The Bureau of Meteorology is responsible for the Environment and Heritage Portfolio Outcome: 'Australia benefits from meteorological and related science and services'.

The four basic elements of this outcome are:

• Satisfaction of present and future needs for continuous reliable data on Australian weather and climate.
• Advancement of meteorological science and understanding of the mechanisms of Australian weather and climate.
• Enhanced community safety and well-being through preparation of meteorological products and information and the effective use of meteorological and related services by the general public and by shipping, civil aviation, defence, agriculture, industry and other major social and economic sectors.
• International cooperation and goodwill including the benefits of global meteorological cooperation under the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization and related international meteorological treaties and agreements.

The following four Output Groups are directed at achieving these outcome elements:

• Meteorological and Related Data (Output 1.1)
• Meteorological and Related Research (Output 1.2)
• Meteorological and Related Services and Products (Output 1.3)
• International Meteorological Activities (Output 1.4)

The Meteorological and Related Services and Products Output Group is broken into five Major Outputs: Oceanographic Services, Hydrological Services, Commercial Services, Climate Services and Weather Services while the other three Output Groups each relate to a single Major Output. Each Major Output is delivered through one or more individual Outputs.

The chapters corresponding to the Major Outputs in this Annual Report provide an assessment of the performance of the Bureau and more detailed information about contributions to the overall outcome at the individual Output level. The Outcome-Output structure of the Bureau of Meteorology is shown schematically in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The Outcome-Output structure of the Bureau of Meteorology showing the four separate Outcome Elements, the four Output Groups and the eight Major Outputs which contribute to the overall outcome for which the Bureau is responsible as part of the Environment and Heritage Portfolio.