The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is generally considered to be among the world's leading national meteorological services. This recognition is due in part 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 observe, model and predict weather and climate, and consulting with the community to further enhance its services to meet national needs.

It is the ongoing task of the Bureau to improve the scientific understanding of the atmosphere and oceans, develop new tools to create better products and services, 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 participates in international forums and agreements that benefit meteorological and related disciplines worldwide. Australia benefits greatly from this activity - and has been able to assist others. The Bureau is able to pass some of its expertise to developing nations through collaborations with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

The purpose of this section of the Bureau's annual report is to showcase just a few of the innovations and developments that have taken place during 2004-05.

In this chapter:

• New home for Bureau Head Office and Victoria Regional Office
• Tsunami warning system developments
• Temperature atlas of Australia
• New weather satellites: MTSAT-1R and FY-2C
• Major upgrade of radar network
• Modelling the impacts of climate change
• Improved forecast systems
• Improvements in computer modelling of the atmosphere
• Severe weather warning services revamped
• Enhancements to marine forecast services
• Improving the accuracy of rainfall prediction
• Automated thunderstorm alerting service