MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Patterson
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Kay
Patterson, launched today in Samoa the first of twelve Continuous Global
Positioning Systems (CGPS) for Pacific Island Countries, as part of a $24
million program over 14 years funded by the Australian Government through
AusAID.
The CGPS is an early warning system linked to a tide gauge to help Pacific
Island countries monitor and respond to any changes to sea level and climate as
the result of global warming and greenhouse effects. This makes the Pacific
region the first group in the world to measure changes in sea level with an
absolute degree of accuracy.
Senator Patterson was speaking at a ceremony in Apia, Samoa, to mark the
beginning of the third phase of the South Pacific Sea Level and Climate
Monitoring Project
Senator Patterson said that some Pacific Island countries are only 2 metres
above the sea, and others could potentially lose their productive coastal areas
and ecosystems if sea levels rise significantly. She said that the project will
monitor the situation and provide much needed information on sea level
movements.
"To deal with the issues of climate variability and the potential impact of
global warming Pacific Island Countries need better data collection and analysis
so as to assist governments to develop policies and properly plan for any
problems associated with climate change and sea level rise."
"The challenge of measuring sea level changes is made very difficult when
factors like movements of the earth's crust, earthquakes, tides and volcanic
activities all have to be taken into account. The CGPS, linked to the tide
gauge, will be used to determine the absolute sea level changes in
individual Pacific Island Countries."
"In the past, water levels were measured to a level of precision plus or
minus 10 mm, using conventional tide gauges. This was suitable for monitoring
changes to sea level due to storm surges, tsunamis and other natural hazards.
But to look at the very small and gradual changes in water levels caused by
global warming and greenhouse gases, conventional gauges were not sensitive
enough."
"Using 'state of the art' technology, improved sensors, digital recording and
additional meteorological inputs, ocean levels can now be monitored with an
accuracy of better than plus or minus 1 mm. This is required as the present
estimate of global sea level rise is 1.5 mm per year."
Other stations linked to the tide gauges will be installed in Marshall
Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua
New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, and Nauru within this year and
2002.
As the data is gathered by each monitoring station, it will be sent to the
Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) in Canberra, where the
scientists will analyse the data and information. AUSLIG will also work closely
with National Tidal Facility Australia (NTFA) at the Flinders University,
Adelaide who are responsible for the tide gauge stations measuring relative sea
level changes and then calculate the absolute sea level trends in the
region..
The results will be fed back to scientists and government planners in each
Pacific Islands countries and regional organizations. The CGPS stations will
have a life of more than 20 years to support this work and the pacific
governments, ensuring a continuous flow of sea level and climatic information to
the governments and international community over that period.
The South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project-Phase III is
currently managed by the Australian Marine Science and Technology Ltd (AMSAT)
and being coordinated by a committee comprising of the Forum Secretariat, South
Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), South Pacific Applied
Geosciences Commission (SOPAC), selected Forum Countries, AusAID and AMSAT.
For technical information on the project, please contact:
- Mr Robert Harriss, Project Manager, Australian Marine Science &
Technology (AMSAT), Canberra, Australia. Phone: 612-6281 8450; fax: 612- 6281
8436 ; email: amsat@attglobal.net (
For overall management of the Project) - Mr Bob Twilley (and Steve Yates), GPS Network Manager, AUSLIG, Department
of Industry, Science and Resources, Canberra, Australia. - Phone: 612-6201 4201; Fax 612-6201 4366; email:auslig@auslig.gov.au ( For
CGPS technical information and how it operates)