PROFILE, WEATHER OBSERVER

Photographer well positioned to capture the beauty of nature

Renae Baker's photography skills were showcased all around the country earlier this year when her pictures of rare and spectacular nacreous clouds in Antarctica were published in newspapers and magazines. “Spectacular is an understatement,” the Bureau of Meteorology weather observer says.

Spectacular is also how Renae describes many aspects of her posting at Mawson station, her home away from home until January next year. The Queenslander says the cold, wind and scenery of Antarctica are a stark contrast to the climate she is used to in Brisbane. And, she adds, weather balloon releases in winds of 110 km/h are a challenging task.

Renae joined the bureau in 2001 as a trainee technical officer (observer) and was first posted to Charleville, about a day’s drive west of Brisbane. She worked at Willis Island, a tiny island 450 kilometres east of Cairns in the Coral Sea, and at Longreach in central Queensland, before starting her Antarctic training last year.

She now has many roles at Mawson: as a weather observer, the environmental officer, and an anaesthetics assistant on the surgical team. A typical day involves a weather balloon launch at 5:15am, synoptic observations every three hours, weather observations for the aviation industry every half hour or more, and administration and maintenance as required. Renae also collects air samples for the CSIRO global atmospheric study every 10 days.

She says the most difficult yet enjoyable part of her job is starting at 4:30am. “The mornings start to take their toll on you in relation to your sleeping patterns, but being up that early, my colleague and I have seen the most spectacular auroras.” She also likes to watch the wildlife — seals, penguins and other birds when they visit the station, and whales during the short summer months when the sea ice melts.

Renae, who has a science degree in environmental studies with a major in ecology, says it is a big decision to apply for a job in Antarctica. “You put your life on hold for a year.” And there are many steps along the way to being accepted into the program. “We had to attend an assessment centre run by the Australian Antarctic Division. Group exercises and scenarios are designed to investigate your personality, how you operate in a group, and so forth. There is also the psychological assessment conducted by the Army and a very comprehensive medical assessment to go through.”

Renae applied for a job at the bureau after seeing the trainee position advertised in The Courier Mail. “I figured I could do what it was asking for, and here I am!”

— Melissa Lyne, Public Affairs section