http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/ocean/sst/anomaly.html

And in any case shows what Lough and Cai are saying. LOLZ !

Maaaaattteeee !

http://earth.rice.edu/mtpe/hydro/hydrosphere/latest/avhrr_sst/avhrr_ssta.html

(1) Australia ain’t the US – so need to be careful with comparisons
(2) Australia has been protesting for decades about all manner of US trade barriers and subsidies that make it uneconomic at times for us to export quality agricultural products to the US market – so yes mate we agree !!
(3) the Australian billions I refer to above are (1) what are called drought exceptional circumstances payments – drought welfare/drought relief to farmers who find themselves out of cash in “one in 20 year” type circumstances or worse. The criteria for drought declaration is fairly strict and quantitatively based. However – after decades the scheme is ending. (so I predict a shake-out in Pikey “stable farmer” low end next drought. The other monies are for works of land restoration and environmental protection – which Pikey tells me again are not necessary as he has it “covered”.

I am not personally criticising (in my point 3) so much as pointing out that it indicates a large number of farmers would go bust if left to the climate and market forces, and land degradation would remain unaddressed without funding.

You also should know a large number of dryland farmers (i.e. not irrigated) in the summer cropping and wheat belt work on numbers something like – for a decade — 3 years good seasons – make money; 4 years so so – pay bills – break even ; 3 years lose money – drought

If climate shifts significantly for WHATEVER reason these production systems can easily go broke from a bad run of seasons.

But to your point about subsidies – yes farmers are a strange quasi-free market bunch of conservatives – agrarian socialists who like to capitalise gains and socialise losses.

However – you tell me – land degradation and its off-site and downstream impacts remain on the public account without funding. Abandoned farms become refugia of feral pests and weeds.

Lose too many farmers – well that affects the support towns. That affects the schools. Doctors and support practitioners leave etc.

Is the greater good served by occasional targeted intervention? I dunno actually.

Our government has reviewed – and it’s our socialist leaning Labor government that has now closed the door. The Productivity Commission says:

http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/drought/report

Drought-triggered programs for farm businesses
Exceptional Circumstances interest rate subsidies should be terminated, subject totransition arrangements.
The Exceptional Circumstances exit package should be terminated, subject to
transition arrangements. The Re-establishment grants that are provided under theAustralia’s Farming Future initiative should similarly end.
The appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Small Block Irrigators
Exit Grant package should be evaluated following its conclusion.
States and territories should, as previously agreed, terminate transactions-based
subsidies.
The Murray-Darling Basin Irrigation Management Grants program should
conclude, as scheduled, on 30 June 2009.
Income support for farm and farm-related households
Exceptional Circumstances relief payments should be replaced, subject to
transition arrangements.
Exceptional Circumstances small business income support should be terminated,
subject to transition arrangements.
All farmers facing hardship should have access to a Farming Family Income
Support scheme designed for farming circumstances. It would provide payments
and have income eligibility thresholds at Newstart levels, subject to:
an overall net asset cap, inclusive of the value of the farm house, beginning at
$2 million with a taper to $3 million
a liquid asset sub-cap of $20 000 inclusive of bank balances and Farm
Management Deposits balances.
While the scheme should operate at the farm household level, eligibility and
payments should be on an individual basis and conditional on:
meeting the definition of a farmer, based on a similar test to that used
currently for the Transitional Income Support scheme
seeking independent financial advice on the viability of the farming business
developing and carrying out a plan of action to improve household
self-reliance
eligibility being reviewed, mutual responsibilities being met and plans updated
every six months.
The scheme should be limited to a maximum claim per farm household for three
years out of every seven. The seven year period should commence from the date of receiving the first income support payment. Payments should be acquitted
annually.
The Farming Family Income Support scheme should commence on 1 July 2009
in conjunction with programs to provide counselling, the recognition of prior
learning and grants for training and professional advice.

That’s right Luke, that’s because they suffer from denialist evidence blindness, no use pasting any evidence here.

again you show your immaturity.

Subsidies, even when new, rarely are paid based on need of the sector. Subsidies are commonly used to purchase votes by politicians or to curry favor with the rich businesses for support, whether legal or illegal.

Excellent examples are the Farm Subsidies here in the US. We support the price of sugar. Sugar growers are in no danger of anything but diabetes. We support the price of grain. If our farmers were allowed to freely contract with anyone in the world for sales, again, there would be no danger for the sector. We pay farmers NOT TO PLANT!! This is alledgedly to keep farmers from ruining their land by overuse and poor farming habits. What it does is help Farmers keep the prices of commodities UP!!! We support the price of milk?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Basically, there is no NEED for farm subsidies here in the US, especially when you check and find most of the $$$$$ go to the largest corporate farms!!!!!

I do not know of ANY subsidies that are paid that are NOT Socialist Policies that are negative to the area involved. Would you care to refute this??

Nope on dope – we’re talking large scale legal mechanised irrigated agricultural crops.

Your 117 year whinge was just wrong. Their analysis was without Snowy inflows and it holds. When you have their analysis critiqued using their papers I will listen. It’s very strange that you think ongoing patterns of very low rainfall including periods of record low headwater rainfall would not lead to low inflows. It beggars belief. So don’t do be so dodgy as to play shell games hiding sources of storage water in your analysis.

Don’t bother with comparisons to who else may get what subsidies – it’s irrelevant to the argument. You could have also used the car industry here similarly. The level of support clearly indicates a lack of adaptability. BILLIONS over DECADES. You say your sector is AOK – so why have we been spending all these billions then? Doesn’t matter if you personally didn’t support it – your industry did and has used heaps ! NHT and CfoC funding still flowing in millions for fixing land deg. We stupidly flogged off Telstra for this you know !

But our beloved agrarian agriculture has been capitalising gains and socialising losses since European settlement. About to stop actually – so we’ll soon see eh !?

You will learn on everything I quote I’m not bluffing. Don’t think I’m disingenuous like faux sceptics.

Shifting climate zones for Australia’s tropical marine ecosystems

J. M. Lough

Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are significantly warming along the northwest (NW) and northeast (NE) coasts of Australia – regions containing well-protected and internationally significant tropical marine ecosystems. The magnitude and spatial distribution of observed warming of annual, maximum and minimum SSTs is examined, 1950–2007. Observed warming is comparable along the NE and NW coasts although greater along the NE coast south ∼15°S, greater at higher than lower latitudes, and greater for annual minimum than annual maximum SSTs. Average climate zones have also shifted >200 km south along the NE coast and about half that distance along the NW coast. If current trends continue, annual average SSTs in northern parts could be ∼0.5°C warmer and those of more southern parts ∼2.0°C warmer within the next 100 years. These rapid changes in oceanic climate are already causing responses in Australia’s tropical marine ecosystems and these responses, if present rates of warming continue, can only intensify.

Received 8 May 2008; accepted 26 June 2008; published 29 July 2008.

Citation: Lough, J. M. (2008), Shifting climate zones for Australia’s tropical marine ecosystems, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L14708, doi:10.1029/2008GL034634.

************

The response of the Southern Annular Mode, the East Australian Current, and the southern mid-latitude ocean circulation to global warming

W. Cai

Marine and Atmospheric Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

G. Shi

Marine and Atmospheric Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

T. Cowan

Marine and Atmospheric Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

D. Bi

Marine and Atmospheric Research, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

J. Ribbe

Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Climate models predict an upward trend of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in response to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, however the consequential impact of this change on oceanic circulation has not been explored. Here we analyse the outputs of a series of global warming experiments from the CSIRO Mark 3 climate model. We show that although for the zonal wind stress change the maximum is located at approximately 60°S, in terms of the change in surface wind stress curl, the maximum is situated at approximately 48°S. This change in the wind stress curl causes a spin-up of the entire southern midlatitude ocean circulation including a southward strengthening of the subtropical gyres, particularly the East Australia Current (EAC). The intensified EAC generates a warming rate in the Tasman Sea that is the greatest in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) with significant implications for sea level rise. The pan-Southern Ocean scale suggests a broad impact on the marine ecosystem of the entire southern midlatitude ocean.

Received 20 September 2005; accepted 31 October 2005; published 10 December 2005.

Citation: Cai, W., G. Shi, T. Cowan, D. Bi, and J. Ribbe (2005), The response of the Southern Annular Mode, the East Australian Current, and the southern mid-latitude ocean circulation to global warming, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L23706, doi:10.1029/2005GL024701.

****************

Antarctic ozone depletion causes an intensification of the Southern Ocean super-gyre circulation

W. Cai

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia

Recent climate trends over the Southern Hemisphere (SH) summer feature a strengthening of the circumpolar westerly and a weakening of the midlatitude westerly extending from the stratosphere to Earth’s surface. Much of the change is attributable to Antarctic ozone depletion. However, the consequential ocean circulation changes are unknown. Here I demonstrate that the observed surface wind changes have forced a southward shift and spin-up of the super gyre, which links the subtropical South Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Ocean circulation, advecting more warm water southward. The circulation change includes a strengthening of the East Australian Current (EAC) flow passing through the Tasman Sea. The southward shift may be responsible for the observed unusually large warming in the SH midlatitude ocean and may contribute to the reported range extension to the south of many marine species in the South West Pacific.

Received 10 October 2005; accepted 23 December 2005; published 10 February 2006.

Citation: Cai, W. (2006), Antarctic ozone depletion causes an intensification of the Southern Ocean super-gyre circulation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L03712, doi:10.1029/2005GL024911.

All quality Australian work – which you have not read. Nor care to. And that’s not even the half of it. MIND closed like a vice Pikey.