Australian scientists, William Kininmonth and Bob Carter, deny that the intensity of Hurricane Sandy, the storm that devastated parts of the United States, was enhanced by climate change (The Courier, November 9, 2012).
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According to them, "There has been no significant atmospheric warming since 1996 and no ocean warming since the Argo buoy network was deployed in 2003". Therefore, climate change doesn't exist, so it couldn't have affected Sandy's intensity.
The reality is that datasets from the world's three main temperature recording agencies (Met Office, UK; NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA) all show global atmospheric temperatures unambiguously increasing, with the 2001-2010 decade the warmest ever recorded.
A paper published in the journal Nature (May 20, 2010) by John Lyman and colleagues, using data from ship-based sensors and the Argo network, found a similar unambiguous warming trend in global oceans from 1993 to 2008.
Sadly, the lies of Kininmonth and Carter and the lies of other prominent climate change deniers are uncritically accepted by most Australians, including most conservative politicians.
Whether this reflects a fear of hard science or a "to hell with the future" mentality, it does not bode well for the future of our nation.
Lawrie Wilson
Ballarat
