Quick Guide to the Bureau of
Meteorology
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is the National
Meteorological Authority for Australia.
| Role To observe and understand Australian weather
and climate and provide meteorological, hydrological and
oceanographic services in support of Australia's national needs
and international obligations. |
Origin
Met Act
1955
Charter
Goals
Objectives
Operation Programs
Origin
The Bureau was established under the Meteorology Act of 1906 by
formally bringing together the individual colonial/State
Meteorological Services that had existed prior to that time. It
commenced operation as a Commonwealth agency on 1 January 1908.
Following the repeal of the Meteorology Act of 1906, the Bureau
was formally reestablished, under the charge of the Director of
Meteorology, by the Meteorology Act of 1955. This act provides
the explicit legal basis and the basic charter for its
operation. It is established by the Act as a primarily public
interest agency but with the power to make charges for
specialised services to individual users and user groups.
Operation
The Bureau currently operates as an Executive Agency within the
Environment
and Water Resources Portfolio.
The Bureau's Head Office in Melbourne serves as both an
administrative and operational headquarters. It provides overall
national startegic planning, management and coordination of the
Burea's integrated observations, telecommunications and computing
infrastructure and its weather, climate and hydrological
services. It also includes the National Climate Centre, the
Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology Research
Centre.
Regional Offices are located in each State capital and in
Darwin. Each Regional Office includes a Regional Forecasting
Centre and a Flood Warning Centre, and the Perth, Darwin and
Brisbane offices also house Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres.
The Darwin office also serves as the Volcanic Ash Advisory
Centre. These offices are responsible for all the operational
and service activities in the State or Territory concerned.
The Bureau maintains a network of field offices across the
Australian continent, on neighboring islands and in Antarctica,
as well as national networks of some 500 paid cooperative
observers and approximately 6000 voluntary rainfall
observers. |
|
