Wednesday, 9 May 2007

MEDIA RELEASE

Call for new group to unlock the potential of clouds

Scientists meeting at the International Cloud Seeding Symposium have broken from their three-day meeting with the creation of a new group dedicated to researching ways to increase rainfall. The new group, initially chaired by Dr Roger Stone from the Australian Centre for Sustainable Catchments at the University of Southern Queensland, will look at “precipitation enhancement” and provide a focus and coordination for research in this area.

Other organisations involved in the new group include Snowy Hydro, Hydro Tasmania, the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and Monash University. The meeting agreed that building on existing initiatives is essential. Among the tasks for the group would be gaining a better understanding of the biogenic and aerosol effects on clouds, as well as modelling the predictability of clouds and rainfall.

The meeting also called for the establishment of a research network either within an existing grouping or through a separate initiative such as the Australian Research Council (ARC) networks.

Bureau of Meteorology Chief Scientist Dr Neville Smith said he was delighted with the outcome of the three-day meeting in Melbourne. “Scientists from Australia and around the world have had a frank discussion about the science in this field. The level of scientific discussion and debate has been very high indeed,” said Dr Smith. “As meeting host, the bureau is pleased to have brought scientists together and facilitated a way forward for this science,” he said.

Further information:

Dr Neville Smith, Chief Scientist, Bureau of Meteorology
mob: 0407 824 129

David Grant, Media Relations Adviser, Bureau of Meteorology
mob: 0439 452 424

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