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Historic Content you are reading content from a previous reporting year.

Showing 30 of 57 results

Atmosphere

2016
Coasts
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Coasts Pressures Greater Brisbane Great Barrier Reef Greater Sydney Indian Ocean Airborne emissions Australia’s...

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State and trends of Australia’s climate 2016

2016
Climate
State and trends
At a glance

At a glanceAustralian temperatures have increased during the past 100 years, especially since the 1950s. This increase has also been observed at the global level, and is associated with increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The year 2015 was the warmest on record...

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Acronyms and abbreviations 2016

2016
Coasts
At a glance

Acronym or abbreviation Definition 4WD four-wheel drive ENSO El Niño–Southern Oscillation EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 GDP gross domestic product GPS global positioning system ICOLLs intermittently closed...

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Climate extremes have resulted in widespread coral bleaching, habitat destruction and species mortalities in the past 5 years

2016
Marine environment
Key Finding

2016One of the strongest recorded La Niña events (2010–12), superimposed on overall increasing water temperatures, led to widespread bleaching of corals, loss of kelp forests, fish and invertebrate deaths, and changes in species distribution in western Australian marine environments. Also...

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Climate and system variability

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Pressures Tasmania Marine Temperate East Marine South West Great Barrier Reef Marine North...

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Outlook for inland water environments 2016

2016
Inland water
Outlook
At a glance

At a glanceClimate and pests remain the largest pressures on our inland water environments. Climate variability and climate change, and associated changes in rainfall regimes, are the primary risks to inland water environments in both the short and long term. Efforts will need to continue to...

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Effects of increased greenhouse gases

2016
Climate
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Climate Pressures The growing concentrations of human-generated GHGs have resulted in an increased absorption, largely in the lower atmosphere, of the heat radiated from Earth’s surface, causing an increase in the...

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Introduction 2016

2016
Climate
Introduction
At a glance

Australia has always been a land of extremes. In a single year, we can experience heatwaves, floods, fires, cyclones and drought. Australia’s highly variable climate is influenced year to year by large-scale drivers in the atmosphere and ocean, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO...

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Climate: 2011–16 in context

2016
Climate
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Climate Introduction As reported in SoE 2011, climate change continues to be a global problem. A major development since the 2011 report has been international cooperation to address the global issue, with 195 ...

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Australia’s marine environment is influenced by the cycles of several natural climate phenomena, including the El  Niño–Southern Oscillation, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southern Annular Mode

2016
Marine environment
Key Finding

2016  Variability in the phases of these climate phenomena change rainfall patterns, sea surface temperatures, surface winds and oceanic currents. These changes can influence the degree of vertical mixing through the water column and the relative location of cyclone events. Simultaneous...

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Risks to Australia’s climate 2016

2016
Climate
Risks
At a glance

At a glanceAn understanding of the risks associated with Australia’s climate will lead to improved action plans to adapt to the changes predicted to occur. Our climate is a dynamic system; therefore, the risks need to be re-evaluated frequently. Recent climate change projections for...

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Rainfall

2016
Climate
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Climate State and trends Greater Melbourne Broadly, Australia can be divided into 2 seasonal rainfall regimes: the north and the south. The northern half of the continent typically...

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Marine environment: 2011–16 in context

2016
Marine environment
Introduction
Report Content
...   Niña events on record, in 2010–12, and the strongest El   Niño event since 1998, in 2015–16 (see Interannual and ... flooding (see also the Coasts report ). The 2015–16 El   Niño event, superimposed on an increasing baseline of ...
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Antarctic environment: 2011–16 in context

2016
Antarctic environment
Introduction
Report Content
... system—most notably the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal ...
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Figure COA6 Sea level trends from satellite altimeters (colour contours) and tide gauges (coloured dots), January 1993 to December 2010. Upper figure shows trends before removal of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signal and lower figure sho...

2016
Coasts
Pressures
Map

Interact with mapDownload as pngDownload dataset Source: CSIRO, updated based on White et al. (2014) Figure COA6 Sea level trends from satellite altimeters (colour contours) and tide gauges (coloured dots), January 1993 to December 2010. Land–water interface

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Overview of state and trends of the marine environment

2016
Marine environment
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Marine environment State and trends Great Barrier Reef Marine North Marine North West Marine South East Marine...

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Marine regions

2016
Marine environment
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Introduction Tasmania Marine Temperate East Marine South West Great Barrier Reef Marine North...

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Box ANT5 Antarctic sea ice extent, 2012–15

2016
Antarctic environment
State and trends
Case Study
... in June. This coincided with the development of a strong El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which transported warmer than average waters westwards. El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events influence ...
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Biodiversity: Threatened species

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends South West Coast North East Coast Tasmania Greater Brisbane Greater Darwin...

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Figure COA12 Map of the estuaries studied and their trends in water colour change, 1987–2015

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Map

Interact with mapDownload as pngDownload dataset Note: Increases in the ratio (i.e. decrease in red reflectance, positive change) are shown in green and decreases (negative change) are shown in red. Estuaries with no significant change are shown as crosses, and those that showed...

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Biodiversity: Habitat-forming species

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends South West Coast South Australian Gulf North East Coast Tasmania Greater Darwin...

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Biodiversity: Ecological processes

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends Tasmania Greater Brisbane Great Barrier Reef East Coast Connectivity Connectivity among...

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Temperature

2016
Climate
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Climate State and trends Australia’s climate has warmed since national temperature records began in 1910, with mean surface air temperature showing around a 1 °C warming since then (Figure ATM18). Concurrent with...

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Coastal waterways

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends South East Coast South West Coast Murray Darling Tasmania Greater Brisbane...

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Effectiveness of marine management

2016, 2011
Marine environment
Effectiveness of management
Assessment summary

Marine environment Effectiveness of management Triage responses to changes resulting from pressuresCumulative impacts and management of multiple usesSustainability and sector managementEnvironment protection systemsEvaluation of...

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Overview of state and trends of coasts

2016
Coasts
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Coasts State and trends South East Coast South West Coast North East Coast East Coast What has changed since 2011?...

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Health impacts of air pollution

2016
Ambient air quality
Introduction
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality Introduction South East Coast Greater Melbourne The major aim of monitoring and reducing air pollution is to reduce its adverse impacts on human...

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Land–water interface

2016
Coasts
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Coasts Pressures South West Coast South Australian Gulf Greater Adelaide Great Barrier Reef Greater Melbourne...

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Coastal waters

2016
Coasts
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Coasts Pressures South Australian Gulf Murray Darling North East Coast Tasmania Timor Sea...

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Pressures affecting the marine environment

2016, 2011
Marine environment
Pressures
Assessment summary

Marine environment Pressures Additional pressuresDumped wastesToxins, pesticides and herbicidesMarine debrisAnthropogenic noiseMarine vessel activityMarine renewable energy generationMarine mining and industryMarine oil and gas...

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Australia State of the Environment 2016 has been prepared by independent experts using the best available information to support assessments of environmental condition, pressures, management effectiveness, resilience, risks and outlook.

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We, the authors, acknowledge the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community; we pay respect to them and their cultures and to their elders both past and present.

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