The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is generally considered to be among the world's leading national meteorological services. This recognition is in part due to the Bureau's highly efficient integrated infrastructure and the emphasis on continually improving its systems and services to deliver new and enhanced products to all Australians. The Bureau seeks to make the most of the Government's investment in meteorology by continuing research into Australia's weather and climate, developing and adopting new technologies to model and predict that weather and climate, and consulting with the community to better ensure its services meet national needs.

While the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC) has a key role in developing and tailoring new technologies, all areas of the Bureau examine ways in which the Bureau can adapt existing tools to create new products, incorporate new data sources to increase accuracy, achieve efficiencies in routine operations, get information to clients more quickly and effectively, and respond to emerging community needs.

The Bureau also participates in international forums and agreements that benefit meteorological and related disciplines worldwide. Australia benefits greatly from this activity and has been able to pass some of its expertise to developing nations through collaborations with the Australian Government's aid agency, AusAID.

This section of the Bureau's Annual Report showcases just a few of the innovations and developments that have taken place during 2003-04.

• New technologies improve thunderstorm warnings
• Improving local goverment flood warning systems
• Tracking the tides
• New marine services benefit boat users
• Graphical display of volcanic ash hazards to aircraft
• Meteorological support for the Australian Defence Force
• Major radar upgrade underway
• New SX-6 supercomputer and central computing facility
• Smoke management advice
• Estimating rainfall amounts from radar data
• Measuring water vapour in the atmosphere
• Winds of change in upper-air observations
• Communicating information when the rain fails
• Improving climate prediction for Pacific Island countries
• Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)