Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Local Govt | National News Video | Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Search

 

External leaders not correctly briefed on sea level rises

8 September 2011

External leaders not correctly briefed on claimed sea level rises

Prominent international political figures like UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso should get briefed on the facts before coming to New Zealand and making unfounded claims about sea level rises in the South Pacific. This today from Hon Barry Brill, chairman of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, commenting on references during the Pacific Islands Forum made by both Messrs Ban and Barroso about sea level rises in the vicinity of atoll groups such as Kiribati.

“If either leader had bothered to consult Julia Gillard about the results of her Australian Government’s Bureau of Meteorology Seaframe tidal gauge project, they would have learned that levels have been stable since the installation of the first gauges in 1990,” said Mr Brill.

“Our Coalition has today asked for and received confirmation from a world authority on global sea levels, Professor Nils-Axel Mörner, former head of the Paleogeophysics and. Geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden, and past president of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution. Dr Mörner’s comments and a graph showing the stability of levels recorded over the past 17 years by the Kiribati Seaframe tidal gauge can be found on the Coalition’s website:

<http://www.climatescience.org.nz

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

"Obviously, there is a major clash between scenario-based computer simulations and reality in the form of observational based facts and observations in nature itself," Professor Mörner says. "There is no alarming sea level rise in either Kiribati or Tuvalu".

Mr Brill said it is surprising that local media have forgotten recent New Zealand research showing that coral atolls maintain a constant height relative to sea levels.

"The fact that Kiribati is growing, not shrinking, was reported fully in June last year. Paul Kench at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Arthur Webb at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji released a study in 2010 on the dynamic response of reef islands to sea level rise in the central Pacific. Kiribati was mentioned in the study, and Webb and Kench found that the three major urbanised islands in Kiribati - Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai - increased by 30 per cent (36 hectares), 16.3 per cent (5.8 hectares) and 12.5 per cent (0.8 hectares), respectively.

“It is remarkable that two major news media outlets highlighting Mr Ban’s claims this week could forget that they themselves published completely opposite stories just last year:
www.nzherald.co.nz/eloise-gibson/news/article.cfm?a_id=366&objectid=10649349

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/nz-research-shows-pacific-islands-not-shrinking-3577883

Mr Brill said that other data from our own New Zealand sources shows:
• No significant sea level change at Kiribati, but large excursions related to El Nino events (large falls) and La Nina (small rise);
• Sea level rise decelerating globally since the 19th century;
• Sea level rise decelerating for the Southwest Pacific since about 1907-1920;
• Sea level falling 2.8 cm for New Zealand so far this century;
• Pacific Ocean sea level falling last few years;
• Global sea level falling sharply last few years.

“The one bright spot is that neither Mr Moon nor Mr Barroso have repeated the silly claim that we humans are changing the climate by our almost unmeasurable contributions to the tiny percentage that carbon dioxide represents in Earth’s atmosphere; at 390 parts per million it is less than 0.04%,” Mr Brill concluded.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines



Gordon Campbell: On Dune 2, And Images Of Islam


Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture tends to be hostile to Islam when we’re sitting in the dark, with popcorn.
Any number of movie examples come to mind, beginning with Rudolf Valentino’s role (over a century ago) as the romantic Arab hero in The Sheik...
More


 
 


Government: One-stop Shop Major Projects On The Fast Track

The Coalition Government’s new one-stop-shop fast track consenting regime for regional and national projects of significance will cut red tape and make it easier for New Zealand to build the infrastructure and major projects needed to get the country moving again... More

ALSO:


Government: GPS 2024: Over $20 Billion To Get Transport Back On Track
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has released the draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport, outlining the Coalition Government’s plan to build and maintain a transport system that enables people to get to where they need to go quickly and safely... More

ALSO:

Government: Humanitarian Support For Gaza & West Bank

Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More


Government: New High Court Judge Appointed

Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.