Since commencing operations in 1990, the Special Services Unit (SSU) has provided specialised meteorological and related services on a commercial basis. SSU offices are located in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and Darwin. The SSU operates on the basis of competitive neutrality with the private sector and non-interference with the public good functions of overseas national meteorological services.

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS 2004-05 

• An automatic weather station was installed at Westmead Hospital for the Sydney West Area Health Service and radio transmitters were installed to broadcast aerodrome weather information at Hervey Bay (Queensland), Bathurst (New South Wales) and Laverton (Western Australia) airports.
• The Farmweather by Fax service was rationalised, with action taken to cease the production of forecasts for six locations with poor take-up across Australia. Services for the remaining nineteen locations were bolstered by extending the forecasts to six days and making better use of numerical model outputs.
• Offshore forecasting services continued to be expanded for major operators in Bass Strait, the Northwest Shelf and the Timor Sea.
• Several major international projects were delivered during the year:
  • technical support continued for the United States Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, with services extended to the deployment and operation of the ARM Mobile Facility at Point Reyes, California;
  • weather radars utilising Linux-based Rapic systems and software were installed and commissioned at two sites for the Malaysian Meteorological Service in conjunction with the Australian firm Environmental Systems and Services Pty Ltd;
  • in conjunction with Environmental Systems & Services Pty Ltd, the Bureau integrated the Indonesian Meteorological Service (BMG) weather radar network; and
  • the Kuwait Meteorological Data Processing project continued with the SSU a major sub-contractor to the Australian company, Almos Systems Pty Ltd..

Contribution towards outcome

• Knowledge of relevant weather events, including their intensity, frequency and nature, is an important risk management tool for weather-sensitive clients.
• Ongoing rationalisation of the forecast product set ensures that relevant services are available to clients and are provided in the most cost-effective manner.
• The use of reliable and accurate weather services assists our clients to safely and more effectively manage their operations.
• International clients have been able to use a range of state-of-the-art turnkey meteorological systems that have been developed from versions employed by the Bureau. This has considerably benefited our clients in terms of providing weather services in their home countries. Through participation in these international activities, the SSU has developed a more commercially viable suite of software products and a team of trained professional project managers and IT specialists. Some products have been passed back to the Bureau to enhance its own operations.

Kuwait National Meteorological Centre Director of Meteorology Khaled Shuaibi, KNMC Forecasting Division Superintendent Jamal Abdul-Raheem and Parliamentary Secretary Greg Hunt are addressed by Superintendent Satellites David Griersmith at the Bureau of Meteorology's satellite receiving station Crib Point on Friday 15 April.