Meteorology is one of the most inherently international of all fields of science and human endeavour and international cooperation plays a vital role in the operation of the Bureau, enabling it to draw on and benefit from scientific, technological and operational developments and expertise in other countries while contributing, within its own capability, to the effectiveness of the total international effort from which all countries benefit.This helps to ensure that the Australian community receives the best services possible within the limitations of available resources and the international state of the art in meteorological science and technology.

International Meteorological Activities encompass Australia's involvement with the programs and activities of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and in a range of other multilateral and bilateral activities with neighbouring countries in the South-West Pacific and South-East Asia. Australia is particularly active in the WMO through the operation of one of the three World Meteorological Centres (WMCs) of the WMO World Weather Watch (WWW).Bilateral arrangements exist with China, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in particular. A fundamental principle embodied in the Convention and traditions of the WMO is that of voluntary contribution to the total international system and the free exchange of essential data and products between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of all countries. Australia benefits greatly under this system, particularly through free access to the meteorological satellite data of Japan, USA, China, the Russian Federation and Europe.

The Bureau’s International Meteorological Activities are administered by the International and Public Affairs Section of the Executive and International Affairs Branch in the Bureau’s Head Office. Most Branches of the Bureau are involved in activities that have an international impact. The International and Public Affairs Section provides the focal point for the coordination of these activities and support to the Director of Meteorology's roles as the Permanent Representative of Australia with WMO and, currently, as President of WMO. International Meteorological Activities include three specific outputs:

• WMO Contribution
• Multilateral Activities; and
• Bilateral Activities.

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Resource Use

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Performance

• contribution to the achievement of the planned outcome; and
• quality, quantity and price of the outputs directed to the achievement of the planned outcome relative to agreed target levels.

The measures used are as published in the Portfolio Budget Statements 1999-2000 for the Environment and Heritage Portfolio (Budget Related Paper No 1.7).

Performance indicators relating to the achievement of the planned outcome for 1999-2000 are given in Table 26.

Table 26. Indicators of achievement of planned outcome: 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 major strategies used to enhance the Bureau’s international meteorological activities and contribute to the achievement of the planned outcome during 1999-2000 involved:

• contribution to international policy level decision-making and scientific and technical planning;
• establishing closer mutually beneficial cooperation with relevant NMHSs and international bodies; and
• collaboration with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and other international aid agencies in assisting countries in South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific.

A summary of the 1999-2000 performance targets and results for International Meteorological Activities in terms of output quality, quantity and price is given in Table 27. In 1999-2000 there were 252 overseas visits involving a total Bureau expenditure of $294,370.

Table 27.   Summary of 1999-2000 Performance in terms of the quality, quantity and price of International Meteorological Activities.

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WMO Contribution

The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations which facilitates the coordination, standardisation and improvement of world meteorological and related activities. In recognition of the value of international cooperation in meteorology and in support of the overall operation of WMO, Australia makes an annual contribution to the Regular Budget of the WMO. Australia’s contribution for 1999-2000 was $901,000.

The Australian contribution, which is based on an intergovernmentally agreed allocation of responsibilities for funding the Regular Budget activities of WMO and is closely linked to Gross National Product (GNP), represents 1.46 per cent of the total Regular Budget. While most of the operational activities of WMO continue to be carried out at the national level by its Members, the Regular Budget is used to fund the work of the various constituent bodies of WMO (Figure 50) including the coordination through the technical commissions of the WMO Scientific and Technical Programmes (Figure 51) and the coordination activities of the regional associations (Figure 52).

Figure 50. The structure of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Figure 51. The Scientific and Technical Programmes of the WMO.

Figure 52. The WMO Regional Associations.

The achievements of the various WMO scientific and technical programmes during 1999-2000 are comprehensively recorded in the WMO Annual Report for the calendar year 1999 and in update reports of the President and Secretary-General to the 52^nd session of the WMO Executive Council held in May 2000. Overall, the WMO has continued in its fiftieth year to ensure very effective international cooperation and coordination across a wide range of activities especially the World Weather Watch and the Global Climate Observing System.

Australia benefits greatly through participation in WMO programs. While Australia provides data acquired within its own territory to other countries for their use, it receives, from around the world, much greater quantities of data and information, without which the it could not provide many of its national services to acceptable standards.

In particular, the Bureau has access to satellite data from meteorological satellites operated by USA, Japan, China, the Russian Federation and Europe as part of WMO’s WWW. As a contribution to the stability of the international arrangements for the distribution of meteorological satellite data, the Bureau has built and operates two Turn Around Ranging Stations in Victoria to assist in the navigation of the Japanese GMS-5 and the Chinese Feng-Yun 2 satellites. The early decommissioning of the Chinese geostationary satellite FY-2A, ahead of schedule, meant that the Turn Around Ranging Station for this satellite series was only partly utilised this year.

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Contribution to international policy-level decision-making

The Bureau continued its close involvement with a number of multilateral international programs and organisations, especially the WMO and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO during 1999-2000.

Australia continued to maintain its active involvement and influence in WMO programs through participation in a number of important international meetings. During the year:

• the Bureau, through the Director’s Presidency of WMO and the chairmanship of the Executive Council Panel of Experts on Education and Training and the Executive Council Advisory Group on the Role and Operation of NMHSs, the Deputy Director (Services)’s Vice-presidency of the Commission for Basic Systems, the Superintendent Networks and Measurement’s Vice-presidency of the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observations, the Regional Director Tasmania and Antarctica’s chairmanship of the Executive Council Working Group on Antarctic Meteorology, and representation on a number of other constituent bodies of WMO, contributed significantly to policy-level decision-making and scientific and technical planning within WMO;
• the Bureau continued to make substantial contribution to international climate change issues, including follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), through senior level participation in forums such as the WMO-UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its Working Groups I and II, and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Meeting Australia’s international obligations

The World Weather Watch (WWW) of WMO is a globally coordinated system for the collection, processing and distribution of meteorological information in real time on a worldwide basis. It provides the common infrastructure to support a wide range of WMO activities at the national and international levels (Figure 2). The facilities of the WWW are used by other international organisations, in particular the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the IOC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and provide the essential foundation for the development of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

The National Meteorological Operations Centre (NMOC) in Melbourne is an important and integral part of the WWW because of its incorporation of the role of a World Meteorological Centre (WMC), a Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) with geographic specialisation, an RSMC with activity specialisation in environmental emergency response, an IOC and WMO IGOSS (Integrated Global Ocean Services System) Specialised Oceanographic Centre (SOC) and an ICAO Regional Area Forecast Centre, while the Darwin Regional Forecasting Centre of the Bureau is designated as an RSMC with geographic specialisation for the tropical area in the surrounding region. Additionally, Melbourne also hosts the WMO Regional Association V (South-West Pacific) Regional Instrument Centre; and the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre was designated in 2000 as a WMO Centre of Excellence in Satellite Meteorology Training. These various roles carry specific international obligations for the provision of global and regional meteorological products such as tropical cyclone or pollution dispersion predictions. Both the Melbourne and Darwin centres fulfilled their formal international obligations in 1999-2000. Additionally during the year:

• the Bureau commenced:
  - making and distributing about 100 standard-hour observations from about 100 stations in SYNOP code in strict compliance with WMO requirements;
  - making available to countries in the region, an enhanced range of products including maps over small regions to provide specialised coverage for particular areas, from the Tropical Limited Area Prediction System (TLAPS) through Registered User Web services; and
• the following telecommunication upgrades were implemented to achieve greater cost efficiency, flexibility and redundancy, and improve the capacity of circuits to handle increasing amounts of data more efficiently:
  - the Melbourne/Bracknell link was upgraded to Frame Relay;
  - the Melbourne/Tokyo link was upgraded to TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol);
  - the Melbourne link to Washington via Tokyo was enhanced to enable receipt of charts direct from Washington;
  - the Melbourne/Indonesia link was upgraded to Frame Relay;
  - a new Melbourne/Singapore link was established, which provides a back-up option for receiving Indonesian data via Singapore;
  - the Melbourne/Wellington link replaced by Internet with ISDN backup;
  - the Melbourne/Honiara link was provided with an Internet connection.

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Bilateral Activities

Bilateral agreements

The cooperative program with Japan is particularly important because of the benefits accruing to Australia from access to data from the Japanese GMS and, in the future, from its successor the Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) which is planned to be launched in 2002-2003.

• the 19^th session of the Japan-Australia Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) Joint Committee hosted by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) in Tokyo reviewed achievements since the 18^th session and agreed on areas of future cooperation;
• an officer of the Bureau visited JMA for technical discussions on the testing of the Bureau’s Almos Automatic Weather Station system for transmission of data via the GMS; and
• a JMA officer visited the Bureau to undertake a cooperative computer aided learning project.

• the ninth session of the Australia-China Joint Working Group hosted by CMA in Beijing and Shanghai reviewed progress on cooperative activities under the MOU, and prepared plans for future cooperation;
• a CMA scientist attended the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre Annual Modelling Workshop;
• a CMA officer was attached to the Darwin and Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres for two months to exchange experience in tropical cyclone forecasting and related operations;
• a delegation of 20 officers visited the Bureau for familiarisation with Bureau operations.
• a Bureau scientist gave a scientific lecture at the National Tropical Cyclone Workshop organized by CMA, and two seminars at the Shanghai Typhoon Institute; and
• a Bureau officer visited the CMA Regional Office at Guangzhou for discussions on public weather services;

• KMA officers visited to:
  - study developments relating to the aerosonde;
  - study the operation of global numerical weather prediction models using supercomputers;
  - discuss further cooperation in satellite meteorology;
  - exchange information on long range forecasting;
  - discuss typhoon monitoring using satellite data; and
  - discuss the operation of the ATOVS data receiving and analysing system.
• a Bureau scientist visited KMA in connection with an ongoing collaborative research program in satellite meteorology and remote sensing; and
• a Bureau scientist visited KMA for discussions on the use of supercomputer facilities to operate numerical weather prediction models.

• the third session of the Joint Working Group between the MGA and the Bureau, hosted by the MGA in Jakarta, reviewed progress with the implementation of cooperative activities since the previous session, and agreed on a number of activities to be implemented in the future;
• the MGA began sending weekly summaries of volcanic activity in Indonesia to the Northern Territory Regional Office to assist the Centre in its role as the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre for the Area;
• Bureau officers visited MGA in connection with its Year 2000 computer compliance program and to install computers as required; and
• Bureau officers assisted MGA in installing a new message switching system.

• a visit by four senior HMS managerial staff to the Bureau to study the Bureau’s organisational structure, its legal framework, national and international networks and responsibilities, and its participation in WMO activities, with the view to adapting and applying these within the Vietnamese environment;
• installation of a Data Collection Platform (DCP) on an offshore island (Phu Quy) in Vietnam, and provision of training to the staff on its operation and maintenance, to enhance HMS capability to provide cyclone warnings;
• provision of key WMO publications to the HMS at Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City;
• a visit by eleven HMS senior officers to various sections of the Bureau to explore training and technology transfer opportunities for HMS and its staff; and
• a visit by two Bureau officers to HMS to give a series of lectures on tropical cyclones, floods and related natural disaster coordination.

The fifth formal meeting between the Bureau and the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, within the framework of the MOU between the two organisations, was held in May 2000 in Geneva. The meeting drew up plans for cooperative activities in the future.

A MOU on cooperation in meteorology was signed in Geneva in May 2000 between the Bureau and the Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization (IRIMO), following consultations between the two organisations initiated during a visit by the Director of Meteorology to IRIMO in November 1999. Climate, weather forecasting, meteorological applications and new technologies were identified as the primary areas of cooperation.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Bureau of Meteorology and the Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization (IRIMO) was signed in Geneva on 25 May 2000 by the Director of Meteorology, Dr John Zillman (left) and the Director of the IRIMO, Dr Ali-Mohammed Noorian.

During the year, the Bureau continued to strengthen cooperation with the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the WMO Sub-regional Office for the South-West Pacific in Apia.

• the Director of the US NWS Pacific Region, Honolulu, visited the Bureau for discussion on matters of mutual interest;
• the Director, French Polynesia Meteorological Service, Meteo-France, visited the Bureau for discussions on various operational matters and the possibility of Bureau involvement in a feasibility study on a weather radar network in French Polynesia; and
• the Bureau provided some assistance, through the VCP, with the Asian upper-air observational program of the Russian Federation.

Support for the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of developing countries

The Bureau worked closely with the NMHSs of several developing countries in the South Pacific, Asia, and the Indian Ocean and Africa in the provision of meteorological training and in bilateral and multilateral support programs in collaboration with AusAID and other organisations, and through contribution to the Voluntary Cooperation Programme of WMO.

These activities were aimed primarily at augmenting the quality of meteorological (including climatological) and related environmental data in these countries; improving the capabilities of the NMHSs to undertake research, provide services and monitor climate; improving regional telecommunication links, and enhancing data input into regional and global numerical weather prediction models run by the NMOC in Melbourne in support of weather services for Australia, and of its role as a World Meteorological Centre (WMC) under the WMO WWW.

• a Bureau officer assisted in the preparation of the Vanuatu Meteorological Service Strategic Development Plan (2000-2009);
• two officers of the Bureau worked with SPREP and WMO in the preparation of the Strategic Action Plan for the Development of Meteorology in the Pacific Region (2000-2009);
• the Bureau provided the team leader and several Bureau officers assisted in SPREP’s AusAID-funded ‘Pacific Meteorological Service Needs Analysis Project’, including the preparation of the report Pacific Meteorological Services: Meeting the Challenges, which recommended a comprehensive set of development projects aimed at upgrading weather and climate services in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories;
• a Fiji Meteorological Service meteorologist visited the Bureau for training on meteorological visualisation software, and to gather information for national disaster awareness purposes in Fiji;
• the Bureau provided a digital barometer to the Niue Meteorological Service;
• the Bureau provided seven Stevenson screens to the Solomon Islands Meteorological Service;
• the Bureau contributed to the SPREP Meteorological Special Fund on Technical Cooperation to meet the critical needs of Meteorological Services of SPREP member countries;
• the Bureau assisted the International Force in East Timor in the installation of Automatic Weather Stations;
• an officer from the Tuvalu Meteorological Service was placed on a training attachment at the Bureau’s Northern Territory Regional Office;
• a Bureau officer gave lectures at a tropical cyclone forecasting course organized in Le Reunion by Meteo-France, and discussed matters of mutual interest with the Mauritius Meteorological Service;
• the Bureau hosted a visit by a meteorologist from South Africa for discussions on training and research;
• the Bureau assisted a member of the Scientific Advising Committee of the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) to visit the Bureau, CSIRO, and AusAID for discussions on assistance to the centre in training and transfer of technology;
• the Bureau contributed towards the organisation of the Fifth Technical Conference on Meteorological Research by the Ethiopian National Meteorological Services Agency;
• the Bureau assisted with the organisation of a WMO Global Climate Observing System workshop in the Pacific; and
• one trainee from Zimbabwe supported by the Bureau under the WMO Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP), and two from Singapore (supported by the Singapore Government) completed the 1999 Diploma in Meteorology Course; and three trainees (two from Zimbabwe and one from Lesotho) supported by the Bureau under the VCP, and two from Singapore (supported by the Singapore Government) joined the 2000 Course.

The Pacific Meteorological Services ‘Needs Analysis’ Team.

The Bureau contributed through the WMO VCP:

• to complete replacement of the OMEGA-based upper air observing systems and provide radiosondes to the Papua New Guinea National Weather Service;
• to support the attendance of personnel from the Mozambique Meteorological Service at a postgraduate hydrology training course in flood forecasting, mitigation and control measures, run by the Nairobi Regional Meteorological Training Centre; and
• to other small projects assisting developing countries, as determined by the WMO Executive Council.

Preliminary results from a Minor Evaluation of the Bureau’s International Activities Program commenced in June 2000 indicated a high to very high level of satisfaction of regional developing NMHSs with Australian technical cooperation. Among six questionnaires returned from Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, French Polynesia, Vanuatu and Singapore, five indicated a rating of ‘very high’ and one a rating of ‘high’.

Includes adjustments made to initial output allocations (as published in the Portfolio Budget Statement 1999-2000) in the light of further analysis of the overall resource situation following the Budget.

Targets published in the 1999-2000 Environment and Heritage Portfolio Budget Statement (PBS).

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