I actually thought that with what is happening in Europe that resources would be directed to real problems.
Posted by runner, Wednesday, 23 March 2016 9:55:11 AM

That's a false dichotomy and a category error, runner.

We can multi-task, including hauling former political leaders who contributed to both these situations before the courts

mhaze

You might find this recent science paper interesting:

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2681.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160321-climate-change-petm-global-warming-carbon-emission-rate/

http://wxshift.com/news/2015-one-for-the-climate-record-books

In relation to the energy created by green house gases; Skeptical Science says:

"An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter Scale shakes the earth with the destructive energy of 6.3x1013 Joules. Since 1998, our climate has absorbed more than 2 billion such earthquakes (4.0 every second) in accumulated energy from the sun, due to greenhouse gases, and continues to absorb more energy as heat each and every day."

AGRONOMIST,

My father was an agronomist. I always thought that agronomists, having to be both practical and analytical, had a preference for data over the authority of experts.

In one of your first comments you claimed that it could not possibly have been hotter in Darwin in 1907, than it is now. On what basis did you make this claim? As an agronomist you should be interested in the evidence, the data, so please show some discipline and a preparedness to have your prejudices challenged and click across to http://jennifermarohasy.com/2016/02/12910/

MHAZE

You make a good point.

JFAUS

The data that I've seen on nutrient levels in the oceans off Australia would suggest no impact from sewerage. N levels can be elevated in rivers and streams, but the Indian and Pacific oceans dilute runoff such that there is no increasing trend in nutrient levels in our Oceans.

I would have thought that the spike in algae associated with an El Nino is a response to temperature

Jennifer wrote:

"In one of your first comments you claimed that it could not possibly have been hotter in Darwin in 1907, than it is now."

I will make this easy for you Jennifer. I made no such claim.

This is what I actually wrote:

"However, all is not lost. Jennifer Marohasy conveniently points out that the hottest year in Darwin was in 1907. This presumably means the global temperatures were warmer back then than they are now, or something. I leave it an exercise for the reader to work out the fail in logic there."

Like your father, I think accuracy is important.

Jennifer Marohasy,

Nutrient loading in oceans depends on where you look and where samples are taken.
Deep open ocean water offshore in general is lacking in nutrient and algae.

It’s a matter of finding where and when the nutrient loaded currents run.
I suggest it’s a bit like finding clouds and then finding cloud with enough moisture to rain.

Toxic algae seems to get more attention than non-toxic algae but spread of either should be noticed and be of significant concern.
There are “ever-growing” reports of toxic algae spreading in the Indian Ocean and I submit such algae is dependent on spread of ever growing nutrient supply.
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/oct252004/1079.pdf

Increase in temperature alone cannot spike increase in algae if the nutrient is inadequate.

If there is specific warmth associated with El Nino, what could be the cause of that warmth?

Dissolved nutrient from sewage is bonded to fresh water.
Fresh water tends to the surface and does not dilute offshore on the east coast of Australia for example, because alongshore current driven by prevailing S and SE winds pushes the surface water against the coast and northwards, i.e Bass Strait to Cape York via the GBR lagoon.

Look for the green in coastal waves in surfing movies and news reports.
The same alongshore current transported sand that built Moreton Island and Frazer Island.

Look closely at the following photo like a doctor looks at an xray. See the green of algae sweeping northwards along the coast of Alaska.
The Bering Strait/Sea region is where sea ice is reported melting faster and more than usual.
Look closely mid-water between Alaska and Russia, see the huge area of lighter colour, this is another species of algae, coccolithaphore. Google that word.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Bering_Strait.jpeg

There has been a recent impossible discovery:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/june/arctic-algal-blooms-060712.html

Thanks to NASA I have various evidence of ocean algae linked to precipitation. E.g.
At the following link, pinpoints of cloud virtually parallel above an algae bloom can be seen forming into bigger cloud. Zoom to pinpoints.
http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/40000/40716/bering_amo_2009281_lrg.jpg

And there is this (2 links):
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/algae-accelerate-arctic-warming-18929

Jennifer, I respect your integrity. What do you think?

Agronomist,
Those Trade wind diagrams show the opposite of the BOM theory. Just as the convection from a column heater with no fan is caused by the temperature, so the location of the sea surface temperature changing would cause the trade winds to change. Thus the change in current cause by the motion of the planets causes the change in trade winds.

"It is a comparison of Oceanic Nino Index. In any case, it does show sea surface temperatures in the Pacific increasingly departing from the mean in strong El Nino years over the period."
It shows an 23 year period between 1950 and 1973 with much warmer Pacific SSTs than the recent period.
http://ggweather.com/enso/oni.htm

As for the Global NOAA SSTs this current chart shows the equator (+20 to -20 latitude)to be the ONLY warm part of the planet. The pause obviously continues.
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/anomaly/2016/anomnight.3.21.2016.gif