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Australian
Meteorological and Oceanographic Society |
2002 Seminar Abstracts
20 March 2002
New Challenges in Public Weather Services
Kevin O’Loughlin
Regional Director (New South
Wales), Bureau of Meteorology
Abstract:
While recent weather related disasters in New South
Wales emphasise our continuing vulnerability to the awesome forces of nature,
the community seems to have rising expectations that advances in science and
technology should be doing more to protect us. While it’s true that meteorology
continues to make some impressive advances and that the IT revolution has given
us unprecedented exposure to information, there is now even greater need to
educate the public on the inherent unpredictability of some aspects of the
weather and to help them interpret, understand and act appropriately on the
increased information available. This implies that we now need to be looking
more carefully at the “end to end” process to ensure that the benefits of
technology and advances in the science translate into improved services to the
community. This talk will briefly survey some of the most promising scientific
developments, the dramatic increase in public information flow via the Web, a
little of the international scene, and, in the light of experience with some of
the recent local disasters, some areas the Bureau of Meteorology will be
focusing on in the next few years to improve the service to the community.
About the speaker:
Kevin O’Loughlin has been the Bureau of
Meteorology’s Regional Director for New South Wales since early 2001, though
was also in that position temporarily in the latter half of 2000 during the
Sydney Olympics. Kevin joined the Bureau as a Cadet Meteorologist upon leaving
school and, after graduating from RMIT and completing the Bureau’s postgraduate
Diploma of Meteorology, undertook meteorologist duties in various Bureau
offices in Australia and at Butterworth RAAF Base (Malaysia). He then did
periods as a senior lecturer in the Bureau’s Training Centre, and as an
Antarctic summer forecaster before moving to the Bureau’s head office as a
supervising meteorologist in charge of the Bureau’s international, ministerial
and public affairs. From 1985-89 he was seconded to the private sector to work
on a meteorology and environment protection project in Saudi Arabia, and in
1989 was appointed as the Bureau’s Regional Director for Victoria. Kevin has
been active in the work of the World Meteorological Organization, has
represented Australia at several sessions of the World Meteorological Congress
held every four years, and is presently chairman of the WMO’s group on Public
Weather Services.
Forecasters Swim in a Sea of Technology
Brett Gage
Bureau of Meteorology, Sydney
Abstract:
Technological developments have led to vastly improved data access and knowledge of the mysterious ocean. The Bureau of Meteorology now provides a diverse range of marine forecasting and warning services. Discover how forecasters use wave-rider buoys and satellite applications to access and analyse data. Integration of this data into a combination of high resolution numerical models and good old fashioned manual forecasting methods, has enabled highly accurate forecasts to be produced for the once data sparse offshore environment and a specialised warning service for coastal damage arising from large waves and storm surges in NSW. To finish we look at a post analysis of the waves that battered the 1998 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race fleet.
About the Speaker:
Brett Gage is currently Shift Supervisor in the NSW Regional Forecasting Centre and forecaster at the Sydney Airport Meteorological Unit. He is the NSW region Marine Weather Manager. After gaining a BSc in meteorology and oceanography in 1989 from Flinders University, and a Diploma in Meteorology from the Bureau of Meteorology in 1990, he worked as a forecaster in Adelaide (1991), Darwin (1992-1994) and Sydney (1994- ). Highlights of his career include supervising a large team of meteorologists during the Sydney Olympics, representing the Bureau of Meteorology at the Sydney-Hobart yacht race coronial enquiry, forecasting during the January bushfires and forecasting for climbing expeditions at Mt Everest.
17 July 2002
Wind,
Wings and Weather:
Cattle
Egret Migrations and Meteorology in the Tasman Sea Area
Associate Professor Howard
Bridgman
School of Environment and Life
Sciences, University of Newcastle
Abstract:
During the mid-1900s, the Shortland Wetlands Centre in Newcastle ran Project Egret Watch, to establish how cattle egrets migrate in the Tasman Sea area during the year. Not all egrets migrate, but those who do move south to Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand in March and April, and return northwards in September and October. In 1994 we instrumented two cattle egrets with satellite transmitters, and tracked their movements for two months. This presentation will discuss the results of the satellite tracking, linking migration movements to weather patterns. Wind, wings, and weather are crucial to the stages of cattle egrets migration, the timing of the migration, and whether they reach a long-distance location such as New Zealand.
About the Speaker:
A/Prof. Howard Bridgman has been researching climate and air pollution problems in Australia for 25 years. He has developed expertise in particulate chemistry, acid rain and fog, plume dispersion, sources and emissions inventories, and air pollution management. He has published over 60 papers in the international literature and is the author or co-author of 3 books. He teaches climatology, air pollution and environmental science at the University of Newcastle, and co-ordinates the postgraduate environmental studies programs. Weather and cattle egret migration is an interesting off-shoot to his main area of research.
18 September 2002
A Brief
History of the NSW Regional Office
Richard Whitaker
Abstract:
The NSW Regional Office of the Bureau of Meteorology was originally housed in three different locations at Observatory Hill in Sydney, before moving to the Commonwealth Centre at Chifley Square in 1963.
A long period at Goulburn Street, Darlinghurst followed, and there was short stint at George Street before moving to our present location. During this time there was a succession of Regional Directors, a massive change in technology, and some wild weather as well.
This is the colourful history of the NSW Regional Office as revealed by a collection of contemporary photographs located on the internal website and recalled by Dick Whitaker, a forecaster in the office for more than thirty years before his recent retirement.
About the Speaker:
Richard Whitaker was a senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology for thirty years before his retirement in July 2002. He was Senior Operational Forecaster in NSW for 9 years, and from 1992 to 2002 was the NSW Manager of the Special Services Unit, the commercial arm of the Bureau of Meteorology. After graduating from Monash University he spent two years in the Army before joining the Bureau of Meteorology. He has had extensive experience in weather presentation on radio and television, is the author, co-author or editor of six books about the weather, and has written thirteen published mathematical papers. He currently operates a small meteorological consultancy business.
Incorporating the
AGM and Christmas Function
Global
and Regional Impacts of Particulate Pollution
Associate Professor Michael Box
School of Physics, University
of NSW
Abstract:
Atmospheric aerosols (particulates) are one of the most variable components of our environment. While they are produced by both natural and anthropogenic processes, it is the rapid recent growth in the anthropogenic component, especially sulfates and soot, which is causing a number of environmental concerns. Sulfate aerosols are known to provide a partial counterbalance to greenhouse warming, at least in some parts of the world, an effect which has been studied for the past decade. More recently attention has focused on highly absorptive soot aerosols, and their effects. The recently released UNEP report on the Asian Brown Cloud has focused attention on the regional impacts of this form of pollution. In this talk I will review the properties of aerosols which make them such a complex player in many environmental problems, and then discuss their impacts on both the global and regional scale. I will also highlight some of the work being undertaken by members of my group to try to increase our understanding of this enigmatic phenomenon.
About the speaker:
Michael Box has been working the field of Atmospheric Science for nearly thirty years. He spent several years at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, followed by a period at the University of Arizona in Tucson, before joining UNSW in 1981. His research interests include atmospheric aerosols and their effects on climate, and remote sensing of aerosols.