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Appendix 8

MAJOR EVENTS 1999-2000

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

· A new Frame Relay Global Telecommunications System (GTS) link was installed between Melbourne and Singapore.
· A new, higher resolution version of the Limited Area Prediction System (LAPS) was implemented operationally.
· A full-colour 36-page booklet highlighting the work and directions of the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC), Researching Sky and Sea, was published for national and international distribution.
· The sixth South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) Meeting of Regional Meteorological Service Directors was held in Papeete, French Polynesia.
· The fifth International Conference on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanic Education, hosted by the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS), was held in Melbourne and Ballarat.

August

· A new upper air station at Melbourne Airport commenced operations following closure of the Laverton Meteorological Office and consolidation of surface and upper air observing programs at Melbourne Airport.
· An external review of the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre was conducted by a team of five internationally-recognised experts from the US, the UK and Australia.
· Two external reviews commenced of the severe thunderstorm warning service. One considered the scientific and technical aspects, the other studied management issues.

September

· The IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) Regional Programme Office for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) was formally opened in Perth by the Federal Member for Moore, Dr Mal Washer and the Western Australian Deputy Premier, Mr Hendy Cowan.
· The Bureau's National Meteorological Operations Centre in Melbourne, in conjunction with the Defence Meteorological Support Unit in Darwin, established a forecast service for military operations in East Timor.
· As part of a study of the Mertz Glacier polynya in Antarctica, some 50 Australian scientists on board the RSV Aurora Australis, including two from the Bureau, collected data over a period of 40 days on the role of polynyas in the global climate system.
· Bureau meteorological support services for the 2000 Olympic Games were tested during the Trial Games in September.
· A joint Chair in Meteorology at Monash University, supported by the Bureau, was re-established following approval by the Monash Committee of Deans.

October

· A formal agreement was signed in Sydney between the Bureau and the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) for the provision of meteorological services to the Games. A Bureau book, Climate of Sydney - the Olympic City, was launched at the same ceremony.
· A meeting of the World Meteorological Organization's Commission for Basic Systems Operations Planning Group was held in Melbourne.
· The Melbourne - Jakarta Global Telecommunications System (GTS) communications link became operational. This link was the final stage in the process to install digital GTS links between Melbourne, Singapore and Jakarta.
· The first International Conference on the Ocean Observing Systems for Climate, which was partly organised by Bureau scientists, was held in St Raphael, France.
· Support was provided through the Bureau's Townsville, Darwin, Rockhampton and Amberley offices for the Australian Defence Force's Crocodile `99 military exercise.
·

November

· A new, higher resolution version of the Limited Area Prediction System (LAPS), the Bureau's fine-scale computer model of the atmosphere, became fully operational.
· Automatic weather stations were deployed at Dili and Baucau, East Timor, in support of Australian military operations.
· An Inter-commission task team meeting on the WMO's future information systems was hosted by the Bureau in Melbourne.
· The Annual Science Meeting of the Cape Grim (Tasmania) Baseline Air Pollution Station was held in Melbourne.
· The Annual BMRC Modelling Workshop, Parallel Computing in Meteorology and Oceanography was held on 9-11 November.
· The WMO Secretary-General, Prof. G O P Obasi, was among the 300 participants from 50 countries who attended The International Congress of Biometeorology and the International Conference on Urban Climatology in Sydney.
· The Bureau's Forward Program Conference was held on 18-19 November.

December

· The Director of Meteorology, Dr John Zillman, signed an affiliation agreement with the University of Melbourne covering formal cooperation in meteorology between the Bureau and the University.
· The Bureau Web site, http://www.bom.gov.au/, received a record 4.25 million `hits' for the week of tropical cyclones John and Ilsa.
· An upgrade to the Limited Area Prediction System (LAPS) designed specifically for Tropical Cyclone situations (TCLAPS) was implemented and performed creditably for cyclones John and Ilsa.
· The Weather Service Office at Richmond RAAF Base, New South Wales, closed after 64 years of service.
·
· A four-member delegation from the Hydrometeorological Service of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam visited the Bureau to discuss future cooperative activities including a possible extension to the AusAID-funded `Meteorological Support to Vietnam' project.

January

· A smoke dispersion modelling system, designed to be used in bushfire situations in Victoria, was implemented.
· Over 1400 lightning flashes were recorded from one electrical storm in the Northern Territory.
· Analyses from the National Climate Centre showed that the decade of the 1990s was Australia's warmest on record.

February

· A new `WF44' wind-finding radar was commissioned at the new Brisbane Airport Meteorological Office.
· New records for Bureau Web site `hits', of 954,000 in one day and 4.6 million for one week, were set during tropical cyclone Steve.
· An international Winds Workshop, the fifth in a series of biennial meetings, took place in Victoria.
· The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) annual conference was held at Melbourne University.
· A new Seasonal Climate Temperature Outlook was issued for the first time.
· The Regional Directors' Conference was held in Melbourne on 1 February.

March

· World Meteorological Day celebrations in the Bureau on 21 March included an address by Dr Roman Kintanar, former Director of the Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and a former President of WMO on WMO - 50 years service from the point of view of a small National Meteorological Service.
·
· The Director of Meteorology and President of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Dr John Zillman, took part in a World Meteorological Day (23 March) celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Organization held in its Geneva headquarters.
· The 21^st meeting of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme was held in Tokyo, Japan.
· Bureau staff participated in the tenth World Water Conference in Melbourne.
· The Bureau's second Certified Agreement was formally approved by the Departmental Secretary, Mr Roger Beale and the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator the Hon Robert Hill.

April

· A new weather watch radar was installed at Halls Creek, Western Australia.
· Forecast guidance systems for thunderstorms and cold season tornadoes, run for many years in research mode, were implemented operationally.
· An Australia-New Zealand Climate Forum was held in Hobart.
· The Director of Meteorology, Dr John Zillman, as President of the World Meteorological Organization, chaired the nineteenth session of the WMO Executive Council Panel of Experts on Education and Training, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
· The Bureau of Meteorology Certified Agreement was ratified by the Industrial Relations Commission.
· The Bureau's Budget and Program Workshop, to discuss the Program strategies for the 2000-2001 financial year, was held in Melbourne on 26-28 April.

May

· Applications of seasonal climate forecasting in agricultural and natural ecosystems, a book co-edited by Dr Neville Nicholls of the BMRC, was published.
· A Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Meteorology was signed by the Director of Meteorology, Dr John Zillman and the Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization, Dr Ali-Mohammed Noorian.
·
· A national workshop was held in the Bureau's Head Office in Melbourne on 30 May to prepare Australian Government review comments on the Working Group I component of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft Third Assessment Report.

June

· A Science Review Meeting was held at Monash University, Melbourne, to mark the closure of the Cooperative Research Centre for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology. The Centre had been in operation for seven years.
· A weather forecast service commenced for the route of the Olympic Torch Relay, which started from Uluru on 8 June.

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