Climate change and sea-level rise in the Australian region

Characteristics of Australia’s future climate. Source: BoM, State of the Climate 2014, published by CSIRO and BoM.

"Future climate change over Australia will track global trends, causing warmer temperatures, changes to rainfall regimes, rising sea levels and more acidic ocean waters.

04 September 2018

At a glance

• Under a high greenhouse gas concentration scenario (RCP8.5), temperatures in Australia will increase by between 2.8 and 5.1°C by 2090 compared to 1986-2005.

• Rainfall trends are more uncertain, however rainfall amounts are expected to decrease over southern Australia, accompanied by more frequent and more severe droughts. 
• Global sea levels are expected to increase by 45 to 82 cm by 2090 for the high concentration scenario.  These levels may be higher if a tipping point is reached which commits one or more land-based ice sheets to irreversible melting. Projected increases around Australia are very similar.
• Extreme high sea-level events will occur more frequently in future, increasing the risks of flooding and erosion in coastal areas.
• In line with global trends, seawaters around Australia are becoming more acidic, as the oceans absorb some of the CO₂ released by human activities."

Go to CoastAdapt site 

Related:

Sea Level Rise Can No Longer Be Stopped, What Next? - with John Englander

Will the world end because of climate change?

Australia’s 2018 environmental scorecard: a dreadful year that demands action: The Conversation

"Temperatures went up again, rainfall declined further, and the destruction of vegetation and ecosystems by drought, fire and land clearing continued. Soil moisture, rivers and wetlands all declined, and vegetation growth was poor.
In short, our environment took a beating in 2018, and that was even before the oppressive heatwaves, bushfires and Darling River fish kills of January 2019."

Dar

Indicators of Australia’s environment in 2018 compared with the previous year. Similar to national economic indicators, they provide a summary but also hide regional variations, complex interactions and long-term context. source: http://www.ausenv.online/2018

"Globally, the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere accelerated again after slowing down in 2017. Global air and ocean temperatures remained high, sea levels increased further, and even the ozone hole grew again, after shrinking during the previous two years."

Read the article 

See also:

Australian Coalition government signs off with a budget tailored for climate denial: Renew Economy

Climate change will wipe $2.5tn off global financial assets: study

Stock Exchange

"Losses could soar to $24tn and wreck the global economy in worst case scenario, first economic modelling estimate suggests"

"The new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change, used economic modelling to estimate the impact of unchecked climate change. 

It found that in that scenario, the assets were effectively overvalued today by $2.5tn, but that there was a 1% chance that the overvaluation could be as high as $24tn.
The losses would be caused by the direct destruction of assets by increasingly extreme weather events and also by a reduction in earnings for those affected by high temperatures, drought and other climate change impacts."

Read the Guardian article

#climate catastrophe  #stranded assets  #economy  #global economy  #climate action  #extreme weather events  # economic modelling  #financial assets 

The world's 15 hottest sites on Tuesday were all in Australia: SMH

"Australia was home to all 15 of the world's hottest temperatures on Tuesday, a feat it may well repeat on Wednesday and beyond as a huge swath of the nation bakes in 45-degree-plus heat.

A slew of records have already fallen during the current heatwave and more are likely to be broken before a cool change breaks up the furnace later this week."


#heatwaves  #Australia  #risingtemperatures  #climateactionnow

Read the SMH article

Mental health added to impact of climate change as global damage grows: The Age

Rising temperatures are leading to increased levels of stress, worsening anxiety and depression, and even suicide in the most extreme cases in Australia.


Scientists have identified for the first time an association between mean annual maximum temperatures pushed higher by climate change and suicides for both males and females across states and territories, according to a paper published by The Medical Journal of Australia on Thursday.

Read the article 

#mentalhealth  #climatecatastrophe  #suicide  #healthrisks  #health  #risingtemperatures  #climateactionnow