Blog
Australian Coastal Geodiversity And A Tribute To Andy Short
Australian Coastal Geodiversity And A Tribute To Andy Short Paul Donaldson kindly reminded me that 6 October is UNESCO International Geodiversity Day. In advance of that day he prompted me to say something about Australian coastal geodiversity. This also offers me the...
Coasts and Clean Seas: NHT Program 1999-2000
Coasts and Clean Seas: NHT Program 1999-2000 Many lament the absence of direct investment by the Australian Government in coastal management. We have a long history of our federal government taking an interest for a short period then “switching” off. I have discussed...
Environmental Monitoring: Values, Applications and Consequences
Environmental Monitoring: Values, Applications and Consequences Years ago I came across a marvelous book that reinforced my enthusiasm/predilection for science-based field work: “Agassiz’s Legacy—Scientists Reflections on the value of field experience” written by...
California: Sea Level Rise Guidance 2024
California: Sea Level Rise Guidance 2024 There has long been interest in Australia of practices adopted in California in coastal management. Various federal inquires going back to 1979 were made aware of what was happening in that US state, but we never received...
David Hopley: Geomorphologist of the Great Barrier Reef
David Hopley: Geomorphologist of the Great Barrier Reef David Hopley of James Cook University has inspired many through his teaching, research and writing. His passing is a great loss to coral reef science. David’s numerous contributions will remain as testimony to a...
May-June Storms 1974: Part 3 – In Retrospect
May-June Storms 1974: Part 3 - In Retrospect Looking back over the years we should be well aware of storm impacts along the east coast. There are now many records of such events. I was once shown a scarp at Boat Harbour near Port Stephens that was cut in the great...
MAY-JUNE STORMS 1974 – PART 2
MAY-JUNE STORMS 1974 - PART 2 As I write this blog fifty years ago to the day, the first of the two great 1974 storms had abated. Little did we know that another was coming a week later. We soon started stewing over the role of higher sea surface temperatures (SST)...
May-June Storms 1974 Revisited
May-June Storms 1974 Revisited Fifty years ago in NSW we experienced a sequence of storms that for many of us constitutes the biggest storms on record in terms of impact. In this and a following blog I will recount some of that experience. It was fortunate that...
Urban water quality monitoring
Urban water quality monitoring In 2007 Peter Cosier and I from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists visited Eva Abal at University of Queensland to find out about water quality monitoring studies in southeast Queensland (SEQ). We had embarked on a project...
Impacts of warming oceans
Impacts of warming oceans A brilliant Wilcox cartoon appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 12 March. She used two panels: on the left were reef tourists looking down from a boat at bleached corals; on the right was an actual sea surface temperature (SST) map of the...
Coastal vulnerability: an alternative approach
Coastal vulnerability: an alternative approach Last month I had the pleasure listening to an old friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at the Sydney Opera House. The occasion was one of his more serious operas, Idomeneo. The Director noted that the “wine-dark sea” of the...
“Big Swamp” in Northern Australia and Colin Woodroffe
“Big Swamp” in Northern Australia and Colin Woodroffe In early February I had the pleasure of attending a symposium at the University of Wollongong in honour of Colin Woodroffe. It was a great occasion to mark his retirement and allowed many of us to discuss a range...