Temperatures had already increased, sea levels had risen and the oceans surrounding the country had warmed, said Scott Power, principal research scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
©REUTERS/Tim Wimborne |
The earth cracks between weeds in a farmer's field near Griffith, 400km (249miles) north of Melbourne, August 22, 2007. |
"Further warming and further sea level rise seems inevitable," he said, releasing the "Climate Change in Australia" report produced by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Temperatures were expected to rise by about 1 degree Celsius by 2030 and could rise more, said Penny Whetton, head of climate impact and risk at the government-backed CSIRO.
Rainfall is forecast to decrease by up to 20 percent by 2070 in southern Australia if greenhouse gas emissions are low and by up to 30 percent if gas emissions are high.
Temperatures in Australia have already risen by 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1950, producing the hottest year on record in 2005.
The present year could eclipse that in key areas.
Southern Australia, and the Murray-Darling Basin food bowl in particular, had its hottest year on record between January and September this year, new data shows.
"It's bitterly disappointing ... that the rainfall during the last month in the Murray-Darling Basin, just when we were all hoping for well above average rainfall, turns out to be the lowest on record," Power said.
"We're more confident than ever before that these changes can be largely attributed to human intervention in the climate."
HIT HARDER
Australia was likely to be hit harder by climate change than other sub-tropical parts of the world, including South Africa, the Mediterranean and parts of South America, because it was already very dry, Whetton said.
Frequently recurring Australian droughts will be more severe because of higher temperatures, while periods of high fire danger are increasing, as is coastal flooding from storms.
Inland parts of Australia, home to vast agricultural enterprises producing wheat and cattle which supply export markets in Asia and the Middle East, would warm faster than coastal areas and receive less rainfall, Whetton said.
Dryland crops such as wheat could possibly increase because of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, if rainfall decline was not too large, Whetton said.
But Australia's wheat crop has already been hit hard by drought in 2002, 2006 and 2007. And there will be less water for irrigated crops, which include grapes, cotton and rice.
Higher temperatures increased coral bleaching and could pose a severe risk to the Great Barrier Reef, she said.
City water supplies could decrease significantly. Melbourne and parts of southern Victoria state have already had 10 years of below-average rainfall.
At low emissions of greenhouse gases, warming of between 1 degree Celsius and 2.5 degrees was expected by 2070, with a best estimate of 1.8 degrees, Whetton said.
At high emissions, the best estimate was warming of 3.4 degrees, in a range of 2.2 degrees to 5 degrees.
Wouldn't it be funny if there was wide-spread flooding across Australia this summer season?
What if the dams overflowed as well? I think we are about to witness a "miracle" here...
Mind you, this whole BS story has a whole different goal altogether. I heard on TV a local council representative from Northern Queensland talk about water restrictions in his neck of the woods.
You see, not long ago they had drought-breaking rains but still had to obey the water restrictions imposed on the local population due to the “drought.”
Now, the councillor said something to this effect – “This issue is not about the drought being here or not – it is about some sort of permanent water management program.”
Australia is a very dry country – we have always had some sort of permanent water restriction programs. What this guy is talking about is privatisation of the water supply.