Chapter 1 Introduction

Introduction

Climate has been an intrinsic part of the development of humankind. It has shaped the environment in which we live and the way in which we respond to the many challenges that have confronted us. In Australia, this is especially true, with our geographically diverse land mass subject to all the extremes of climate, often at the same time. The first six months of 2003, during which we experienced droughts, floods and devastating fire storms, was a classic example of this.

The need to systematically document the climate of Australia, and the need to analyse and understand this information within a global context, was recognised early in the settlement of the Australian colonies. The importance of this endeavour is reinforced in the Australian Constitution, which provided the foundation of national coordination of meteorological observation, and through the passage of the Meteorology Act 1906. A direct consequence of the latter was the establishment in 1908 of the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, which has primary responsibility for climate monitoring, research and service provision in Australia. The first definitive account of the Australian climate was published by the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology in 1913 (Hunt, Taylor and Quayle, 1913). The Bureau maintains extensive, and increasingly high quality, climate records as part of its service to the Australian community. Many Commonwealth and State government agencies, universities and private sector bodies are also involved in climate-related activities.

The foundations for Australia’s meteorological records were laid at Sydney Cove, with the establishment of a small observatory and commencement of regular observations in September 1788 . Over the next 100 years, European settlement spread across the continent. As near real-time communications became a reality through the introduction of the telegraph, observing stations also spread and data were increasingly exchanged between the different colonies. The stations did not become a coherent national network until the beginning of the twentieth century when the responsibility for meteorology passed from the individual States to the newly established Federation. One hundred years on, Australia supports a wide range of observational networks to meet diverse information needs. Although coverage is limited over the oceans surrounding Australia and across the vast sparsely populated inland areas, modern technology, such as satellite systems, remote automatic weather stations and high speed telecommunications, has contributed to an enhanced and more comprehensive monitoring system.

H.A Hunt, the first Commonwealth Meteorologist 1907-1931.		The purpose built New South Wales Regional Office (1922-1963) which was located about 100 metres south of the Sydney Observatory. The ground floor housed the forecasting and analysis centre, the second floor housed the climate services and archives section, and the top floor was the residence of the Deputy Director (NSW). Wind measuring instruments sit atop the tower on the right side of the roof. Photograph taken in 1927.

The Australian climate record has improved the understanding of Australia’s climate and, together with data from other countries, contributes to understanding global climate. Through participation in the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), (refer Chapter 6), a consistent and high quality global climate record is being developed to support climate monitoring, analysis and prediction to benefit national communities worldwide. At the same time, however, and so highlighted in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was completed in 2001, substantial deficiencies exist in global networks. In particular, the TAR emphasises the need to arrest the decline of observational networks in many parts of the world and to extend the spatial and temporal coverage of observing systems.

Following global media coverage of climate change concerns and publication of the IPCC’s assessment reports, from its first report in 1990 through to the TAR in 2001, there has been a growing awareness among Australians of the climate change issue and the potential environmental impacts. This continues to drive not only the national policy response to climate change issues, such as the development of the National Greenhouse Strategy (Council of Australian Governments, 1998) and Australia’s ratification of, and response to, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories, 1994) and subsequent signing of the Kyoto Protocol, but also, at a very practical level, the improved management of climate risks faced by the agricultural community, such as through the Climate Variability in Agriculture Program (CVAP) administered by the Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation (LWRRDC).

At the international level, the World Climate Programme (WCP) has provided the main international framework for action on scientific and technical aspects of the climate issue since 1979. Australia does not have an equivalent National Climate Programme counterpart to the WCP. However, it maintains a wide range of climate monitoring, research, service and assessment activities that align closely with the international objectives of the WCP. In 1992, the Bureau of Meteorology initiated a regular series of summaries of Australian climate-related activities, with a focus on Australian participation in international scientific climate programs. This publication is the sixth such summary.

The first Climate Activities in Australia (Bureau of Meteorology, 1993) was published in March 1993 and was tabled as an Australian information document for the April 1993 Intergovernmental Meeting on the WCP in Geneva (World Meteorological Organization, 1993). The second report, Climate Activities in Australia 1995 (Bureau of Meteorology, 1995) presented an overview of climate-related activities in Australia as at early 1995, focusing in some detail on the developments and activities of the period 1993-95 which saw the ratification of the UNFCCC. It was published in February 1995 and was distributed to delegations at the First Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, in Berlin in March/April 1995. The third report, Climate Activities in Australia 1997 (Bureau of Meteorology, 1997), was published in November 1997 and launched by the Minister for the Environment, Senator the Hon. Robert Hill at the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Kyoto. The fourth report, Climate Activities in Australia 1999, with a particular focus on the activities and achievements of 1997-99, was launched by Senator the Hon. Robert Hill in his Ministerial address to the Fifth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Bonn in 1999. The fifth report, Climate Activities in Australia in 2001, was launched at the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP7) in Marrakech in November 2001.

This sixth report reviews the most recent Australian activities in climate, focussing on the two years since the last report. After a brief review of the processes which determine the broad features of Australia’s climate, including its extreme variability, and an overview of Australian climate from 2001 to 2003, this report summarises the organisational arrangements for WCP-related activities in Australia and provides a chapter by chapter summary of recent Australian activities in:

• climate data and monitoring (Chapter 2);
• climate services and applications (Chapter 3);
• climate impact assessment and response strategy development (Chapter 4);
• climate research (Chapter 5);
• support of the implementation of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) which is being developed internationally to underpin the various objectives of the WCP (Chapter 6); and
• support of the work of the IPCC, including preliminary work on its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). (Chapter 7).