Typhoons and Carbon Taxes

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the leaders of the global warming scare campaign who are blaming the use of carbon fuels for Typhoon Haiyan should read their own IPCC scientific report which makes no such claim. Damaging typhoons have been a fact of life in the Eastern Pacific for all of recorded history. In 1274, Japan was saved from invasion by Kublai Khan when a typhoon destroyed a huge Mongol invasion fleet. A second bigger fleet in 1281 was destroyed by another typhoon which was named Kamikaze or “divine wind” by the grateful Japanese. Typhoons were also frequent and severe during the Little Ice Age around 1670. Living on the flood plains and beaches around the huge Pacific Ocean is pleasant and productive for billions of humans for most of the time – generally the climate is mild, the rains are regular, the soils are fertile and food is abundant from land and sea. But every sea-side settlement must expect to suffer huge damage or destruction some time from a rogue cyclone, typhoon, hurricane or tsunami. Moreover, as a “Ring of Fire” also circles the Pacific, they can also expect the occasional severe earthquake or volcanic eruption.

To promote the belief that carbon taxes and related handouts will change the natural reality of cyclones and typhoons is no better than modern witchcraft in which western consumers are to be sacrificed on the climate scare altar. The UN/IPCC frequent flyers attending the Warsaw gabfest should have stayed home and donated their time, energy, air fares, hotel bills, croissants and expense accounts to helping the real victims. Nowhere in the world are cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons or tornadoes powered by the tiny trace of well-dispersed, invisible carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Anyone who studies storms can observe that the energy of tropical storms comes from localised heat and moisture. Thunderheads are not composed of carbon dioxide – they are composed of water in its various forms. Water is unique in the atmosphere in that it can change phase from a gas, to a liquid, or a solid all within the temperature ranges found on Earth’s surface. Every phase change generates or absorbs considerable energy. It is these latent energies of evaporation and condensation that sustain storms. All such processes are driven by the energy of the sun. Storms form in areas of sun-heated low pressure where there is a plentiful supply of warm moist air over the sea and masses of cooler high-pressure air over the nearby land. A mega-storm grows as air rushes from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. It starts spinning because of the rotation of the earth. This low-pressure vortex is then maintained by the release of latent heat as moisture in the rising air condenses into rain and hail. Mega-storms are common in warm tropical waters which supply solar heat and abundant moisture. They tend to die over land, often bringing welcome rain. Carbon dioxide plays no part in any of these storm processes. Even if it were to cause some global warming, it would tend to warm the poles, reducing the temperature contrasts that power major storms. However, average land and sea temperature has not risen for 16 years; nor has the frequency or intensity of destructive storms. Clearly, typhoons and cyclones have not been stopped by Australia’s carbon tax. They are tragic, but not our fault. Arguing that a carbon tax and global wealth redistribution are required to prevent typhoons and cyclones is just nonsense. Using this mad logic, it would make more sense to have a “hydrogen tax” on emissions of steam and water vapour (H2O) in an equally futile attempt to remove the real driving energy from tropical mega-storms. For those who would like to read more: Intense Typhoons On The Decline: Cyclone landfalls in Philippines at low level: Big storms compared: Typhoon Haiyan v The Rest: Kamikaze saves Japan: Haiyan is 58th Super Typhoon since 1950 to reach central pressure of 900 mb or lower: Global Warming not to blame for Typhoon Haiyan: No significant trends in cyclone frequency or intensity. Increasing damage is due to increasing population and development: UN Warsaw conference rejects even IPCC science and resorts to stunts, scares and lies: Tragic, but not our fault: