequestration into life and limey sediments. –Ian Plimer, The Spectator, Australia, 17 June 2017
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