Organisational Structure

As at April 2011, the Head Office structure comprised:

  • an Executive (Director of Meteorology and four Deputy Directors)
  • four divisions and thirteen branches:
    • Research and Systems
      • Observations and Engineering Branch
      • Information Technologies Branch
      • Ionospheric Prediction Service
    • Services
      • Weather and Ocean Services Branch
    • Climate and Water
      • Climate Information Services
      • Climate and Water Data
      • Climate and Water Information Technology Services
      • Water Information Services
      • Water Forecasting Services
      • Environmental Information Services
    • Corporate
      • Executive and International Affairs Branch
      • Finance and Budgets Branch
      • People Management Branch
  • the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR)

The Bureau also has seven regions with Regional Offices located in each State capital and Darwin, which are responsible for most of the operational and service activities in the State or Territory concerned. Each Regional Office includes a Regional Forecasting Centre and a Flood Warning Centre, and the Perth, Darwin and Brisbane offices also operate Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres when required. The Darwin office also serves as the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre for aviation and a WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre. The National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, in Melbourne, carries out operational and services functions similar to those of a Bureau Region but with a national area of responsibility and is also a WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre for environmental emergency response. The National Tidal Centre in Adelaide specialises in sea level monitoring and analysis and is responsible for producing national tide predictions and related information. The Bureau also maintains a network of over 50 field offices and other installations across the Australian continent, on neighbouring islands and in Antarctica, as well as national networks of some 300 paid cooperative observers and approximately 6000 voluntary rainfall observers.

For more information on the structure of the Bureau of Meteorology, see the Organisational Chart.

Joint Bureau/CSIRO Facilities

The Bureau of Meteorology works in partnership with the CSIRO to provide an efficient and coordinated approach to a number of critically important areas including weather and climate research, oceans monitoring and the analysis of atmospheric composition.