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WEATHER SERVICES

Resource Use

Severe Weather Warning Services

Aviation Weather Services

Special Weather Services

OBJECTIVE

To meet the needs of the general public and specialised users for relevant, accurate and timely weather data, information, forecast and warning services.

OUTPUT

Information on current and forecast weather conditions for states, districts, cities and towns for dissemination through the mass media and use by the community at large; along with public warnings of severe weather events and major user-sector specific forecasts, warnings and information, tailored to meet the sectoral needs of the marine, agricultural, aviation and defence communities in particular; and specialised weather information, forecast and warning services, provided on a cost-recovery or commercial basis, to meet specific requirements of individual customers and customer groups.

OUTCOME

Enhanced community safety and well-being through the effective use of weather and related services by the general public and other major social and economic sectors.

Weather Services encompasses a wide range of forecast, warning and information services to the general public, national and international shipping and aviation, the Department of Defence and other users. It consists of six individual outputs:

+ Severe Weather Warning Services;

+ Public Weather Services;

+ Marine Services;

+ Aviation Weather Services;

+ Defence Weather Services; and

+ Special Weather Services.

All these services are dependent on the data and products produced by the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre (NMOC) and the seven Regional Forecasting Centres (RFCs).

Services are provided mainly through the RFCs in the State capital cities and Darwin, and through the NMOC located in Melbourne. All these Centres maintain a 24-hour weather watch every day of the year, issuing forecasts, warnings and other weather information as required.

Weather Services are also provided through 45 other service outlets, with 43 throughout Australia and two at Australian bases in Antarctica. While the primary function of most of the Bureau's offices in rural and remote areas is to collect high quality weather observations (surface, upper air and weather watch radar), they also perform an extremely important complementary role in providing current weather information and a range of other weather and climate services to their local communities.

A large part of the Bureau's weather services is available to the Australian community through the mass media (radio, television, newspapers) but services are also accessible via recorded telephone, marine high frequency (HF) radio, facsimile and World Wide Web/Internet systems.

Weather Services are provided in line with the Bureau of Meteorology's Service Charter for the Community. A broad range of consultative mechanisms was in place during 2000-01, involving Commonwealth and State Authorities, and major commercial and community user groups, to help ensure that services evolve and are continuously improved in accord with user needs.

Two major highlights of the Bureau's Weather Services during 2000-01, delivered predominantly as part of the Public Weather Services output, were the introduction of radar imagery as part of the Basic Product Set and the provision of weather services to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Basic Product Set

The introduction during the year of radar imagery as part of the Bureau's Basic Product Set (BPS) resulted in a significant improvement to the weather services freely available to the community and was a direct response to community interest in this product. The BPS is the list of Bureau services that are available free of charge to the community through the mass media and on the Bureau's web site. The concept stemmed from recommendations of the 1997 (Slatyer II) study Capturing Opportunities in the Provision of Meteorological Services. The definition of the content of the Bureau's Basic Product Set was promulgated on 1 August. This initial definition of the Basic Product Set included some highly significant new services, such as the free radar service, and clarified the status and availability of others. For example, the display on the web of current observations of weather from the Bureau's network of automatic weather stations was standardised at 10-minute updates for stations in capital city areas, and up to hourly updates from other stations.

The weather radar service, which provides real-time access to radar imagery for 42 radar sites across Australia, commenced in November. The radar images cover a range of 125 km from the radar site and are updated every 10 minutes. The service was enhanced in January with the addition of short loops of four images covering the most recent half hour. Public demand for this service has been high over recent years and the large amount of feedback received after the service was introduced in late November was very favourable. Further improvements to the service, including extending the range of coverage to 250 km, are being planned.

As a result of the new radar service, there was a significant increase in usage of the Bureau's web site. Monthly hits increased markedly and average daily hits peaked at more than one million for the months of February and March, representing a trebling in demand for the information accessible through the web site. The Bureau's web site rated as the most frequently accessed Australian Government site and one of the top 20 sites in Australia, according to a Neilsen/NetRatings survey conducted in December, prior to the introduction of looped radar imagery.

Olympics Weather Services

The weather services provided in support of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney were considered outstandingly successful and attracted widespread appreciative comment and commendation. The provision of the Olympic services represented the culmination of seven years of planning, and took into account the needs of competitors in the various sports as well as the public-interest services required to cater for large crowds of people gathered at the numerous venues in and around Sydney. The service included both an enhanced free service to the public and a specialised service to the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), for which costs were recovered from SOCOG. After a brief hiatus, the services were continued through the Paralympics held in October.

A comprehensive range of forecast and information products was provided leading up to the official opening of the event and during the two weeks of competition. The Bureau maintained separate forecasting offices at SOCOG headquarters, at Rushcutters Bay, providing a service specifically tailored to the sailing events, and at the Bureau's Regional Forecasting Centre. A large number of experienced forecasters was brought to Sydney from Bureau offices around Australia to help provide the 24-hour dedicated service. Nearly 1400 scheduled forecasts, warnings and information bulletins were disseminated over the 31 days leading up to and during the Olympics. A further 400 were delivered during the Paralympics. Extensive use was made of the Bureau's Olympic web site to disseminate these products. Average daily hit rates for the Bureau's web site jumped from approximately 3000 to 5000 per day leading up to the Olympics, to between 25,000 and 35,000 hits per day during the Olympics, peaking at 51,900 on the opening day.

Photo Special weather services for the Sydney 2000 Olympics were provided from three forecasting offices, including one at Rushcutters Bay which provided support to the Olympic sailing events.

The services were supported by a substantial infrastructure comprising a dense network of automatic weather stations, modern radar and satellite systems, detailed computer models of the atmosphere and the trial use of state-of-the-art experimental systems. International involvement included two meteorologists from the Hellenic Meteorological Service to assist with Greek preparations for the 2004 Athens Games, a Chinese meteorologist and scientists from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, who worked on the experimental systems.

Photo The Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for the Bureau, the Hon. Dr Sharman Stone MP, and the Bureau's Regional Director for New South Wales, Mr Kevin O'Loughlin, inspect the Bureau's special observing facilities for the Sydney Olympics, including the automatic weather station at Clarke Island on Sydney Harbour.

The Bureau received numerous tributes from SOCOG, team meteorologists, individual athletes and web clients on the quality of its services. In recognition of the success of the service, the Bureau's Project Manager for the Olympic Games weather service (Ms Elly Spark - page 22) was awarded the Bureau's Australia Day Achievement Award.

Resource Use

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The resources committed to Weather Services in 2000-01 are summarised in Table 3 and are given in more detail in Table 8.

Table 8. Weather Services expenses and revenue ($'000) and staff level for 2000-01 compared with actuals for 1999-2000 and the 2000-01 Budget and Budget plus Additional Estimates appropriations.

	ACTUAL EXPENSES 1999-2000	BUDGET 2000-01	BUDGET & ADD. EST. 2000-01	ACTUAL EXPENSES & REVENUE 2000-01
	($'000)	($'000)	($'000)	($'000)
EXPENSES
Employee Expenses (Appropriation)	26,464	26,912	26,821	26,488
Employee Expenses (Section 31)	831	831	828	1,128
Supply of Goods and Services (Appropriation)	2,809	2,579	3,295	3,111
Supply of Goods and Services (Section 31)	2,193	2,756	3,648	4,035
Operating Leases Rentals	1,564	1,591	1,581	1,710
Depreciation	1,843	2,154	2,131	1,836
Other Goods and Services Expenses	0	0	0	0
(WMO Contribution)	0	0	0	0
Capital Use Charge	-190	9	1	0*
TOTAL PRICE OF OUTPUT	35,513	36,832	38,305	38,308
REVENUE
Appropriation	31,421	33,245	33,818	33,818
Sale of Goods and Services	3,983	3,587	4,476	4,476
Miscellaneous - other	12	0	11	11
TOTAL REVENUE	35,416	36,832	38,305	38,305
STAFFING
Staff Years (actual)
- Funded from Employee Expenses (Appropriation)	307.5	302.6	301.2	307.8
- Funded from Supplier Expenses (Appropriation)	1.2	1.2	1.1	3.8
-Funded from Section 31 Receipts	10.7	10.8	10.8	15.3
- Funded from Capitalised Salaries (Asset Replacement)	0.6	2.7	2.7	3.0
TOTAL STAFFING	320.0	317.3	315.8	329.9

* In 2000-01, Capital Use Charge was not accounted as an expense.

Performance

Performance during 2000-01 was assessed at two levels in terms of the:

· quality, quantity and price of the outputs directed to the achievement of the planned outcome relative to the agreed target levels; and

· contribution of the outputs to the achievement of the planned outcome.

The measures used as a basis for performance assessment were as published in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2000-01 for the Environment and Heritage Portfolio (Budget Related Paper No. 1.7). The performance for 2000-01 against each of the performance measures and targets for quality, quantity and price of outputs is summarised in Appendix 11.

The performance of Weather Services is monitored and reviewed on a regular basis through:

· quarterly surveys of public opinion, conducted by an independent external company;

· representations to the Parliamentary Secretary and the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and to the Director of Meteorology and Regional Directors by members of the public and industry bodies;

· queries and complaints made directly to the Bureau of Meteorology via the Bureau's Internet-based user feedback facility;

· public reports of detailed post-analyses of major severe weather events or major seasonal activity (eg. the tropical cyclone season, the fire weather season);

· feedback from regular consultative meetings with major user groups such as the media, Australasian Fire Authorities Council, state emergency services organisations, state tropical cyclone liaison committees, the aviation industry and the Department of Defence;

· achievement of milestones for the planned introduction of new services;

· trends in the accuracy of forecasts of weather elements such as maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall and tropical cyclone location;

· trends in the effectiveness of severe weather warnings, using measures such as the advance warning time given prior to the occurrence of dangerous weather events and the false alarm ratio (an indicator of when warnings are issued unnecessarily);

· trends in the volume and variety of products issued; and

· trends in the resources used in delivering weather services.

Quarterly surveys of users of the Bureau's weather services, conducted during the year, showed that 91 per cent of users were satisfied or very satisfied with the Bureau's services. Further, 93 per cent consider that they constitute an essential service, and 85 per cent believe that weather forecasts, warnings and information services are received in time for them to make their decisions.

The contribution to achievement of the planned outcome during 2000-01, assessed in terms of the indicators listed in Appendix 12, is reviewed below for each of the individual outputs (Severe Weather Warning Services, Public Weather Services, Marine Services, Aviation Weather Services, Defence Weather Services, Special Weather Services), drawing on the performance information summarised in Appendix 11.

Severe Weather Warning Services

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Severe Weather Warning Services assist the community in preparing for and responding to tropical cyclones, severe storms, bushfires and gales over land. These services are provided through the Bureau's State-based Regional Forecasting Centres (RFCs), with national coordination by the Head Office Services Policy Branch and very close links with State and Commonwealth emergency services and disaster preparedness organisations.

The Severe Weather Warning Service performed effectively during the year and contributed to a timely and well-organised community and emergency service response to severe weather situations. The number of weather warnings issued to the general public, together with the numbers of forecasts issued and weather enquiries received, is given in Table 9.

Table 9. Annual numbers of weather warnings and forecasts issued to the general public together with the numbers of weather enquiries received for the financial years 1995-96 to 2000-01. Also shown are the numbers of forecasts, warnings and other advices provided to the aviation industry.

	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01
WARNINGS
Strong wind warnings for small craft	2,809	6,043	4,488	5,647	7,035	8,288
Gale/storm warnings for shipping	4,445	2,772	3,076	2,885	3,444	5,391
Flood warnings	946	1,382	573	2,161	1445	2088
Fire weather warnings	551	310	215	70	248	341
Road weather alerts	219	231	273	232	387	593
Severe thunderstorm warnings	202	416	383	541	788	936
Sheep graziers alerts	100	181	192	161	181	308
Tropical cyclone warnings	1,036	454	173	448	1,306	1,144
Gale/storm wind warnings for land areas	105	208	188	337	244	302
Miscellaneous alerts (frost, brown rot, storm tide, etc.)	428	209	290	371	385	308
Total	10,841	12,206	9,851	12,853	15,463	19,699
States, districts, cities, towns	330,946	303,536	296,816	303,003	206,648	218,066
Shipping, boating	82,314	80,002	86,580	90,399	121,850	127,716
Fire weather	41,416	46,291	40,012	31,099	15,255	10,258
Public utilities and other special interests	13,524	15,883	13,872	13,707	11,557	12,786
Extended period	50,172	62,218	63,544	78,724	104,359	81,372
Agricultural interests	2,022	2,537	2,120	2,948	1,521	1,135
Total	520,394	510,467	502,944	519,880	461,190	451,333
WEATHER ENQUIRIES
Enquries (forecasts, current weather, climate etc.)	933,731	910,399	787,875	802,673	949,801	900,617
- determined by sampling
Calls to recorded telephone forecasts (Dial It)	6,899,471	8,852,915	8,082,967	5,467,962	4,346,086	3,571,620
Calls to recorded telephone service (1900)	262,710	292,112	448,545	724,720	516,183	374,238
Weather by Fax	1,688,675	1,810,070	1,493,485	1,682,860	1,129,692	782,306
Total	9,784,587	11,865,496	10,812,872	8,678,215	6,941,762	5,628,781
BASIC AVIATION AND WARNINGS
Aerodrome Forecasts	237,596	234,639	221,601	231,659	217,157	220,977
Aircraft altimeter settings needed for height	47,468	52,175	52,629	47,020	32,829	26,945
above sea level (Area QNH)
Route Forecasts	6,733	10,338	9,695	9,608	6,690	5,704
Three-hour trend type forecasts	177,790	179,696	190,752	174,820	147,749	142,399
Area forecasts	41,363	41,375	34,546	36,719	30,204	28,245
Warnings (SIGMET, AIRMET, Airport Hazards)	2,788	2,731	2,765	2,799	2,401	1,991
Aerodome Advices	2	0	0	2	26	19
Search and rescue services	74	160	201	132	73	65
Pilot Briefing Services	68,231	65,999	60,485	58,596	49,050	58,082
Pilot Documentation	18,608	17,462	14,457	12,103	8,008	5,583
Total	600,652	604,573	587,131	573,458	494,187	490,010

Tropical cyclone warning services

Tropical cyclone warning services are provided for northwest, north and northeast Australia, from Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) co-located with the Perth, Darwin and Brisbane RFCs respectively. The planning and operation of the tropical cyclone warning service continued to be closely linked to, and coordinated with, the State Emergency Services in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland to maximise the effectiveness of community preparedness and response.

Eight cyclones formed in the Australian region during the 2000-01 tropical cyclone season, of which all but one affected the Australian coastline. Tropical cyclone Sam was the most severe cyclone of the season, reaching Category 5 intensity prior to crossing the coast near Bidyadanga in northwest Western Australia on 7 December. Effective warnings prior to the cyclone ensured that the community was safely evacuated in time and, although widespread severe damage was reported, there was no loss of life. This is the fourth time in three seasons that a Category 5 cyclone has struck the Australian coast, an event that has historically been very rare. In all four cases, the combination of timely warning and well-organised community response ensured that no lives were lost.

Three cyclones affected northern Australia during February (Abigail, Wylva and Vincent) and although none of these was severe, they all produced significant rainfall. The cumulative effect of this was felt most acutely over the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory, where flooding resulted in the evacuation of more than 700 people and damage to infrastructure, roads and buildings estimated at $13 million.

An issue of growing concern was the increasing availability on the Web of tropical cyclone-related forecast and warning information from non-official sources such as overseas meteorological service providers or international media agencies. In order to address this problem, and to ensure that the community receives reliable, non-conflicting information during cyclone events, the Bureau redoubled efforts to ensure strong linkages with key sectors of the community, particularly with the media and emergency services.

Improvements in the accuracy of the tropical cyclone warning service are assessed in terms of the decreasing errors achieved for key forecast parameters, specifically the mean error in operational estimates of tropical cyclone position (Figure 34) and the root mean square (rms) error in estimates of central pressure (Figure 35), which represents a measure of cyclone intensity. The mean errors of the 0-hour (current) and 12-hour (forecast) position estimates were slightly larger than for recent seasons, mainly due to the relatively large number of weak, poorly-structured cyclones for which centre location was difficult. The 24-hour forecast mean position error, although slightly larger than last season, was nevertheless the second best on record and maintained the strong improving trend of the past decade.

Although position estimation tends to be more difficult for weaker cyclones, intensity trends are usually easier to forecast, since weak cyclones do not undergo any large, unpredictable intensity changes during their lifetime. This is reflected in the rms error of the 12-hour intensity forecasts, which was amongst the lowest on record. On the other hand, little improvement in the 0-hour intensity estimate was recorded during 2000-01.

Figure 34. Accuracy of operational estimates of tropical cyclone position in the Australian region for the 1973-74 to 2000-01 seasons, measured in terms of mean errors relative to post-event best estimates. The 0-hour position error represents the average distance (km) between the operational, real-time estimates of cyclone position and the post-event best estimates. The 12-hour and 24-hour position errors represent the average position error (km) of 12-hour and 24-hour position forecasts. The straight lines are lines of best fit.

Figure 35. Accuracy of 0-hour and 12-hour operational estimates of tropical cyclone intensity, measured in terms of the rms error in the operational, real-time estimates of cyclone central pressure (hPa) in the Australian region for the 1985-86 to 2000-01 seasons and relative to the post-event best estimates. The straight line is a line of best fit.

Severe thunderstorm warning services

Severe thunderstorms are particularly intense convective storms that produce destructive winds, damaging hail, tornadoes or heavy rain leading to flash flooding. The Bureau provides forecasts of such thunderstorms in the form of Severe Thunderstorm Advices and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. The Severe Thunderstorm Advice Service operates over the southern half of mainland Australia, including southeast Queensland (Figure 36), and provides advice of likely areas for the development of severe thunderstorms, up to four hours ahead. Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, usually up to one hour ahead, are issued for capital cities and their surrounding areas where radar surveillance allows assessment of the severity of thunderstorms that have already developed.

Figure 36. Warning and Advice areas under the Bureau's Severe Thunderstorm Warning Service.

Even with the benefit of continuous radar surveillance, it is difficult to monitor comprehensively the development, movement and intensity of severe thunderstorms. The national network of 2830 volunteer `storm spotters' complements the radar network and continued to make a valuable contribution by monitoring, reporting and confirming occurrences of severe thunderstorms. Observations reported by storm spotters assist forecasters with both the issue of warnings and the eventual verification of those warnings. A review of the network in 2001 recommended expansion and improved utilisation of the network. Follow up actions are planned for 2001-02.

During 2000-01, there were 311 reports of severe thunderstorms across Australia and 936 warnings/advices issued, compared with 227 reports and 788 warnings/advices in the previous year (see Table 9).

The national measurement of the quality of severe thunderstorm forecasts is currently confined to warnings. This approach was adopted because of the inherent differences between Regions in the nature of their severe thunderstorm advice services and the fact that no advice service exists in the Northern Territory or Tasmania. The indicators used to measure forecast quality are the Probability of Detection (POD), which is the proportion of correctly-warned severe thunderstorms (ideally 1; performance target 0.7), and the False Alarm Ratio (FAR), which is the proportion of "false alarm" severe thunderstorm warnings (ideally 0; performance target 0.4). The performance targets have been set as an ultimate overall goal based on an assessment of what is achievable using historical records of such statistics in both Australia and the United States, but also taking into account an estimate of the accuracy needed for the warnings to be useful to the community.

Figure 37 presents the annual trend in the national POD and FAR values for the Severe Thunderstorm Warning Service over the past seven years. The data demonstrate significant variations in POD and FAR over time, depending upon year-to-year variations in the proportion of severe thunderstorms that occurred in those capital cities for which the warning task is relatively difficult (eg. Perth, Adelaide and Darwin) compared to those that occurred in the other capital cities. There is no significant trend in the figures. However, the significant rise in POD and associated fall in FAR in 2000-01, towards their respective performance targets, is encouraging.

Figure 37. Nationally averaged values of Probability of Detection (POD -fraction of events for which advance warning was provided) and False Alarm Ratio (FAR - fraction of warnings which were false alarms) for the past seven years (1994-2001) for Severe Thunderstorm Warnings (all Australian capital cities except Canberra).

Another statistic that provides a measure of the Bureau's warning performance is the 'average lead time' of warnings, assessed for the first time in 1999-2000. Lead time is defined as the time between the mid-point of the time period during which the severe thunderstorm was reported in the warning area and the time of issue of the warning. A total of 86 severe thunderstorms was recorded in the metropolitan warning areas in 2000-01 and for the 49 for which warnings were issued, lead times ranged from 0 to 207 minutes. Over all events, with lead times of zero minutes allocated for missed events, the average lead time was 35 minutes (an improvement on last year's figure of 25 minutes). For the correctly forecast events, the large range in lead times is due to a range of factors including the varying size of warning districts and the availability of timely observations. Shorter lead-time warnings are issued upon receipt of a severe weather report or detection of severe characteristics on radar. Longer lead-time warnings are, however, possible when thunderstorms develop within, or move into, environments assessed as conducive to severe thunderstorms.

Many of the significant lead times mentioned above would have provided sufficient advance notice to the community to enable protective actions to be taken. For example, timely warnings were issued for a large "supercell" thunderstorm that moved over western Sydney on 3 November, producing tennis-ball size hailstones and three separate tornadoes. The storm was well captured by advanced radar systems on trial at the time, leading to warnings being issued with more than 60 minutes lead time for the Sydney metropolitan area. On the other hand, the Bureau attracted some media criticism regarding a delay between the onset of torrential rain and the issue of a severe thunderstorm warning for a flash flood event that occurred in Brisbane on 9 March. For the latter event, the signs of severity were more subtle as the individual thunderstorm cells were not inherently severe, but their repeated passage over one particular area caused the flash flooding.

Fire weather warning services

The fire weather warning service provides the public with routine forecasts of fire danger during the fire season and fire weather warnings when the fire danger is expected to exceed a certain critical level. The Service also provides fire management authorities, civil defence organisations, police and other emergency services with detailed routine forecasts, fire weather warnings and operational forecasts to assist in combating ongoing fires. This service includes, where possible, out-posted support, special forecasts for hazard reduction burns and other advice to assist the assessment and management of fire risk.

Greater demands were placed on the fire weather service during 2000-01 than in recent years in many parts of the country. Spring saw a large number of fires in southeast Queensland, including the Greater Brisbane area, and fires were active across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia at times during summer. Out-posted Bureau staff provided forecast support to fire managers for a large grass fire in December and a large forest and heathland fire in January, both in western Victoria. A major scrub fire occurred on Kangaroo Island in early January. Extreme fire weather on 2 February caused a large fire in mostly native mallee scrub over South Australia's Lower Eyre Peninsula. Although much of the burnt out area was within the Lincoln National Park, the fire destroyed seven houses and significantly damaged seven others in the small township of Tulka, about 10 km southwest of Port Lincoln. Property damage in Tulka was estimated at $1.5 million. A large number of fires was reported in Tasmania in January and February including a fire on King Island in early January, which burnt out 6,000 hectares and produced a smoke plume that was carried northward and caused a significant smoke haze over Melbourne.

A measure of the effectiveness of the fire weather warning service is the extent to which the community is accurately warned of severe events. Severe events in the fire weather context are those windy, hot and dry atmospheric conditions which, when combined with dry vegetation, constitute a high fire risk. Performance trends for fire weather warnings over the past eight years are shown in Figure 38 in terms of Probability of Detection (POD) and False Alarm Ratio (FAR). The challenge is to increase POD without increasing FAR. The figure shows that in 2000-01 this was not achieved, with a decrease in POD accompanied by an increase in the false alarm rate. Through the previous seven years there had been a general improvement in the fraction of severe events for which advance warning was successfully provided without incurring an increased rate of false alarms. The result in 2000-01 reflected the challenging nature of the fire season plus, to a smaller extent, the impact of an upgraded methodology for compiling the performance statistics in one State.

Figure 38. Recent preliminary trends in fire weather warning service performance, as indicated by Probability Of Detection (POD - fraction of events for which advance warning was provided) and False Alarm Ratio (FAR - fraction of warnings which were false alarms).

In delivering the Bureau's fire weather services, Regional Offices in each State and Territory continued their close collaboration and consultation with relevant fire and land management authorities through pre-season planning meetings and post-season review meetings to ensure that, within an overall national policy framework, particular local issues were addressed. A theme across all fire agencies was the continuing need for assistance in the expert provision of fire weather training for fire agency staff. The Bureau continued to assist these activities during 2000-01 across several States, participating in a range of pre- and post-season courses. Several new procedures and service improvements were introduced in response to identified needs. In Victoria, for example, a new procedure was implemented to improve the analysis of wind change lines through continual updating of a chart showing the history of the wind change. A recent study of wind change forecasting accuracy showed that correct initial positioning of the wind change has a significant impact on the magnitude of forecast errors. The wind change analysis chart also assisted in providing continuity of analysis during periods of staff hand-over at change of shift. In Queensland, service enhancements included expanded coverage of forecasts and strengthening of warning criteria, while in New South Wales the number of special fire forecasts was significantly increased to help fire agencies manage several threatening situations.

Other significant activities during 2000-01 aimed at contributing to the improvement of fire weather services included:

· continued close collaboration and consultation nationally through the Bureau's Associate Membership of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC), including participation in an AFAC funded smoke management project and membership of a Working Group on the Operational Calculation of the McArthur Drought Factor;

· participation in the development of the proposal for a Bushfires Cooperative Research Centre that, although unsuccessful, did identify a number of priorities in bushfire research and led to an enhanced level of inter-organisational cooperation in this area; and

· attendance by Bureau staff at a range of national and international conferences related to fire weather.

Some aspects of the Bureau's fire weather service underwent close scrutiny at the Coronial Inquest into the deaths of five fire fighters at the Linton bushfire in December 1999. The Bureau provided expert witnesses to the Inquest and the Coroner's report is expected later in 2001.

Public Weather Services

The Bureau's Public Weather Services provide a wide range of weather information and forecasting services in the public interest for the benefit of the community at large in all Australian States and Territories. Weather information services include current and recent weather observations from the Bureau's extensive observing network, satellite and radar imagery, analyses of meteorological conditions and forecasts of a wide range of meteorological parameters covering geographically distributed localities, together with numerous warnings for weather conditions with potential to cause loss of life or damage to property.

Two major achievements of the public weather services program during 2000-01 were introduction of radar imagery as part of the Bureau's Basic Product Set and the successful provision of meteorological services for the Sydney 2000 Olympics in September. These achievements are discussed in more detail in the introductory section to Weather Services.

Photo A major focus of the special weather service provided in support of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was the sailing events on Sydney Harbour.

Photo Organisers of the Olympic equestrian events, such as dressage, required advance warning of conditions conducive to thunderstorms. Their concerns related primarily to lightning, not least because of the metal construction of the spectators' stand, and to the likelihood of heavy rainfall events. (Photo courtesy of Louis Bokor)

Weather forecasts are provided for more than 170 cities and towns and 60 separate forecast districts, according to community needs. During 2000-01, 451,333 routine public weather forecasts and information bulletins were issued. The Bureau continued to keep abreast of community needs for weather services that enhance public safety and support the daily decision making of individuals, households, businesses, community sectors and government organisations.

The quarterly user survey results, which indicated a high level of user satisfaction with Bureau weather services, are reinforced by the Bureau's internal forecast verification results, presented for forecast maximum and minimum temperature in Figure 39. The accuracy of temperature forecasts has improved steadily over the past 30 years, most notably since the mid-1980s. This improvement is largely a reflection of improvements in the operational numerical models and in the scientific expertise of the forecasters. The target for this performance measure for 2000-01 was set at 1.4_C. Figure 39 shows that the errors in maximum and minimum temperature forecasts were only slightly above this target at 1.41_C and 1.44_C respectively.

Figure 39. Trends in the mean modulus error in maximum and minimum temperature forecasts for all State capital cities and Canberra.

A trial of the air quality monitoring and prediction service was also conducted during the Olympic Games in September. The service has resulted from ongoing collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, the CSIRO and the Environment Protection Authorities (EPAs) of Victoria and New South Wales. Progress was made towards the implementation of a real-time air quality prediction service.

Telstra's 1196 telephone weather service, which provides Bureau weather information, has for many years been a popular and well-known mode of access for basic weather information at the cost of a local call. It has undergone changes in recent years as a result of the Australian Communications Authority's national telephone numbering plan changes and business decisions taken by Telstra. Towards the end of the year, Telstra expressed the intention to consider alternatives to the continuation of these Dial-it services.

The number of calls since January 1995 to the 1196 Dial-it service is shown on a monthly basis in Figure 40. The services are at the cost of a local call and currently cover public weather forecasts for all State and Territory capital cities and some regional centres in Queensland.

Figure 40. The number of calls per month since January 1995 to the Bureau's `Dial-It' telephone weather service.

The Bureau's National Media Graphics Unit and Regional Offices continued to work closely with newspapers in the preparation of graphical weather information pages in a range of daily and weekly publications, enhancing the public understanding of meteorology and the effectiveness of the delivery of the Bureau's public weather services to the community. The number of papers publishing high quality colour graphical weather segments numbered between 65 and 75 in 2000-01.

The Bureau continued to foster its partnership relationship with the private meteorological sector through a number of ad hoc meetings and discussions and through maintenance of a dedicated mailing list.

In response to increased community expectations, an enhanced graphical ultraviolet (UV) index forecast service was implemented. The service delivers a graphical product that describes the fluctuation in UV throughout the day for each capital city. The product supplements the map of UV values across Australia and the single value UV index available previously. The latter was appended as a routine addition to the capital city forecasts.

The Bureau continued to investigate the feasibility of introducing a Thermal Stress Advice Service, which aims to alert the public to the thermal stress risk during periods of unusually high temperatures and humidity. Community demand for this service was reaffirmed. A trial service was implemented as part of the suite of information services provided during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Following the devastating outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom, the Bureau, along with many State/Territory and Commonwealth agencies, reviewed and reconfirmed its preparedness for responding to an animal health emergency. The Bureau is called upon for meteorological support, particularly in those situations where windborne aerosols or insect vectors may contribute to the spread of the disease. Foot and mouth disease is susceptible to windborne spread of aerosols.

A serious plague locust problem threatened parts of southwest Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria in the latter part of 2000. The Bureau provided support to State agencies in South Australia in the form of a "locust movement advice" providing short-term warning of weather conditions conducive to the long distance migration of existing locust populations. The Victorian Regional Office provided additional assistance to relevant State agencies to assist locust control spraying operations.

Marine Services

During 2000-01, the Bureau's Marine Services were delivered in an environment of continuing change and increased national coordination activity. Key areas related to the programmed improvement to marine meteorological and oceanographic observing networks, the development of a new marine forecasting system and the follow-up to the 1998 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.

In December, the NSW Coroner handed down his findings into the loss of six lives during the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. One of the Coroner's recommendations called for the inclusion in forecasts of additional information on maximum wind gusts and maximum wave heights likely to be encountered by yacht-racing fleets. An advisory preamble on the nature of maximum wind gusts and wave heights was subsequently incorporated in all relevant Bureau marine products. The production of a Mini Guide to Marine Weather Services, a series of seven waterproof, pocket-sized brochures for each state and the Northern Territory, also contributed to improved education of marine service users.

The volume of Marine Services outputs continued to increase and during 2000-01 (see Table 9) 127,716 shipping and boating forecasts and 13,679 marine warnings were issued.

The Bureau's Marine Page continued to provide forecasts, warnings, meteorological observations and charts, as well as links to other relevant and useful marine sites, from the Bureau's web site. The number of accesses to the Marine Page is seasonal, with the peak occurring in the warmer half of the year. During the summer of 2000-01, almost 18,000 accesses per month were recorded, which is about a 30 per cent increase on the previous summer.

Development of the new Australian Marine Forecasting System (AMFS) proceeded to the stage where the first prototype was evaluated by Bureau forecasting staff. Implementation of a second version, incorporating suggestions from the evaluation, commenced. AMFS will provide an entirely new platform, allowing forecasters to prepare marine forecasts using interactive graphical screen based techniques. Forecasters will be able to interact with the digital form of the Bureau's numerical weather and marine prediction model outputs to produce detailed forecasts of winds, waves and other relevant meteorological conditions. The development of a facility for generating forecast text directly from the manipulated data fields was accelerated during the year.

A draft strategic plan for the Bureau's marine observing networks was developed. A principal aim of the plan is to provide an integrated framework for the development of marine meteorological and oceanographic observing networks over the next five years. The plan reflects the growing requirements for coastal and near-shore observations and is consistent with national commitments to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and with the National Oceans Policy, which identified the need for development of an Australian Ocean Observing System. The draft plan incorporated Bureau commitments to expand coastal meteorological observations with automatic weather stations, to improve monitoring of wave conditions through enhanced waverider buoy networks, and to establish programs to deploy offshore moored weather buoys and Argo floats (from 2001-02).

Plans were developed to ensure continuity of HF-based marine radio broadcast services to users, in advance of major changes among the suppliers of HF radio broadcasting services to the Bureau. The new supplier, Television New Zealand (TVNZ Pty Ltd), selected through a public tender process, will broadcast coastal waters and high seas forecasts and warnings from two new transmitters at Charleville in Queensland and Wiluna in Western Australia, commencing in July 2002. TVNZ Pty Ltd will also take over HF broadcasts of the Bureau's radio facsimile services AXM and AXI commencing at the same time, coincident with the existing broadcaster (the Royal Australian Navy) ceasing transmissions. Together, the HF voice and facsimile service comprise the New Marine Radio Service (NMRS). The NMRS will utilise the "Text to Speech" software being implemented for many of the Bureau's telephone weather services. The NMRS will also introduce a much higher frequency of repeat broadcasts throughout the day. Considerable effort was expended towards ensuring a smooth transition to the NMRS.

Options for the replacement of VHF broadcasts of Bureau coastal marine forecasts and warnings, pending closure by Telstra of its VHF network, were also investigated through an initiative involving the marine administrations of the Commonwealth and State governments. Advances in mobile phone technologies providing Internet access, such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) devices, are being considered and, together with the continued expansion of mobile phone network coverage, are resulting in a broadening of the technological base for delivering services. This will result in more coastal marine users having access to a wider range of Bureau products. The continued increase in the number of satellite phone users and potential further regulation by the States of the use of satellite communications systems on coastal vessels will further increase options for access to this information.

Improved consultation with users was effected through the establishment of a formal consultative process with marine users and industries. Most of the first round of Regional consultations was concluded.

The Tasmanian edition of the Winds, Waves, Weather boating information booklet was published early in 2001 and a similar volume for the Northern Territory was finalised for publication.

Aviation Weather Services

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Aviation weather services continued to enhance the safety, regularity and efficiency of national and international aviation operations. Services are provided within the international technical and regulatory framework of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which work in close cooperation. Australian domestic aviation is regulated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and air traffic management is the responsibility of Airservices Australia. Under this international and domestic framework, the Bureau of Meteorology is the designated Meteorological Authority for Australia for the purposes of the provision of aviation weather services. During the year, the Bureau and Airservices Australia negotiated towards the development of a Memorandum of Understanding for the provision of Aviation Weather Services.

User consultation and arrangements for ongoing service improvements were coordinated by a variety of committees, working groups and focus groups involving the Bureau of Meteorology, CASA, Airservices Australia, the major Australian airlines, the Australian Air Transport Association, the Australian Airports Association and others. International consultation and coordination occurred through the WMO Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology and working groups, the ICAO Asia Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group and a number of ICAO study groups. In conjunction with the major airlines, the Bureau investigated all meteorological incident reports, in order to identify deficiencies and explore opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the Aviation Weather Service.

Service improvements implemented during the year included support to Qantas to enable the airline to commence flying a new airway over China and introduction of a new medium level significant weather forecast chart to meet the growing need for such a product for twin engine operations.

The requirements and level of resources for provision of aviation weather services are formally agreed, at least annually, with aviation industry representatives. The incremental costs of providing these services are recovered from the industry. In 2000-01, the agreed charge was $13.874 million and the total revenue recovered was $14.890 million (exclusive of GST). The difference was largely attributable to a higher traffic volume than assumed by Airservices in the initial estimate.

Aviation weather services were generated and delivered though the following major service outlets:

· the Bureau's Aviation Weather Centre, which is part of the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre;

· the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), in Darwin, which is part of the global network of nine such centres;

· the Sydney Airport Meteorological Unit (SAMU), which is co-located with Airservices Australia's Air Traffic Services Unit at Sydney Airport;

· each of the Bureau's capital city Regional Forecasting Centres; and

· a number of other Meteorological Offices including Townsville, Cairns and Canberra.

During 2000-01, Aviation Weather Services included an extensive range of forecast products, weather information, warnings and briefings to serve the need of more than 2,450 individual operators. Statistics on the volume of services can be found in Table 9.

The Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAF) continued to be the most frequently distributed of the Bureau's aviation products. During 2000-01, TAFs were issued routinely for some 260 locations throughout the country. TAFs provide hour-by-hour forecasts of weather conditions critical to aviation operations, such as cloud amount and height, visibility, turbulence, precipitation, wind speed and direction, temperature and pressure. The Bureau also provided information on observed aerodrome conditions and continued to enhance its aviation observation network during 2000-01 through the installation of advanced instrumentation, such as visibility and cloud height sensors.

In March and April, the Aviation Weather Program provided support to the London to Sydney Air Race 2001 which was held to celebrate Australia's Centenary of Federation.

The Aviation Weather Program participated in a number of CASA flight safety fora held throughout the country, with the aim of educating members of the aviation industry in the effective use of the Bureau's Aviation Weather Services. In the latter part of 2000, the emphasis was on the identification of hazardous weather and, in early 2001, the focus was directed towards understanding and interpreting radar information. The Bureau also ran a number of workshops for the major airlines to enhance their knowledge of the Bureau's volcanic ash advisory service and to develop a mutually agreed approach to forecast performance measurement and reporting.

Work continued on the enhancement of a TAF verification/improvement system, designed to monitor and provide feedback on both individual and office performance in terms of the impact of TAFs on aviation operations. This system allows a range of parameters to be verified and provides additional useful measures of aviation weather forecast performance in terms of the requirements placed on aircraft operators to carry extra fuel. Where weather conditions are forecast to be below a set of minimum conditions specified for each aerodrome, pilots are required to carry sufficient fuel to reach an alternate airport. For safety reasons, when the forecast indicates a 50 per cent or greater likelihood of adverse conditions occurring, aircraft must carry the additional fuel. The quality measure used to monitor performance in this area is the percentage of aviation forecasts correctly identifying conditions requiring the carriage of additional fuel. In terms of forecasts indicating no requirement for carrying additional fuel, performance targets were achieved for 2000-01, improving further upon those reported for 1999-2000.

The theoretical upper limit on the target value for the percentage of correct forecasts for conditions below the alternate minima, that is, to forecast a requirement to carry additional fuel, is 50 per cent. This is because whenever the probability of forecast conditions below the alternate minima is assessed as 50 per cent or greater, those conditions are to be forecast as though the probability is 100 per cent. Consequently, perfect skill is demonstrated whenever the performance measure is 50 per cent or higher. The target at 35 per cent reflects the inherent difficulty in predicting critical weather. A performance level of 29 per cent was achieved over the past year compared to 27 per cent for the previous year.

Defence Weather Services

Defence Weather Services continued to enhance the operations of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) through the provision of accurate, timely and relevant meteorological information. Services include forecasts, the provision of meteorological observations and climatological data, meteorological training and professional advice to assist military decision-making processes.

Services are delivered through the Defence Meteorological Support Unit (DMSU) and Defence Weather Services Offices (WSOs). The DMSU, located in Darwin, provides a 24-hour point of contact and coordination for ADF users requiring services from the Bureau. It offers particular expertise in the strategically important areas of tropical Australia, south-east Asia and the south-west Pacific and it has been set up to provide information in a secure environment.

The DMSU complements and supports Defence WSOs located at RAAF bases at Amberley, East Sale, Tindal, Pearce and Williamtown, at the Army Aviation Centre at Oakey, and Defence-attributed staff at the Townsville and Canberra Meteorological Offices. These offices provide localised specialist meteorological services to support military aviation.

User consultation, through a joint ADF/Bureau Defence Weather Services Working Group comprising representatives of RAAF, Army and RAN, continued to be a critical element in ensuring the appropriate level of service was provided. Under the auspices of this group, and with the support of Headquarters Air Command, efforts were directed at revision of the administrative arrangements under which the Bureau provides services to Defence and the development of appropriate service level agreements and performance measures. In addition, a Facilities Group met twice yearly to review issues relating to the meteorological facilities on ADF establishments.

Support for ADF operations and exercises is an important part of the role of Defence Weather Services. The DMSU played a pivotal role in providing climatologies, observing infrastructure and forecasts in support of INTERFET (International Force-East Timor) in East Timor. It continued this support during 2000-01, although at a reduced level, to the ADF contingent of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force and to the United Nations Transitional Authority for East Timor. The DMSU also provided support for the ADF operation in Bougainville.

Support for exercises at the local level was provided as required through the on-base WSOs. For major exercises, support was coordinated through the DMSU and involved DMSU staff and a number of WSOs as necessary. The major multi-service exercise held during the year was Tandem Thrust 2001, involving 27,000 Australian and US personnel exercising primarily in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. Primary support for this exercise was through the Bureau's offices at Rockhampton, Townsville and Amberley, with extra staffing provided at Rockhampton and Townsville.

The Bureau responded to changing requirements for product dissemination procedures amongst ADF users. A wide range of meteorological material, including text, satellite and radar imagery and computer model graphics was made available through a Registered User area on the Bureau's web site and linked directly into Defence intranet networks. Accordingly, the use of the Internet by Defence users to access tailored weather products trebled in the past year. Many products continued to be disseminated by telephone and facsimile and DMSU has developed the capability to do this under encryption.

Observing systems are a key part of the infrastructure needed to support Defence Weather Services. In addition to utilising the Bureau's basic observing network, systems have been installed specifically to meet Defence needs. Automatic weather stations (AWS) at most military airfields, and some ranges and training areas, provide data on wind, temperature, humidity and rainfall. At major military airfields, additional sensors provide information automatically on visibility, amount of cloud and the height of the cloud base. Automated text-to-voice conversion allows these and other weather data to be broadcast to aircraft in flight.

In addition to fixed AWS, the Bureau has developed deployable AWS, specifically designed to be located at strategic sites during ADF exercises and operations, such as in support of the air component of INTERFET, where they proved to be very valuable. Trials commenced of a smaller portable AWS currently in use by the United States Air Force, called a Tactical AWS, with a view to potential use by the ADF.

Two additions were made to the fixed network during the year.  An AWS with ceilometer and visibility sensors was installed at Samuel Hill airstrip in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (near Rockhampton, Queensland) to meet the growing requirements by ADF and foreign military forces exercising in the area; and an AWS was installed at HMAS Stirling at Garden Island (Western Australia) to service RAN requirements for helicopter operations.  

The incremental cost of providing the Defence Weather Service to meet ADF requirements is recovered from the Department of Defence. At the beginning of each financial year, a description of the service is provided to the Department of Defence (Headquarters Air Command) for approval. It details elements of the service, an estimate of the total cost and a breakdown of the cost by base and by activity. During 2000-01, $3.05m (excluding GST) was recovered in respect of staff, equipment, communications and overheads associated with the provision of the service.

Special Weather Services

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Special Weather Services are provided to meet the needs of the general public, industry and specific clients for weather services and information beyond those available as part of the basic service provided via the mass media and the open Internet. Costs for the provision of Special Weather Services are recovered on an incremental or commercial basis, as appropriate.

There are four broad categories of weather service users who need more detailed information and/or enhanced products from the Bureau than are available from the basic service: (a) private sector meteorological service providers (including some media); (b) major primary industry user groups and individual primary producers; (c) other people, organisations and sectors involved in weather-sensitive businesses and businesses sensitive to weather information (eg. tourism); and (d) members of the public who have a special interest in the weather.

Special Weather Services include access to the Bureau's data and products via facsimile (Weather by Fax, direct fax from the Bureau's Australian Integrated Forecast System - AIFS), the Internet (subscription services), telephone (Weathercall) or connection to Bureau dissemination systems (Computer Message Switching System (CMSS), Radar Picture Display (RAPIC)). The variety of access mechanisms allows users engaged in a wide range of activities to adapt their decision-making in real-time in the light of information about current or expected meteorological conditions.

Special forecasting services are provided in the public interest for purposes such as major sporting events, and customised user-specific meteorological services are provided at commercial rates by the Bureau's Special Services Unit (SSU) under competitive neutrality conditions with the private meteorological sector.

During 2000-01, there were 782,306 calls to the Bureau's Weather By Fax service. Calls to the service are shown on a monthly basis in Figure 41. Use of the service fluctuates depending on the prevailing weather, and hence on the season, with the warm seasons (which generally produce more types of severe weather) attracting the highest number of calls. There was a significant decline in calls to the service during 2000-01, following on from a more gradual decline over the previous couple of years. While a component of this decline can be attributed to a smaller number of tropical cyclones than in recent years, there were also other factors including a lasting decrease in usage after disruptions in 1999-2000, following the cessation by Telstra of its Infofax service and migration of the Weather by Fax service to a new service provider, and the continued growth in accessibility of similar information by other means, notably the Bureau's web site.

Figure 41. The number of calls received by the Bureau's `Weather by Fax' service on a monthly basis since January 1995.

Internet-based subscription services (both web and ftp-based) again received significant use during 2000-01. To some extent, these services have replaced the use of access to Bureau systems such as CMSS and RAPIC, since the Internet delivery formats are more amenable to generalised use, but there remains a diminishing number of users who have a preference for the earlier forms of access. In parallel with this trend, there was also a growing demand for additional types of data (both forecast information and raw data) to be made available in new Internet-compatible formats. This demand came, in particular, from private-sector meteorological service providers, who package and build on the Bureau's Basic Service products to create many of their commercial services.

The Bureau's Weathercall service encompasses a wide range of telephone weather services operating on the 1900 number range. The number of calls to the service is shown on a monthly basis in Figure 42.

Figure 42. The number of calls per month since January 1995 to the Bureau's 1900 telephone Weathercall service.

Preparations commenced during 2000-01 for the introduction of an automated Text-to-Speech system (TTSS), developed by the Bureau, which will replace the manual recording of messages currently necessary to operate the Weathercall service. The introduction of TTSS requires considerable reconfiguration of the infrastructure on the part of both the Bureau and the service provider contracted to provide the service. Consequently, the Bureau went to tender to test the market for the establishment of the revised system, and selected a new service provider in May 2001. Work then proceeded apace on the transition process, which is expected to be completed in early 2001-02. The TTSS will also be used for the Bureau's local-call telephone warning services, running on 1300 services. These currently cover only tropical cyclone warning services, but the use of the TTSS will enable expansion to other warning services.

The percentage downtime for automated access systems, specifically the Australian Meteorological Data and Information Service System (AMDISS) was 0.26 per cent (a total of 23.25 hours for the year). Although this did not meet the Bureau's 0.10 per cent downtime target, analysis of faults show that a major contributor (50 percent) to the downtime was a Telstra outage of 12 hours. Plans are in place for 2001-02 to duplicate the Bureau's Internet connection in order to minimise possible disruptions to services caused by single points of failure within the Telstra network.

Further progress was made in the revision and development of data access policies and internal procedures during 2000-01. In particular, the Services Management System (SMS) made good progress this year. The SMS, which was commenced in early 2000, is aimed at integrating and streamlining administrative tasks and providing management information for Special Weather and other cost-recoverable meteorological services provided by the Bureau. The SMS will eventually cover free, cost-of-access and cost-recovery services, but the focus this year was on planning and development for the latter two service types. The design of the SMS is compatible with the Bureau's new Financial Management System to ensure strong linkages between the two systems.

The range and number of special weather services provided on a commercial basis through the Special Services Unit (SSU) increased during 2000-01 and all quality and quantity targets were met or exceeded. The major special weather service activities of the SSU during 2000-01 included:

· the provision of specialised services to the offshore oil and gas mining industries, primarily in Western Australia and Queensland, where the SSU services about 20 clients under contract with tailored forecasts and tropical cyclone advice. These forecasts are primarily in cyclone prone areas and aim to minimise the risk to life and reduce the economic impact of cyclones on operations. These services are valued highly by clients and general user satisfaction was demonstrated by renewal of most contracts, although some contracts were not renewed owing to completion of operational requirements. As usual, there was a small but consistent number of new clients. Market penetration was estimated to be more than 70 per cent;

· the provision of a range of services tailored to the specific requirements of 23 companies in the competitive energy market, mainly in the eastern states. All but one of the previous services were renewed this year, indicating the value placed on accurate and detailed forecasts for the energy sector, and some individual services were expanded. These forecasts help to improve the efficiency of the energy industry;

· the provision of specialised services to more than 20 clients in the mining and manufacturing sector, with the aim of reducing the impact of severe weather and improving the efficiency of their operations;

· the SSU's Farmweather, which continued to provide a valuable service tailored for farmers and agribusiness, aimed at assisting planning of farm operations and improving overall operational efficiency. While call rates for this fax-based service fell steadily, because of growth in usage of the Internet, demand remained high. The reliability of the service was improved with more than 95 per cent of Farmweather products supplied to the service provider by scheduled deadlines, compared with a target level of 90 per cent;

· an expanded range of packaged data services for information service providers in the Internet and telephone information sectors. The sector more than tripled over last year, evidence of the increasing public acceptance of electronic delivery of forecasts and other meteorological information. The SSU supplied tailored data services for Web pages, Short Message Service phone services and Wireless Application Protocol systems;

· signing of a contract with Telstra Country Wide to provide a Premium Weather service for the Telstra web pages. The service, which is targeted at selected agricultural sectors, will contain information to assist in decision making and will include both free and subscription services; and

· management, on behalf of the Bureau, of the Weathercall 1900 and 1300 national telephone weather services.

The SSU continued to develop new domestic market areas and to work with potential customers to explore new types of services, underlying the increasing diversity of SSU activities.

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