Australia Sucks up so Much Water, It Halts Sea Level Rise

[Darxide]

From what I understand, the crazy rainfall that Australia has experienced in the last several years is another symptom of global warming and therefore this isn't a good thing.

 

[DragonStorm247]

From what I understand, the crazy rainfall that Australia has experienced in the last several years is another symptom of global warming and therefore this isn't a good thing.

So ... global warming is halting global warming?

 

[Abomination]

I'm picturing a tsunami hitting Australia and just disappearing upon touching the landmass.

It just falls into the ground and is soaked up completely. The Australians are all just sitting around in black singlets and gumboots, drinking Fosters like nothing just happened.

 

[Hadesshade]

I'm picturing a tsunami hitting Australia and just disappearing upon touching the landmass.

It just falls into the ground and is soaked up completely. The Australians are all just sitting around in black singlets and gumboots, drinking Fosters like nothing just happened.

Except that Fosters is rarely consumed in Australia. It's mostly a drink for internationals.

Also: Yay! We exist in recognition in another country! Only when we actually affect something globally, but oh, well...

 

[cerebus23]

It is pretty kick ass indeed that this little slice of earth can have such a huge impact on the global sea levels.

I wouldn't call it little

Compared to the size of all the oceans of the earth it is very tiny indeed.

 

[carpathic]

It is pretty kick ass indeed that this little slice of earth can have such a huge impact on the global sea levels.

I wouldn't call it little

Still smaller than Canada, so little enough

 

[Something Amyss]

<
Whether you believe in global warming or not, it is an indisputable fact that the sea level is rising by around 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) per year.

I'm curious as to why one is indisputable and the other is not. If you can deny global warming, you can totally deny rising waters. Just claim scientists are "teh bias" and liberals are "teh bias" and scare tactics and....Basically everything people claim about Global Warming, a round earth, and 9-11.

 

[Something Amyss]

From what I understand, the crazy rainfall that Australia has experienced in the last several years is another symptom of global warming and therefore this isn't a good thing.

Well, yes. This is an instance of one symptom of global warming temporarily offsetting another.

 

[Steven Bogos]

<
Whether you believe in global warming or not, it is an indisputable fact that the sea level is rising by around 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) per year.

I'm curious as to why one is indisputable and the other is not. If you can deny global warming, you can totally deny rising waters. Just claim scientists are "teh bias" and liberals are "teh bias" and scare tactics and....Basically everything people claim about Global Warming, a round earth, and 9-11.

Global Warming is still just a theory. A theory accepted by the vast majority of scientists, but in the end, still a theory. Until we know exactly what is causing it, and how, it's not a fact.

Rising sea levels is a fact that supports the Global Warming theory

 

[Lead Herring]

First of all, thank you Aussies, you guys are awesome.

Secondly, I'm sorry you've had shitty weather, Aussies, you guys are awesome.

Third, can this keep up? I mean, even Australia has its limits. Sooner or later it'll get... "soggy"...

Fourth, does this mean that there is potential for an ecological shift in Australia's inland? If this abundance of water keeps up, couldn't the deserts start to shift into more hospitable climates?

Yuck, soggy Australia.

Also, sorry about the whole "stealing all the water" thing. I honestly didn't know, must have been the rest of the Continent.

It is pretty kick ass indeed that this little slice of earth can have such a huge impact on the global sea levels.

I wouldn't call it little

Still smaller than Canada, so little enough

True, but that's the second largest country on this planet Earth, so that makes the majority of countries smaller. Too bad Russia's no longer sinking, or you'd soon be first

 

[Something Amyss]

Global Warming is still just a theory. A theory accepted by the vast majority of scientists, but in the end, still a theory. Until we know exactly what is causing it, and how, it's not a fact.

Rising sea levels is a fact that supports the Global Warming theory

Global warming demonstrably exists because...The Earth has warmed. That's like saying rising sea levels is only a theory. We can demonstrate both have happened reliably. The only "theory" part is the projection that it will continue, and the same could be said for rising sea levels.

In fact, the usual arguments against global warming are to point to an anomaly and say "look, you were wrong!" so it would be pretty easy to do the exact same thing with the dropping of the sea level in 2010.

Global warming in itself does not dictate humans are behind climate change, only that things are getting warmer. If you can deny that, you can deny rising sea levels. However, I wouldn't be so quick to spout the "just a theory" line about human influence in climate change, either.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Where do funnel webs live, you ask in terror? All around my house. I live in the Blue Mountains just to the west of Sydney. They love rocky soil. The entire mountains are rocky soil. I was looking at a house, to buy, the other day and when walking in the back yard, I walked through and stood on a funnel web nest. I got off pretty quickly. But it was all good.

But at least the Blue Mountains funnel webs aren't as deadly as the Sydney funnel webs. Sydney being our largest city of about 4 million people.

An equal terrassive factoid; The Sydney funnel web has been found as far south as Melbourne, and as far north as Lismore.

 

[MorphingDragon]

You had me at Australia sucks. Oh wait...

Speaking of water... China has the largest water reservoir in the world. It's so big it affects the earth's centrifugal force, slowing[footnote]I think it was slowing down, not speeding up[/footnote] earth down and thus making each day last 0.1 second longer.

The three gorges dam?

http://theenergylibrary.com/node/11435

 

[4RM3D]

You had me at Australia sucks. Oh wait...

Speaking of water... China has the largest water reservoir in the world. It's so big it affects the earth's centrifugal force, slowing[footnote]I think it was slowing down, not speeding up[/footnote] earth down and thus making each day last 0.1 second longer.

The three gorges dam?

http://theenergylibrary.com/node/11435

Ah yes, that's the one. I couldn't remember what it was called. The details were a little bit foggy.

 

[Denamic]

I bet the increase in water will lead to an increase in giant insects. Of course, this leads to more food for the spiders. Coastal disaster all over the planet or an influx of giant spiders? Let's just go with the rise of the sea level, yeah?

 

[Scow2]

From what I understand, the crazy rainfall that Australia has experienced in the last several years is another symptom of global warming and therefore this isn't a good thing.

Global warming is neither "good" nor "bad", any more than an earthquake or volcanic eruption is. From what the anthropogenic GW advocates are saying - it would be better to adapt and roll with global warming than actually try to fix/reverse it - Nothing's enough to stop it, so we might as well get our economy in a shape to deal with it instead of bankrupting ourselves to get swallowed by it anyway and screw over the 3rd world even more.

First of all, thank you Aussies, you guys are awesome.

Secondly, I'm sorry you've had shitty weather, Aussies, you guys are awesome.

Third, can this keep up? I mean, even Australia has its limits. Sooner or later it'll get... "soggy"...

Fourth, does this mean that there is potential for an ecological shift in Australia's inland? If this abundance of water keeps up, couldn't the deserts start to shift into more hospitable climates?

Yuck, soggy Australia.

Also, sorry about the whole "stealing all the water" thing. I honestly didn't know, must have been the rest of the Continent.

It is pretty kick ass indeed that this little slice of earth can have such a huge impact on the global sea levels.

I wouldn't call it little

Still smaller than Canada, so little enough

True, but that's the second largest country on this planet Earth, so that makes the majority of countries smaller. Too bad Russia's no longer sinking, or you'd soon be first

<
Whether you believe in global warming or not, it is an indisputable fact that the sea level is rising by around 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) per year.

I'm curious as to why one is indisputable and the other is not. If you can deny global warming, you can totally deny rising waters. Just claim scientists are "teh bias" and liberals are "teh bias" and scare tactics and....Basically everything people claim about Global Warming, a round earth, and 9-11.

Global Warming is still just a theory. A theory accepted by the vast majority of scientists, but in the end, still a theory. Until we know exactly what is causing it, and how, it's not a fact.

Rising sea levels is a fact that supports the Global Warming theory

Also - "Theory" is as good as Science has to "Fact", for that little argument up there. Laws are something else entirely from hypothesis and theories (And are not always proven fact). Want to know some other things that are "just theory"? Gravity and Relativity - both of which are demonstrated to be true simply by the existence of our space programs and electronics.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

And the Government wants to instigate a carbon tax and we pay through the nose on water bills. We get all the good stuff and the powers that be still cock it up.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Australians can be used as sponges you know.

 

[Gnmish]

So in time Australia will go from giant desert with terrifyingly huge spiders to giant swamp with terrifyingly huge spiders?

Yay?

You know there are relatively few truly deadly spiders here in Australia.

The poisonous snakes killed them all.

 

[Agayek]

Also - "Theory" is as good as Science has to "Fact", for that little argument up there. Laws are something else entirely from hypothesis and theories (And are not always proven fact). Want to know some other things that are "just theory"? Gravity and Relativity - both of which are demonstrated to be true simply by the existence of our space programs and electronics.

Eh. "Theory" and "Fact" are two wildly different things, even in the scientific community.

A fact is an observed phenomena (ie, "water levels have risen by X amount in 20XX" or "If I drop an object, it accelerates toward the earth at 9.8 m/s^2"). It's a simple statement of observation that is proven true simply by virtue of having been observed.

On the other hand, a theory is a predictive model that both matches all known related facts and is sturdy enough to withstand rigorous examination by the community. In other words, a theory is a "best guess" for how/why a specific phenomenon occurs.

By their very nature, theories cannot be indisputable, because we cannot know that we know everything about a phenomenon.

On a side note, neither Gravity nor Relativity are proven true. They explain the various phenomena we have observed and can be used to predict the true behavior of things, so we can confidently state that they are at least partially true, but they are far from complete models, and until they are, they cannot be definitively said to be true.