Why the Future is looking Wet for South East Australia - Sutton Landcare meeting

The next meeting of Sutton Landcare will include our AGM followed by guest speaker, Dr Bradley Opdyke.

Date: Tuesday April 3

Time: 7.30 pm

Venue: Sutton School.

At 8.00 pm our speaker, Dr Bradley Opdyke , will address us on the future rainfall prospects for our region and for south east Australia as a whole.

Bradley is currently a Senior Lecturer at ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. His core capability is understanding the climate system. He has degrees in geochemistry and geology and is an acknowledged global expert on ocean acidification.

Whether it is going to be wetter or drier in south eastern Australia is one of those over arching areas of concern for farmers and Landcare groups across the State. Much publicity has recently been given to the findings from CSIRO climate models that our region and south east Australia in general faces a significantly drier future. And NSW Primary Industries has developed a Farmers Guide to Managing Climate Risk in a drier and more variable rainfall environment.

But how robust are these CSIRO model findings? Bradley’s analysis will provide a quite different perspective. He argues that in climate models like the one CSIRO runs, it is a coin flip whether it is going to be wetter or drier.  He will present evidence from the Paleo climate record as to why he thinks the future will be” much more wet than dry." Bradley’s analysis is a critical part of our understanding of what the future might hold for our climate and particular rainfall.

All interested persons are welcome to attend.

Further details about the meeting can be obtained from the secretary Gay Mc Neill (ph 62303569) and David Vincent (ph 62303584).

David Vincent (President)