The Turnbull Government is reversing some of the cuts to CSIRO's climate science research, losing only 20 jobs instead of the 96 cuts that were announced earlier this year.  It comes just as a report shows that Climate Change isn't coming - it's already here and the change is coming much faster than expected.

It now appears that 35 climate scientist will still be sacked, but there will be 15 new hires, which is how we arrive at the number 20.  But there will be no new money, and the new hires will have to be paid out of the existing funding.  The new Science Minister Greg Hunt told CSIRO to "put the focus back on climate science".  He told ABC Radio, "It's a decision that the prime minister and myself have taken.  It's a new government and we're laying out a direction that climate science matters."

It's not the first time the government has backtracked on the number of climate scientist cuts at CSIRO.  Originally, the plans was to cut about 100 climate scientists.  But after an uproar, that was quickly reduced to just 70; by April the number had reduced to about 35 jobs.

This comes as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its annual State of the Climate report.  If you enjoy living on this planet, the report is stunningly bad.  Yes, El Nino contributed to a record-setting 2015, but it wasn't the main driving factor.  Man-made climate change is being pushed by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

"I think the time to call the doctor was years ago," said NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report.  "We are awash in multiple symptoms."

A dozen different nations set hottest year records, including Russia and China.  Brutal heatwaves in India and Pakistan killed thousands of people.  The rapidly warming is impacting walrus and penguin populations, and it's playing role in dangerous algal blooms,

The annual average of carbon dioxide levels at Hawaii's Mauna Loa Observatory was 400.8 parts per million (ppm) - the pre-industrial average was 280 ppm. 

Around 93 per cent of the heat energy trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide goes directly into the ocean.  Sea surface temperatures set new records - and because warmer water expands, last year's sea surface heights were an average of 2.75 inches higher than at the beginning of the satellite altimeter record in 1993. 

And the report makes clear that 2016 is not just poised to break all of last year's heat records - in many cases, it already has.