Oceans warming faster than thought, new research finds

Washington: Scientists say the world's oceans are warming far more quickly than previously thought, a finding with dire implications for climate change because almost all the excess heat absorbed by the planet ends up stored in their waters.

Rising seas: People sit in a flooded St Mark's Square in Venice,
Italy, as high tides inundated the city in March 2018.

CREDIT:

A new analysis, published on Thursday in the journal Science, found that the oceans are heating up 40 per cent faster on average than a UN panel estimated five years ago. The researchers also concluded that ocean temperatures have broken records for several straight years.

"2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth's oceans," said Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at independent climate research group Berkeley Earth and an author of the study. "As 2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year.”

As the planet has warmed, the oceans have provided a critical buffer. They have slowed the effects of climate change by absorbing 93 per cent of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases humans pump into the atmosphere.

Read the story from The Age by Kendra Pierre-Louis - “Oceans warming faster than thought, new research finds.”

A new solar reality

The costs of renewable systems have dropped dramatically over the last two years — particularly solar — and continue to drop very quickly, Scientia Professor Martin Green argues.

Political pessimism lags behind the
 reality of solar in Australia.

Yet he says none of this yet being factored in to the political discussion over renewables.

So how do we dispel the lingering pessimism in Canberra over solar — and expand the use of this remarkable technology?

Listen to Ockham’s Razor on Radio National - “A new solar reality.”

Nerds and Billionaires: Let scientists out of their boxes

When I came home to Australia to head up the CSIRO, I was on a panel and the moderator told me I was “just a scientist”. The implication was: what would you know about business?

                                                             Artwork: Tom Jellett.

Reviewing some of the television interviews given by my predecessor, Megan Clark, I was shocked to hear her called a “head of the nerds”. She laughed it off, but I don’t think I could have.

After 26 years in the US I’d forgotten what Australian culture thinks of scientists. Sure, they’re smart, they’re achievers, and they’re important — but don’t ask them about anything other than science.

Science becomes very specialised very quickly, and so do markets, so you need to be an endlessly curious person who isn’t afraid to ask questions. That’s definitely at the heart of science training and, I think, at the heart of the best business training. But just because you study science doesn’t mean you can’t do business. 

In fact, it may prepare you to run companies far better than management courses do, especially in the innovation revolution.

Read the piece by the CSIRO’s chief executive officer, Larry Marshall -  “Nerds and Billionaires: Let scientists out of their boxes.”