Meteorological and Related Data and Products comprises Output 1.1, one of the Bureau's four output groups, and is also one of the Bureau's major outputs. The basic systems that deliver this major output also provide the common foundation on which the other outputs of the Bureau depend.

This major output involves round-the-clock operation of the national meteorological monitoring and prediction infrastructure and the provision of the basic meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data and products. These data and products are required to maintain the national climate record, to characterise the behaviour of Australian weather and climate, to support the full range of publicly and privately provided meteorological and related services in Australia, to support meteorological research and to meet Australia's obligations for the free and unrestricted international exchange of meteorological and related data and products.

To ensure the effective output of meteorological and related data and products, particular attention is given to regular monitoring and review of the Bureau's basic technical systems, the replacement of obsolescent systems and the introduction of new technologies through an ongoing re-equipment program, and regular liaison with users of the data and products of the basic systems to ensure their continued appropriateness, relevance, timeliness and accuracy.

OUTPUT PERFORMANCE 2003-04 

Network enhancement, through greater volumes of automatic weather station data, saw the average number of reports received per day from surface synoptic stations increase to 97 per cent of scheduled observations. Overall, performance levels for scheduled observations were similar to or slightly higher than those achieved in 2002-03, although some of the measures employed to achieve these levels, such as drawing heavily on reserves of consumables and spares, may impact on their sustainability. Maintaining this level of performance into the future will depend on the achievement of efficiencies at a rate sufficient to counteract the current trend in resource levels.

Equipment outages at high priority sites, including those critical for monitoring severe weather events such as tropical cyclones, and for supporting aviation operations, were kept to a minimum. The average duration of significant outages of all major items of field equipment remained steady at between three and seven days. Government funding for accelerated replacement of obsolete radars is expected to reduce radar network outage times in the future.

User satisfaction with regard to the functional capacity and availability of mission critical telecommunications and computing systems was assessed from an annual survey of users and although they exceeded the set targets there were several critical comments relating to slow telecommunication connections to remote locations. The high user satisfaction scores reflect the increased robustness and performance of modern computing and telecommunications systems and suggest that the annual performance targets may need to be revised in line with technology improvements.

Output performance is measured against a number of quantity, quality and price targets. The results achieved for 2003-04 are provided below.

Figure 10. Trend in the number of surface synoptic network stations (including Bureau staffed stations, Automatic Weather Stations and Cooperative Stations) illustrating growth in the surface synoptic network with the introduction of Automatic Weather Stations through the 1990s.