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Is the Sydney dust storm related to climate change?
- Thread starter Mandy
- Start date
If it is anything like the dust storms that occur in the Southwest of the United States, it is more about bad farming practices in low rain fall areas. During the 1930's a good portion of the Western States had very bad dust storms. When I spent two years in Southwest Oklahoma, we had some dust storms. Most of it caused by the sparse vegetation to hold the soil in place. I am assuming this is happening in NSW. It is just a naturally occurring event that a warmer climate may make worse as the dry areas continue to go back to an even drier climate and at least in the United States we have more people living in these drier climates.
From the SMH website:
Global warming may not be the cause of the most severe dust storm to blight eastern Australia in 70 years, an Australian climate scientist says.
Monash University geography and environmental science head Nigel Tapper said that, while a decade of drought and a month of strong westerly winds combined to send possibly millions of tonnes of dust from the Lake Eyre basin over NSW, Victoria and Queensland, the jury was still out on whether climate change was responsible.
"We've always had dust storms," Professor Tapper said.
"There's plenty of evidence that, during the last ice age, there was lots of dust being blown around the southern hemisphere, a lot of it coming from Australia.
"So to that extent you can't say that it's related to greenhouse-induced climate change in the last few years.
"However, one thing that you can say is that [there has been] really reduced rainfall over southern Australia, particularly over the Murray-Darling basin, over Victoria and parts of South Australia."
Global warming may not be the cause of the most severe dust storm to blight eastern Australia in 70 years, an Australian climate scientist says.
Monash University geography and environmental science head Nigel Tapper said that, while a decade of drought and a month of strong westerly winds combined to send possibly millions of tonnes of dust from the Lake Eyre basin over NSW, Victoria and Queensland, the jury was still out on whether climate change was responsible.
"We've always had dust storms," Professor Tapper said.
"There's plenty of evidence that, during the last ice age, there was lots of dust being blown around the southern hemisphere, a lot of it coming from Australia.
"So to that extent you can't say that it's related to greenhouse-induced climate change in the last few years.
"However, one thing that you can say is that [there has been] really reduced rainfall over southern Australia, particularly over the Murray-Darling basin, over Victoria and parts of South Australia."
3
3v@ng1
Guest
it was caused by a great low pressure system in central Oz .... im up in QLD and its like wow :O.......lol......but i honestly don't think that low pressure systems are caused by climate change.....was the ice age climate change (through humans?) ?????