International Meteorological Activities are delivered through three individual outputs which contribute to the achievement of the desired outcome. Developments in each individual output during 2003-04 and their contribution to the outcome are discussed below.

WMO CONTRIBUTION 

The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations and facilitates the coordination, standardisation and improvement of world meteorological and related activities. In recognition of the value of international cooperation in meteorology, and in support of the overall operation of the WMO, Australia makes an annual assessed financial contribution to the WMO based on an intergovernmentally-agreed allocation of funding responsibilities closely linked to Gross National Product. In 2003-04, Australia's contribution represented 1.60 per cent of the total Regular Budget of the WMO. The WMO Convention stipulates that without making this mandatory contribution to WMO, countries cannot maintain full membership of the Organization.

Major developments 2003-04

• Timely payment of Australia's financial commitment in terms of the annual assessed contribution to the Regular Budget of the WMO, which for 2003-04 was $1.112m.
• Reassessment of Australia's contribution to the WMO by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003 based on the latest economic figures. As a result, Australia's assessed contribution will become 1.57 per cent of the Regular Budget of the WMO for the next three years beginning 2004-05.

Contribution towards outcome

• Australia continued to gain greatly through membership of WMO. When compared with the relatively small (1.6 per cent) contribution to the WMO Regular Budget, Australia receives multi-fold benefits which represent considerable value. In 2003-04, Australia's contribution to WMO ranked eleventh after USA, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Canada, Spain, Brazil and the Netherlands.
• Australia provides observations acquired within its own territory (about 5 per cent of the global set) to other countries for their use, and received, from around the world, much greater quantities of data (95 per cent of the global set), without which it could not provide many of its national services to acceptable standards.
• Australia is an island continent and surrounded by oceans where data are sparse. Therefore, weather monitoring in Australia relies heavily on access to meteorological satellite data. Through membership of the WMO, the Bureau received free data from meteorological satellites operated by the USA, Japan, China, the Russian Federation and Europe.

MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES 

The Bureau participates in a number of multilateral international programs, especially through the WMO, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Of specific note is the Bureau's participation in the WMO World Weather Watch (WWW) Programme, which is a globally coordinated system for the collection, processing and distribution of meteorological information in real-time on a worldwide basis. It provides the common infrastructure to support a wide range of WMO activities at the national and international level. The facilities of the WWW are used by other international organisations, in particular the ICAO, the IOC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and provide the essential foundation for the development of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

Major developments 2003-04

• Upgrade of the telecommunication circuit between Melbourne and Moscow using TCP/IP protocols to further facilitate the exchange of data between World Meteorological Centres under the WWW.
• Earth Observations Summits (EOS) in Washington DC in July and Tokyo in April, and associated meetings of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), culminating in the development of a new international program called the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
• Maintenance of Australia's strong influence in WMO policy decisions affecting programs of WMO Technical Commissions. In 2003-04, Dr Ray Canterford was the Acting President of the WMO Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) and Mr Bruce Stewart was the Vice President of the WMO Commission for Hydrology (CHy).
• Continuation of the work of senior Bureau officers in contributing to the work of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFC-CC), its Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), particularly the development of the GCOS Cooperation Mechanism, and the WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), especially relating to the identification of Australian lead authors, convenors and editors for the preparation of the Fourth Assessment Report.
• Provision of a substantial contribution to the development of the WMO Virtual Laboratory for Satellite Meteorology Education and Training through the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre.

NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral (retired) Dr Conrad Lautenbacher addresses the Earth Observation Summit in Washington DC on 31 July 2003. The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Hon Dr David Kemp MP, was represented at the Summit by former Director of Meteorology Dr John Zillman.

Contribution towards outcome

• Participation in the international programs of the WMO, ICAO and IOC enabled the Bureau to provide a range of meteorological services in conformity with international standards.
• Bureau participation in the UNFCCC, SBSTA and IPCC strengthened the meteorological science perspective in UN negotiations on climate change.

BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 

The Bureau maintained strong bilateral links with other countries through the WMO (e.g. with the USA, UK and other developed countries in Europe) and through bilateral protocols such as a treaty on cooperation in meteorological satellite matters with Japan and Memorandums of Understanding with countries including China, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. To facilitate the implementation of bilateral activities, the Bureau operated an ongoing Overseas Visits Program, with limited funds also allocated for international technical cooperation and bilateral cooperation activities.

Many of the countries with which Australia had a bilateral protocol on cooperation in meteorology were meteorological satellite operators (Japan, China, India and the Russian Federation) or potential operators (the Republic of Korea). These protocols helped to strengthen bilateral relations in the area of satellites, and hence maintain Australia's continued access to meteorological satellite data and products.

Signing of meeting report between the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the Bureau of Meteorology at the fourth session of the Joint Working Group in Seoul, 2-5 May.

It is fundamental for Australia to assist the development of meteorology in developing countries, because numerical weather prediction (for five days or more) requires current weather observations from all over the world to provide the model initial conditions. Meteorological observations from the southwest Pacific and South-East Asia are of particular importance to Australia because of their proximity.

Major developments 2003-04

• Provision of capacity building and training to help the development of meteorology in developing countries. In February, eight overseas students from Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Singapore, Lesotho and Namibia were admitted to the Bureau's Postgraduate Diploma in Meteorology course in Melbourne. Some were funded by the Bureau under WMO Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP) or bilateral fellowships, while others were supported by their respective governments.
• Facilitation of training attachments, either in the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre or the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre, for several officers of China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
• Provision of forecasting staff support to Fiji's Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre in Nadi during the 2003-04 tropical cyclone season at the request of the Fiji Meteorological Service.
• Commencement of the implementation of an Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)-funded Project on 'Enhanced application of climate predictions in the Pacific Island Countries' in August. The first phase of the implementation involved visits to nine participating countries, discussions with stakeholders, government and industry, and the holding of training workshops.
• Obtainment of AusAID funding for a project for the provision of monitoring equipment and staff exchange with the Indonesian Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation under the Australia-Indonesia Government Sector Linkages Program.
• Completion of consultancy missions in the Pacific under Phase III of the AusAID-funded South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project.
• Completion of consultancy missions to Samoa to conduct a scoping study on climate data rescue and to Qatar to review its meteorological infrastructure.
• Funding of a VCP project on rehabilitating Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby Global Upper Air Network (GUAN) station, as a major contribution to GCOS in the Pacific.
• Review of bilateral cooperation and future plans at the fourth session of the Joint Working Group with the Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul, 2-5 May.
• Formulation of twenty bilateral activities for the next 2-3 years at the eleventh session of the Joint Working Group with the China Meteorological Administration held in Beijing and Guangzhou, 5-8 May.
• Development of a future work program at the ninth session of the Formal Meeting with the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring in Geneva on 15 June.
• Facilitation of 250 officer-missions overseas.

Contribution towards outcome

• The Bureau made significant contributions to assist developing countries in their implementation of WMO technical programs through the cross-cutting WMO Technical Cooperation Programme including the VCP, WMO Education and Training Programme and the Bureau's bilateral program. The result was the availability of more timely and accurate observational data especially from data-sparse areas in the southwest Pacific (see Table below). These observations in turn help the Bureau to improve its numerical weather prediction products.
• The Bureau's bilateral links with meteorological satellite operators ensured continued access to free satellite data from China, Japan and the Russian Federation.