Scientists from the GLASS, the Global Land/Atmosphere System Study, will meet at ANSTOs Lucas Heights site this week (July 19-21) to review international climate research.
They will assess the possibility that land use changes drive warming as strongly as excess carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels (the greenhouse effect).
If half the temperature rise in the past century is due to land clearing, then reducing greenhouse emissions might not be enough to avert major climate problems.
The researchers will discuss the use of natural radioactivity to measure soil moisture in order to test and improve the current global climate models.
The experts are the science panel of GLASS, which investigates land-based factors in climate change. They are part of the World Climate Research Program, co-ordinated by the UN's World Meteorological Organisation.
Host of the meeting is climatologist Professor Ann Henderson-Sellers, Director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's Environment Division.
"This meeting is part of the world's scientific response to the climate issue," said Professor Henderson-Sellers.
"The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is assessing the impact of land use on climate, and it needs to rely on the best global climate models.
"The research shows that changes in land characteristics might drive climate change as strongly as greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels. Current research will allow us to measure crucial factors like soil moisture over large areas, using natural radioactivity. We can use this data to refine our climate models."
Professor Henderson-Sellers in 1984 became the first scientist to show that land use can have an
effect on regional climate.
"Now we are working out exactly what that effect is," said Professor Henderson-Sellers.
"We may find that reducing greenhouse gases is only part of the solution."
Published: 19/07/2000