Lake Eyre brims with life (about that AGW induced Australian drought)

abc ^ | 6/13/2010 | Paul Lockyer

[milwguy]

Seldom do flooding rains reach Lake Eyre in the arid heart of the continent, but it has now happened two years in a row, triggering a spectacular explosion of life in the region.

The outback rivers are flowing from a series of rain events across the deserts of central Australia which began late last year, and there is nearly as much water in Lake Eyre as there was at the height of last year's flood - with more to come.

Outback adventurer Rex Ellis has witnessed every flooding event at Lake Eyre for the past 50 years. He famously crossed the lake by boat when it was last full to the top in 1974 and believes this year's flood will be the biggest since then.

"This is the driest state in the driest continent on earth apparently - apart from Antarctica - and there's more water in north-east South Australia than you can poke a stick at!" he said.

Desert areas that were ravaged by dust storms just before Christmas are lush and green, with patches of brilliant wildflowers.

The vast floodplains around Lake Eyre have been turned into wetlands brimming with life, and the birds have returned to breed

[milwguy]

I have not noticed the Al Gore acolytes trumpeting this good news for the environment. Just a few years ago, the global warming alarmists were declaring the drought in Aussie the worst in '1000 years' and blamed it all on greenhouse gasses. Now that Lake Eyre is filling for thesecond year in a row, they are strangely silent about what is excellent news. Where are you on this Al Gore?

[meyer]

Lake Eyre? Not to be confused with Lake Erie, I suppose.

[The_Victor]

Lake Eyre? Not to be confused with Lake Erie, I suppose.

I think the phrase "brims with life" should help distinguish the two.

[2banana]

Rex Ellis, who has just taken a group in boats down the Warburton Creek to Lake Eyre, puts it this way: "Muslims like to go to Mecca. Aussies like to go to Lake Eyre."

Ha!

[meyer]

I think the phrase "brims with life" should help distinguish the two.

If you've ever gone Perch fishing on Lake Erie in the fall, you'd know that it is 'brimming with life'. There's a gazillion of them. Lake Erie was cleaned up decades ago. It isn't as clean as Lake Superior, but it isn't nearly the polluted mess that the leftwing media likes to portray.

[The_Victor]

If you've ever gone Perch fishing on Lake Erie in the fall, you'd know that it is 'brimming with life'. There's a gazillion of them. Lake Erie was cleaned up decades ago. It isn't as clean as Lake Superior, but it isn't nearly the polluted mess that the leftwing media likes to portray.

:)

My experiences with Lake Erie consist of a view from 20,000ft on a flight into Toronto (seems clean enough from that altitude), the the SNL "Swill" commercial (dredged straight from Lake Erie). I guess I'm just an ignorant tool of the left, badmouthing a perfectly good lake.... :^D

[okie01]

My experiences with Lake Erie consist of a view from 20,000ft on a flight into Toronto...

Bzzzzzzt! Toronto is on Lake Ontario.

[meyer]

Erie really was a mess in the 60’s, but they’ve really cleaned it up. Industry and cities used to dump raw sewage and some nasty chemicals into the lake. It can absorb a little of that, but not from every industry and city upstream!

[The_Victor]

Bzzzzzzt! Toronto is on Lake Ontario.

The flight from Houston crosses Erie, Niagara, then out over Ontario for the approach to Toronto. Hence, 20,000ft, not 5,000ft.

[okie01]

Didn’t know what direction you were coming from...