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Bureau of Meteorology

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then.[3] The states officially transferred their weather recording responsibilities to the Bureau of Meteorology on 1 January 1908.[4][5]

Bureau of Meteorology
Agency overview
Formed1 January 1908; 115 years ago (1908-01-01)
JurisdictionGovernment of Australia
HeadquartersMelbourne
Employees1,500[1]
Annual budgetA$420.6 million total, $335.2 million of that coming from the Government, and $85.4 million from sales of goods and rendering of services. (2022–23) [2]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Andrew Johnson, Director of Meteorology
Parent agencyDepartment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)
Websitewww.bom.gov.au

History

The Bureau of Meteorology was established on 1 January 1908 following the passage of the Meteorology Act 1906.[6] Prior to Federation in 1901, each colony had had its own meteorological service, with all but two colonies also having a subsection devoted to astronomy. In August 1905, federal home affairs minister Littleton Groom surveyed state governments for their willingness to cede control, finding South Australia and Victoria unwilling. However, at a ministerial conference in April 1906 the state governments agreed to transfer responsibility for meteorology and astronomy to the federal government. Groom rejected a takeover of astronomy due to its connection to universities, which relied on state legislation for their authority.[7]

Henry Ambrose Hunt was appointed as the first Commonwealth Meteorologist in November 1906. Initially the bureau had few staff and issued a single daily forecast for each state, transmitted by Morse code to country areas. Radio forecasts were introduced in 1924. The bureau received additional funding from the late 1930s, in the lead-up to World War II, and it was incorporated into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 1941 until after the conclusion of the war. It became an inaugural member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1950. Televised weather forecasts were introduced in 1956.[8]

The 1906 act governing the bureau was repealed and replaced by the Meteorology Act 1955, which brought its functions in line with the expectations of the WMO and allowed for a significant reorganisation of its structure. At this time the bureau came under the Department of the Interior. In 1957, partly as a response to the 1955 Hunter Valley floods, the bureau added a hydrometeorological service.[9] In 1964, the federal government agreed to establish one of the three World Meteorological Centres in Melbourne, as part of the WMO's World Weather Watch scheme.[10]

In October 2022, the bureau asked media organizations to update their style guides so that they were no longer referred to as "BOM" or the "Weather Bureau".[11] The decision was reversed that week.[12]

Services and structure

 
Berrimah radar

The Bureau of Meteorology is the main provider of weather forecasts, warnings and observations to the Australian public.

The bureau's head office is in Melbourne Docklands, which includes the Bureau's Research Centre, the Bureau National Operations Centre, the National Climate Centre, the Victorian Regional Forecasting Centre as well as the Hydrology and Satellite sections.[13]

Regional offices are located in each state and territory capital. Each regional office includes a regional forecasting centre (RFC) and a flood warning centre. The Adelaide office incorporates the National Tidal Centre, while the Darwin office the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (Analysis). The Perth, Darwin and Brisbane offices also housed Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres which were ultimately unified into one since the 2020–21 cyclone season.

 

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issues Tropical Cyclone advisories[14] and developed the Standard Emergency Warning Signal used for warnings. The bureau is responsible for tropical cyclone naming for storms in waters surrounding Australia. Three lists of names used to be maintained, one for each of the western, northern and eastern Australian regions.[15] However, as of the start of the 2008–09 Tropical Cyclone Year these lists have been rolled into one main national list of tropical cyclone names.[15]

The regional offices are supported by the Bureau National Operations Centre (BNOC) which is also located at the head office in Melbourne Docklands.

The Bureau maintains a network of field offices across the continent, on neighbouring islands and in Antarctica. There is also a network of some 500 paid co-operative observers and approximately 6,000 voluntary rainfall observers.

The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of being influenced by oil and gas giants such as Santos, Chevron and Woodside to downplay the effects of climate change to please their leaders. Sentences in the Bureau's report on the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season were censored and/or modified to remove references to climate change and long-term warming trends.[16]

Directors

The following people have been directors of the Bureau of Meteorology:

Director Term
Henry Ambrose Hunt 1908–31
William S Watt 1931–40
H. Norman Warren 1940–50
Edward W Timcke 1950–55
Leonard J Dwyer 1955–62
William J Gibbs 1962–78
John Zillman 1978–2003
Geoff Love 2003–08
Neville Smith (Acting Director) 2008–09
Greg Ayers 2009–12[17]
Rob Vertessy 2012–16[18]
Andrew Johnson 6 September 2016 – present[19]

High Performance Computing

On the 30th June 2016, a new Cray XC40 supercomputer was put into service by the Bureau. It was named "Australis" and it was expected to be 16 times faster than the existing High Performance Computer (HPC) with a total of 1.6 petaflops of computational power,[20] providing the operational computing capability for weather, climate, ocean and wave numerical prediction and simulation. The Bureau performs Numerical weather prediction with the Unified Model software. The Bureau decommissioned their old Oracle HPC system in October 2016. In 2020, the Bureau decommissioned the central computing facility, which had previously been relocated to the Melbourne office in 2004, and was first commissioned in 1974. In April 2020, the Bureau received Australis II, a 4.0 petaflop Cray XC50 and CS500 system. 2 years later, the Bureau bought a disaster recovery (DR) HPC system to improve the resilience of the supercomputer used to predict Australia’s weather events. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will supply the DR HPC system under a three-year contract worth $49.3 million, supplementing the existing Australis II.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "About the Bureau". bom.gov.au. from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  2. ^ (PDF). Transparency.gov.au. Australian Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Meteorology in the 20th Century". Federation and Meteorology. University of Melbourne: Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre. August 2001. p. 1600. from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  4. ^ "BOM celebrates 100 years". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 December 2007. from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  5. ^ . National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  6. ^ "A short history of the Bureau of Meteorology". Bureau of Meteorology. 24 August 2011. from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  7. ^ Carment, David (1975). Australian liberal: a political biography of Sir Littleton Groom, 1867-1936 (PDF) (PhD thesis). Australian National University. pp. 54–55. (PDF) from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Meteorology in Australia". Year Book Australia, 1988. Australian Bureau of Statistics. from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  9. ^ "The Meteorology Act 1955". Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre. 2001. from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  10. ^ "World Meteorological Centre, Melbourne". Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre. 2001. from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Bureau of Meteorology asks to stop being called 'BOM'". ABC News. 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  12. ^ "'The Bureau of Management': Former staff say cultural issues behind Bureau of Meteorology's 'nonsense' rebrand". ABC News. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Bureau of Meteorology Head Office 700 Collins Street". Bureau of Meteorology. from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  14. ^ Tropical Cyclone Advices 11 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Bureau of Meteorology, 2009
  15. ^ a b "Tropical Cyclone Names". Bureau of Meteorology. from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  16. ^ "Undue Influence: oil and gas giants infiltrate Australia's Bureau of Meteorology". Michael West Media. 6 December 2020. from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  17. ^ . Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. 20 February 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  18. ^ "'Perilous': Bureau of Meteorology boss Rob Vertessy exits with climate warning". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 April 2016. from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  19. ^ "Dr Andrew Johnson appointed as Director of Meteorology". Bureau of Meteorology. 5 September 2016. from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  20. ^ Hendry, Justin. "BOM buys $49m disaster recovery HPC system from HPE". iTnews. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  21. ^ Hendry, Justin. "Bureau of Meteorology shuts oldest data centre after 46 years". iTnews. Retrieved 21 April 2023.

External links

  • Bureau of Meteorology main page
  • Federation and Meteorology: the history of meteorology in Australia

bureau, meteorology, executive, agency, australian, government, responsible, providing, weather, services, australia, surrounding, areas, established, 1906, under, meteorology, brought, together, state, meteorological, services, that, existed, before, then, st. The Bureau of Meteorology BOM or BoM is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then 3 The states officially transferred their weather recording responsibilities to the Bureau of Meteorology on 1 January 1908 4 5 Bureau of MeteorologyAgency overviewFormed1 January 1908 115 years ago 1908 01 01 JurisdictionGovernment of AustraliaHeadquartersMelbourneEmployees1 500 1 Annual budgetA 420 6 million total 335 2 million of that coming from the Government and 85 4 million from sales of goods and rendering of services 2022 23 2 Minister responsibleThe Hon Tanya Plibersek MP Minister for the Environment and WaterAgency executiveAndrew Johnson Director of MeteorologyParent agencyDepartment of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry Australia Websitewww bom gov au Contents 1 History 2 Services and structure 3 Directors 4 High Performance Computing 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory EditThe Bureau of Meteorology was established on 1 January 1908 following the passage of the Meteorology Act 1906 6 Prior to Federation in 1901 each colony had had its own meteorological service with all but two colonies also having a subsection devoted to astronomy In August 1905 federal home affairs minister Littleton Groom surveyed state governments for their willingness to cede control finding South Australia and Victoria unwilling However at a ministerial conference in April 1906 the state governments agreed to transfer responsibility for meteorology and astronomy to the federal government Groom rejected a takeover of astronomy due to its connection to universities which relied on state legislation for their authority 7 Henry Ambrose Hunt was appointed as the first Commonwealth Meteorologist in November 1906 Initially the bureau had few staff and issued a single daily forecast for each state transmitted by Morse code to country areas Radio forecasts were introduced in 1924 The bureau received additional funding from the late 1930s in the lead up to World War II and it was incorporated into the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF from 1941 until after the conclusion of the war It became an inaugural member of the World Meteorological Organization WMO in 1950 Televised weather forecasts were introduced in 1956 8 The 1906 act governing the bureau was repealed and replaced by the Meteorology Act 1955 which brought its functions in line with the expectations of the WMO and allowed for a significant reorganisation of its structure At this time the bureau came under the Department of the Interior In 1957 partly as a response to the 1955 Hunter Valley floods the bureau added a hydrometeorological service 9 In 1964 the federal government agreed to establish one of the three World Meteorological Centres in Melbourne as part of the WMO s World Weather Watch scheme 10 In October 2022 the bureau asked media organizations to update their style guides so that they were no longer referred to as BOM or the Weather Bureau 11 The decision was reversed that week 12 Services and structure EditFurther information List of Bureau of Meteorology weather radars Berrimah radar The Bureau of Meteorology is the main provider of weather forecasts warnings and observations to the Australian public The bureau s head office is in Melbourne Docklands which includes the Bureau s Research Centre the Bureau National Operations Centre the National Climate Centre the Victorian Regional Forecasting Centre as well as the Hydrology and Satellite sections 13 Regional offices are located in each state and territory capital Each regional office includes a regional forecasting centre RFC and a flood warning centre The Adelaide office incorporates the National Tidal Centre while the Darwin office the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre Analysis The Perth Darwin and Brisbane offices also housed Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres which were ultimately unified into one since the 2020 21 cyclone season Darwin Airport office The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issues Tropical Cyclone advisories 14 and developed the Standard Emergency Warning Signal used for warnings The bureau is responsible for tropical cyclone naming for storms in waters surrounding Australia Three lists of names used to be maintained one for each of the western northern and eastern Australian regions 15 However as of the start of the 2008 09 Tropical Cyclone Year these lists have been rolled into one main national list of tropical cyclone names 15 The regional offices are supported by the Bureau National Operations Centre BNOC which is also located at the head office in Melbourne Docklands The Bureau maintains a network of field offices across the continent on neighbouring islands and in Antarctica There is also a network of some 500 paid co operative observers and approximately 6 000 voluntary rainfall observers The Bureau of Meteorology has been accused of being influenced by oil and gas giants such as Santos Chevron and Woodside to downplay the effects of climate change to please their leaders Sentences in the Bureau s report on the 2019 20 Australian bushfire season were censored and or modified to remove references to climate change and long term warming trends 16 Directors EditThe following people have been directors of the Bureau of Meteorology Director TermHenry Ambrose Hunt 1908 31William S Watt 1931 40H Norman Warren 1940 50Edward W Timcke 1950 55Leonard J Dwyer 1955 62William J Gibbs 1962 78John Zillman 1978 2003Geoff Love 2003 08Neville Smith Acting Director 2008 09Greg Ayers 2009 12 17 Rob Vertessy 2012 16 18 Andrew Johnson 6 September 2016 present 19 High Performance Computing EditOn the 30th June 2016 a new Cray XC40 supercomputer was put into service by the Bureau It was named Australis and it was expected to be 16 times faster than the existing High Performance Computer HPC with a total of 1 6 petaflops of computational power 20 providing the operational computing capability for weather climate ocean and wave numerical prediction and simulation The Bureau performs Numerical weather prediction with the Unified Model software The Bureau decommissioned their old Oracle HPC system in October 2016 In 2020 the Bureau decommissioned the central computing facility which had previously been relocated to the Melbourne office in 2004 and was first commissioned in 1974 In April 2020 the Bureau received Australis II a 4 0 petaflop Cray XC50 and CS500 system 2 years later the Bureau bought a disaster recovery DR HPC system to improve the resilience of the supercomputer used to predict Australia s weather events Hewlett Packard Enterprise will supply the DR HPC system under a three year contract worth 49 3 million supplementing the existing Australis II 21 See also EditWorld Meteorological Organization co ordination body for weather climate and environment services International Cloud Experiment which collected data on tropical cyclones in January and February 2006 2022 23 Australian region cyclone season Water Data Transfer Format Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities CouncilReferences Edit About the Bureau bom gov au Archived from the original on 20 March 2021 Retrieved 29 September 2021 PORTFOLIO BUDGET STATEMENTS 2022 23 BUDGET RELATED PAPER NO 1 3 PDF Transparency gov au Australian Government Archived from the original PDF on 21 April 2023 Retrieved 21 April 2023 Meteorology in the 20th Century Federation and Meteorology University of Melbourne Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre August 2001 p 1600 Archived from the original on 14 March 2019 Retrieved 28 March 2019 BOM celebrates 100 years ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation 31 December 2007 Archived from the original on 5 November 2012 Retrieved 1 January 2008 Collections in Perth 20 Meteorology National Archives of Australia Archived from the original on 12 February 2012 Retrieved 24 May 2008 A short history of the Bureau of Meteorology Bureau of Meteorology 24 August 2011 Archived from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 Carment David 1975 Australian liberal a political biography of Sir Littleton Groom 1867 1936 PDF PhD thesis Australian National University pp 54 55 Archived PDF from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 Meteorology in Australia Year Book Australia 1988 Australian Bureau of Statistics Archived from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 The Meteorology Act 1955 Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre 2001 Archived from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 World Meteorological Centre Melbourne Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre 2001 Archived from the original on 24 July 2021 Retrieved 24 July 2021 Bureau of Meteorology asks to stop being called BOM ABC News 18 October 2022 Retrieved 18 October 2022 The Bureau of Management Former staff say cultural issues behind Bureau of Meteorology s nonsense rebrand ABC News 20 October 2022 Retrieved 20 October 2022 Bureau of Meteorology Head Office 700 Collins Street Bureau of Meteorology Archived from the original on 11 April 2020 Retrieved 24 May 2008 Tropical Cyclone Advices Archived 11 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Bureau of Meteorology 2009 a b Tropical Cyclone Names Bureau of Meteorology Archived from the original on 11 April 2015 Retrieved 8 August 2008 Undue Influence oil and gas giants infiltrate Australia s Bureau of Meteorology Michael West Media 6 December 2020 Archived from the original on 20 October 2021 Retrieved 25 November 2021 Government thanks outgoing Bureau of Meteorology director Dr Greg Ayers Department of Sustainability Environment Water Population and Communities 20 February 2012 Archived from the original on 27 February 2012 Retrieved 23 February 2012 Perilous Bureau of Meteorology boss Rob Vertessy exits with climate warning The Sydney Morning Herald 30 April 2016 Archived from the original on 4 June 2016 Retrieved 30 May 2016 Dr Andrew Johnson appointed as Director of Meteorology Bureau of Meteorology 5 September 2016 Archived from the original on 23 September 2016 Retrieved 22 September 2016 Hendry Justin BOM buys 49m disaster recovery HPC system from HPE iTnews Retrieved 21 April 2023 Hendry Justin Bureau of Meteorology shuts oldest data centre after 46 years iTnews Retrieved 21 April 2023 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bureau of Meteorology Bureau of Meteorology main page Federation and Meteorology the history of meteorology in Australia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bureau of Meteorology amp oldid 1151433834, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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