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February 2009 Victorian Bushfires
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were among Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire, with 173 fatalities. Many people were left homeless as a result. As many as 400 individual fires were recorded on Saturday 7 February; the day has become widely referred to in Australia as Black Saturday. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, headed by Justice Bernard Teague, was held in response to the bushfires. Background A week before the fires, a significant heatwave affected southeastern Australia. From 28–30 January, Melbourne broke temperature records by experiencing three consecutive days above , with the temperature peaking at on 30 January, the third hottest day in the city' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a satellite-based sensor used for earth and climate measurements. There are two MODIS sensors in Earth orbit: one on board the Terra (EOS AM) satellite, launched by NASA in 1999; and one on board the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite, launched in 2002. MODIS has now been replaced by the VIIRS, which first launched in 2011 aboard the Suomi NPP satellite. The MODIS instruments were built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. They capture data in 36 spectral bands ranging in wavelength from 0.4 μm to 14.4 μm and at varying spatial resolutions (2 bands at 250 m, 5 bands at 500 m and 29 bands at 1 km). Together the instruments image the entire Earth every 1 to 2 days. They are designed to provide measurements in large-scale global dynamics including changes in Earth's cloud cover, radiation budget and processes occurring in the oceans, on land, and in the lower atmosphere. Support and calibration is provided by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2009 Southeastern Australia Heat Wave
The 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave was a heat wave that commenced in late January and led to record-breaking prolonged high temperatures in the region. The heat wave is considered one of the, if not the, most extreme in the region's history. During the heat wave, fifty separate locations set various records for consecutive, highest daytime and overnight temperatures. The highest temperature recorded during the heat wave was in Hopetoun, Victoria, a record for the state. Many locations through the region recorded all-time high temperatures including capital cities Adelaide, which reached its third-highest temperature, , and Melbourne, which recorded its highest-ever temperature on record, . Both cities broke records for the most consecutive days over , while Mildura, Victoria recorded an all-time record twelve consecutive days over . The exceptional heat wave was caused by a slow-moving high-pressure system that settled over the Tasman Sea, with a combination of an intense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index
The McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) was developed in the 1960s by CSIRO scientist A. G. McArthur to measure the degree of danger of fire in Australian forests. The index combines a record of dryness, based on rainfall and evaporation, with meteorological variables for wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ..., temperature and humidity. A similar approach was adopted by McArthur for grassland areas. Luke and McArthur details the early development and use of these indices. In 1980 Noble et al. produced algorithms based on mathematical equations of best fit. These algorithms have been used since the early 1980s to enable easy computation. However they are often used with input values outside McArthur's intended design, resulting in FFDI values in excess o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department Of Sustainability And Environment, Victoria
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) was a state government department that managed water resources, climate change, bushfires, public land, forests and eco systems in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was created in 2002 when the Department of Natural Resources and Environment was divided into the Department of Primary Industries and the Department of Sustainability and Environment. The department supported and advised two Victorian ministers, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Ryan Smith, and the Minister for Water, Peter Walsh, and helped with the management and administration of their portfolios. The department secretary was Greg Wilson. It had 2700 staff working at 90 locations across the state. DSE was sometimes known colloquially as the "Department of Smoke and Embers" for its role in planned burns and bushfire management. The Department of Sustainability and Environment was merged with the Department of Primary Industries to form t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Country Fire Authority
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 21 districts, and shares responsibility for fire services with Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), which employs full-time paid firefighters in major urban areas; and Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV), which manages fire prevention and suppression on Victoria's public lands. CFA operations and equipment are partly funded by the Victorian Government through its Fire Services Levy, and supplemented by individual brigades' fundraising for vehicles and equipment. CFA was established in the 1944 to reform rural fire management in Victoria after a succession of devastating bushfires. Major bushfire responses conducted by CFA have included the those in the Dandenong Ranges in 1962 and 1967, the 1965 Gippsland bushfires as well as 1983 Ash Wednesday bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extreme Weather
Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a location's recorded weather history and defined as lying in the most unusual ten percent. The main types of extreme weather include heat waves, cold waves and tropical cyclones. The effects of extreme weather events are seen in rising economic costs, loss of human lives, droughts, floods, landslides and changes in ecosystems. There is evidence to suggest that climate change is increasing the periodicity and intensity of some extreme weather events. Confidence in the attribution of extreme weather and other events to anthropogenic climate change is highest in changes in frequency or magnitude of extreme heat and cold events with some confidence in increases in heavy precipitation and increases in the intensity of droughts. Current evidence and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Brumby
John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election as premier at the November 2010 Victorian state election. His government was defeated by the Liberal/National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu. Brumby resigned as Labor leader after the election, on 30 November, to be replaced by Daniel Andrews. Within weeks of this leadership change, Brumby left parliament, with a Broadmeadows by-election taking place on 19 February 2011. Brumby currently is the national president of the Australia China Business Council (ACBC). Early life Born in Melbourne, Brumby was educated at Ivanhoe Grammar School and then later, Melbourne Grammar S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premier Of Victoria
The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Responsible government came to the colony of Victoria in 1855. Between 1856 and 1892, the head of the government was commonly called the premier or the prime minister, but neither title had any legal basis. The head of government always held another portfolio, usually Chief Secretary or Treasurer, for which they were paid a salary. The first head of government to hold the title of premier without holding another portfolio was William Shiels in 1892. Premiers of Victoria who have served for more than 3,000 days have a statue installed at Treasury Place. Four Victorian premiers have been afforded this honour: Albert Dunstan, Henry Bolte, Rupert Hamer and John Cain Junior. Every Premier of Victoria since 1933 (with the exception of Ian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Australia
The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie partially in the north are included. Although it comprises 45% of the total area of Australia, Northern Australia has only 5% of the Australian population (1.3 million in 2019). However, it includes several sources of Australian exports, being coal from the Great Dividing Range in Queensland/New South Wales and the natural gas and iron ore of the Pilbara region in WA. It also includes major natural tourist attractions, such as Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the Kakadu National Park. Geography and climate Almost all of Northern Australia is a huge ancient craton that has not experienced geological upheaval since the end of the Precambrian. The only exception to this generalisation is the Wet Tropics of northern Queensla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monsoon Trough
The monsoon trough is a portion of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in the Western Pacific,Bin WangThe Asian Monsoon.Retrieved 2008-05-03. as depicted by a line on a weather map showing the locations of minimum sea level pressure, and as such, is a convergence zone between the wind patterns of the southern and northern hemispheres. Westerly monsoon winds lie in its equatorward portion while easterly trade winds exist poleward of the trough. Right along its axis, heavy rains can be found which usher in the peak of a location's respective rainy season. As it passes poleward of a location, hot and dry conditions develop. The monsoon trough plays a role in creating many of the world's rainforests. The term ''monsoon trough'' is most commonly used in monsoonal regions of the Western Pacific such as Asia and Australia. The migration of the ITCZ/monsoon trough into a landmass heralds the beginning of the annual rainy season during summer months. Depressions and tropical cyclones ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North West Australia
The North West, North West Coast, North Western Australia and North West Australia, are usually informal names for the northern regions of the State of Western Australia. However, some conceptions of "North West Australia" have included adjoining parts of the Northern Territory (NT) – or even the entire NT (see below). Major offshore islands include Barrow Island, Monte Bello Islands and the Dampier Archipelago. Apart from land areas, the term "North West" is also used for seabed oil and gas fields of the North West Shelf. Definitions The whole area north of the Murchison River was designated the North District by land regulations gazetted in 1862 by the government of the Colony of Western Australia. From February 1865, the North District was officially administered by a Government Resident, Robert John Sholl, initially based in Camden Harbour, then moved to Roebourne in November 1865. The North-West Land Division, created by legislation in 1887, includes only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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