Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2009, Flannery predicted: 'The soil is warmer because of global warming and the
plants are under more stress and therefore using more moisture. So even the rain that falls
isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems …'
In fact, Queensland, NSW and Victoria have since suffered severe floods. Dams in
Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra have all filled.
In 2007, Flannery predicted: 'In Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, water supplies are so
low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months.'
In fact, both Sydney and Brisbane's dams were more than 85 per cent full as of March
2014. Adelaide's catchments were 62 per cent full. Sydney and Brisbane have mothballed
their desalination plants.
In 2009, Bertrand Timbal, a Bureau of Meteorology climatologist, predicted: 'The
rainfall we had in the 1950s, 60s and 70s was a benchmark, but we are just not going to
have that sort of good rain again as long as the system is warming up.'
In fact, the Bureau has since declared 2010 and 2011 Australia's wettest two-year
period on record'.
Prediction: the Great Barrier Reef is being wiped out by warming
In 1999, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a Queensland University reef expert and an
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author, predicted warming would so heat
the oceans that mass bleaching of the Reef would occur every second year from 2010.
In fact, the Reef's last mass bleaching occurred in 2006.
In2000Hoegh-Guldbergclaimed 'wenowhavemoreevidence thatcoralscannotfully
recover from bleaching episodes such as the major event in 1998' and 'the overall damage
is irreparable'.
Infact,Hoegh-Guldbergadmittedin2009hewas'overjoyed'toseehowmuchthereef
had recovered, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science says 'most reefs recovered
fully'.
In2006,Hoegh-Guldbergwarnedhightemperaturesmeant'between30and40percent
of coral on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef could die within a month'.
In fact, Hoegh-Guldberg later admitted this bleaching had 'a minimal impact'.
In 2011, Hoegh-Guldberg predicted a 'large-scale mortality' of reef-building corals on
West Australian reefs from Shark Bay to Exmouth within three months.
In fact, Hoegh-Guldberg later admitted the famous Ningaloo Reef, the largest there,
actually 'had a narrow escape'.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search