BAMOS Aug/Sep 2015

AMOS

AustralianMeteorological & OceanographicSociety

HEATWAVES 路 COLD SNAPS AMOS 2015 路 COMMUNICATION 路 GENDER DIVERSITY CLIMATE & POLICY

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society Vol 28, No. 4, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 ISSN 1035-6576

Contents Editorial..........................................................................................................................................................................................................73 President’s Column........................................................................................................................................................................................74 News..............................................................................................................................................................................................................75 News from the Centres..................................................................................................................................................................................78 AMOS 2015....................................................................................................................................................................................................81 Meeting Report: IAMAS—Meteorological and atmospheric sciences research in Australia.....................................................................88 Conference Report: The European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Austria......................................................................................90 Science Article: Extreme summer temperatures more prevalent in Melbourne during Australian Open tennis tournaments.................93 Charts from the Past with Blair Trewin: 24 August 1929..............................................................................................................................98 The Research Corner with Damien Irving: The CWSLab workflow tool: an experiment in community code development....................100

ISSN 1035-6576 Cover picture: “First Out at Clifton”: this image was taken on the morning of 3 August 2015 at a popular surf beach just south of Hobart, Tasmania, as snow fell to sea-level.

Image: Pat Fasnacht from South Coast Surf School, Tasmania.

Unless specifically stated to the contrary, views expressed in the Bulletin are the personal views of the authors, and do not represent the views of the Society or any other organisation or institution to which the author(s) may be affiliated.

Editorial

So, how about the weather?

Is the weather really just something people talk about when they have nothing else to say? Because I heard a lot about the weather over winter!

The cover photograph for this issue of BAMOS was taken in Hobart—or, as it was called for awhile, “Snowbart”—by surf instructor Pat Fasnacht. He snapped this image on his mobile phone and sent it out to a few friends before jumping in for a surf. By the time he got out of the water, the image had gone viral. I think it is a beautiful reminder that Tasmania just experienced its coldest winter in nearly 50 years.

Also in this issue of BAMOS, Dr. Blair Trewin transports us back to another particularly cold winter early last century in “Charts from the Past”. Dr. Trewin very kindly pointed me towards a delightful photograph of that winter, which accompanies his column.

It’s not all chilly reading this issue though—Ben Hague’s science article reminds us that things are fast heating up.

Find out what the hottest summer trends are, particularly during the weeks when Melbourne hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament, on pages 93–97.

In anticipation of this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Professor John Zillman has generously provided an in-depth account of the evolution of climate science and public policy, as witnessed throughout his long and distinguished career.

Prof. Zillman was active at the point when climate science was pulled out of the textbooks and became a policy issue.

His article accompanies this BAMOS as a supplement.

Our guest editor brought in specifically for this piece, Prof. Neville Nicholls, says Prof. Zillman’s article “contains a huge amount of useful historical information that is not collated anywhere else”.

Dr. Tom Beer also made some intriguing points about climate change and policy—specifically from an Australian perspective—at the IAMAS Executive meeting in Prague earlier in the year. Read on for the full rundown.

As you well know, conferences provide incredible opportunities for learning and professional development, but they can be both socially and culturally engaging too. Duncan Ackerley explored all in Vienna at the EGU General Assembly earlier this year. While his article does cover a lot of useful ground, see if you can read it without getting travel and food cravings!

We also cover gender diversity in this issue, with President Todd Lane highlighting the importance of the AMOS Equity & Diversity Committee in his column.

As always, Damien Irving covers some interesting ground in “The Research Corner”. Find out more on community code development in his column.

Looking ahead to next year, a submission call for AMOS 2016 conference abstracts was recently emailed to members, along with a list of key conference dates. Please check your email for notification if you are planning on taking part.

For a little inspiration, why not explore this year’s conference on pages 81–87. I personally enjoyed the wide range of communication focuses throughout the AMOS 2015 program, and was excited to see some of the key principles put into practise (see pic below).

That’s all for now—happy reading!

Melissa Lyne Editor

Communication was a prominent theme at AMOS 2015. Joe Courtney, Adam Morgan and David Schultz were three of five delegates to talk to ABC Brisbane for an hour-long segment, “What’s Up With the Weather?” with host Kelly Higgins-Devine (missing: Blair Trewin and Sonya Fiddes). Link to the segment is at: http://blogs. abc.net.au/queensland/2015/07/ w h a t s - u p - w i t h - t h e - w e a t h e r. html?site=brisbane&program=612_ afternoons Image: Melissa Lyne.

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 73

President’s Column

Addressing gender balance in the AMOS sciences One feature of our national conference is the Equity Lunch, which has become a regular event. This year in Brisbane the lunch featured an invited presentation by Dr. Kate O’Brien from the University of Queensland on the topic of Navigating the academic jungle: how to survive and thrive while juggling work and family. Kate’s presentation was thought provoking and highlighted some of the important issues that affect scientists in our field, particularly women.

It is well established that in most scientific disciplines there is a disproportionately low representation of women at senior levels. Despite some scientific disciplines getting close to equal male/female representation at student and postdoctoral levels, there is a rapid decline in the ratio of women to men at mid-career level and beyond. The reasons for this decline are complex—but among other things are strongly linked to family responsibilities, parttime work and the impact these have on obtaining ongoing appointments and promotion. The AMOS disciplines are not immune from this issue and results from the recent AMOS survey suggest that the rate of decline is potentially worse. In fact, we have very strong female representation at the student and postdoctoral level, but very low representation at the most senior levels. (See a later issue of BAMOS for a detailed analysis of the survey results).

Many of the standard practices in our organisations, or those that fund us, are arguably perpetuating this issue. Despite efforts to the contrary, organisations have difficulty assessing the impact of reduced time fraction and/or career interruptions on individuals’ research track records. This is made more difficult by the increasing emphasis on the use of metrics (like the h-index) to measure performance for hiring, promotion and funding.

There are other bureaucratic, psychological, and structural barriers as well.

Guest speaker Dr. Kate O’Brien talks gender bias at the AMOS 2015 Equity Lunch. Image: Melissa Lyne.

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The limited number of senior female role models is also a major issue. Consider the make-up of the tenured staff in the Australian university sector in the AMOS disciplines.

There are very few women, especially at the senior level, who are in front of the classes to inspire and teach the next generation of scientists. This is known to reduce ongoing participation in science by women.

So what is AMOS doing? As you may recall, last year we formed the Equity and Diversity (E&D) committee.

The E&D committee, led by Ailie Gallant, is charged with continuing the conversation around these issues, examining AMOS processes, and being the champion of under-represented groups. This committee organises the equity events at our national conference. Providing childcare at our conference is another recent initiative to make our meetings more accessible to those with families. In recent years our meetings have also featured an increase in the number of keynote presentations by our accomplished female scientists. In the future we hope to expand the activities of the E&D Committee to advocate for change in the relevant organisations with activity in the AMOS disciplines.

However, I’m certain there’s more we can and should be doing now and we’d appreciate your input and suggestions.

As always, I encourage all AMOS members to nominate deserving individuals for any available awards, honours, positions on committees, regional centres, and Council.

AMOS offers a broad range of opportunities at all levels of seniority and there’s no reason why the set of nominations shouldn’t achieve gender balance.

Todd Lane

News

Award winners

Professor David Karoly. Image: supplied.

2015 RSV Medal for Scientific Excellence

Professor Michael Roderick. Image: supplied.

AGU Fellowship AMOS member Professor Michael L. Roderick, from the Australian National University, was one of only two Australians to be made a 2015 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) recently. Congratulations Michael!

The honour is bestowed to individual AGU members who have made exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of Earth and space sciences. Prof. Roderick was elected for research on eco-hydrology, evaporation and climate change.

Since the establishment of the AGU Fellows program in 1962, and in accordance with AGU bylaws, no more than 0.1 percent of the total membership of AGU is recognised annually.

This year, 60 individuals were elected as Fellows. They will be recognised during a ceremony on Wednesday 16 December—during the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

Further information on the 2015 AGU Fellowships is available at: https://eos.org/agu-news/2015-class-of-agufellows-announced.

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Congratulations to Professor David Karoly, who won this year’s prestigious Royal Society of Victoria’s (RSV) Medal for Scientific Excellence in the Earth Sciences.

From the Royal Society’s website, the Society President Dr. William Birch said he was “absolutely delighted” by the strength of nominations this year. “Victoria is blessed with a vigorous community of globally significant scientists,” he said. “David’s success in winning this award from a very competitive field is in itself a testament to his remarkable contribution to the Earth Sciences both locally and internationally.”

Prof. Karoly has authored seven academic books, 13 book chapters and 73 refereed journal articles since 2005. He is a global leader in the development of the detection and attribution of global climate change.

Prof. Karoly is also a strong mentor for young scientists, mentoring and supervising many Honours, Masters and Ph. D. candidates at the University of Melbourne.

Prof. Karoly will be awarded the RSV’s Medal for Scientific Excellence at the Royal Society of Victoria at a ceremony on 10 December and will deliver the RSV Research Medal Lecture titled “Using climate science to inform decision making.” Bookings are available at: http://www. royalsocietyvictoria.org.au/events/rsv-research-medallecture/ Further information on the award is available at: http:// www.royalsocietyvictoria.org.au/professor-david-karolyawarded-the-2015-rsv-medal-for-scientific-excellence/

Satellite Oceanography User Workshop A three-day workshop on satellite-derived products of key oceanographic variables…

Satellites provide real time global high space and time resolution measurements of key ocean variables such as ocean colour, sea level height and sea surface temperature, which are widely used across a range of scientific and operational applications. The wider range of products and services available can be confusing to navigate through and this an opportunity to meet with and provide feedback to the data providers.

The objectives of the workshop are to: 

Present and discuss the provision of products and services supporting satellite based ocean products;



Provide a forum for users to present and discuss their experiences and requirements on satellite based ocean products;



Work through practical examples of particular interest to participants.

The meeting is open to anyone using satellite based ocean products covering altimetry, ocean colour and sea surface temperature.

Further details can be found on the meeting web-page at https://www.ghrsst.org/ghrsst/ Meetings-and-workshops/satellite-oceanography-user-workshop/

9th—11th November 2015, Melbourne, Australia

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News

CAWCR Workshop announcement CAWCR is the Collaboration of Australian Climate and Weather Research (previously the Centre for Australian Climate and Weather Research). Registration is now open for its 9th Annual Workshop from the 19–22 October 2015. The workshop brings together Australian experts from the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the universities and research centres, as well as a number of prominent overseas scientists. The workshop will be held at the Bureau of Meteorology, 700 Collins Street, Melbourne. This year’s workshop will focus on coupled modelling and prediction across weather and climate timescales, encompassing the key components of earth system modelling: the atmosphere, land, ocean, ice and chemistry. It will address the status and prospects for improving our understanding, simulation and prediction of coupled processes, particularly as related to advancing our capability to predict high impact weather and climate.

Some excellent keynote and invited speakers are now confirmed, and the list is growing.

Early Career Scientist opportunity: Lightning talks Presentations at the CAWCR workshop are by invitation only. However, we are offering early career scientists the opportunity to speak among the invited speakers: lightning talks will be available for early career scientists to showcase their research. The talks will be five minutes with a maximum of three slides. The abstracts will be included in the workshop publication.

There will be an award on the final day for the best early career researcher presentation, judged both on the delivery and content of the presentation.

Lightning talks provide a valuable opportunity to spark discussion, discover potential collaborators and receive feedback from workshop participants. Get in quick— deadline for submission is 14 September.

You can find more information on the workshop and registration at: http://cawcr.gov.au/events/AWS9/index. php.

Farewell Val In July this year, Val Jemmeson retired from the Bureau.

A significant force in the atmospheric sciences, her career commenced with CSIRO in 1969. She was with the Bureau for the past 17 years, where she made major contributions to meetings and provided support to the research leadership team.

Val has now been associated with AMOS and its predecessors for many years, including as a former Executive Admin Officer (1996 to 2006). She organised AMOS and the Australian Branch of the Royal Meteorological Society (RMSAB) conferences for about 30 years since being involved in the first ever back in 1975 with Dr. Barrie Pittock.

Val says through AMOS she now has a network of friends across Australia that are second to none.

Upon her farewell at the Bureau, Prof. David Karoly, who recently won the Royal Society of Victoria’s Medal for Scientific Excellence in the Earth Sciences (see page 75), said Val played an important and little known role in his choosing to become an atmospheric scientist four decades ago.

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“As an undergraduate student in Applied Maths and Physics at Monash, I spent the summer (of either 1974/5 or 1975/6) as a vacation student at CSIRO Aspendale, officially working with Angus McEwen and Peter Manins,” Prof. Karoly recalls.

“However, both were too busy to spend much time with a summer vacation student,” he said.

“My recollection is that Val, in the library at the time, showed me around, introduced me to people and gave me things to do.”

Prof. Karoly says he hadn’t forgotten Val’s help then, or since, as they worked together on numerous occasions— including transitioning RMSAB into AMOS in the 1980s.

“Val has been an unsung foundation for the development of Australian atmospheric and climate science throughout her career,” he said.

Since there is hardly a major Bureau meeting that Val has not played a key role in, she is now back temporarily for this year’s CAWCR Annual Workshop (above article). So, happy retirement Val, but welcome back as well!

News from the Centres

Tasmania Centre News Hobart Centre

The panel addresses the crowd in Hobart. Image: Andrew Klekociuk.

The way in which the East Australian Current (EAC) influences the Tasmanian environment, its marine resources and our lifestyle was outlined through public lectures in Hobart and Launceston for National Science Week.

“Feeling the effects of the East Australian Current on Tasmania” featured three experts from diverse backgrounds. They described the EAC and outlined why it is an environmental and economic lifeline for the State, generating marine resources and delivering vital rainfall to the State’s east coast.

The experts featured were led by Master of Ceremonies Dr. Scott Ling from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania: •

Dr. Mike Pook, an atmospheric scientist at CSIRO, on the influence of the EAC on climate;

• University of Tasmania Associate Professor

Gretta Pecl, from IMAS, discussing biological impacts; •

Physical oceanographer, Associate Professor Neil Holbrook, also from IMAS.

A panel discussion with the audience followed the presentations.

About 185 people turned out for the event in Hobart, and about 50 for the event in Launceston.

The events were organised by the AMOS Hobart Centre and the Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA), in association with the University of Tasmania.

This Inspiring Australia initiative was supported by the Australian Government as part of National Science Week 2015, together with AMOS & AMSA, the Australian Institute of Physics, Bureau of Meteorology, Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, CSIRO, and IMAS.

ACT Centre News Clem Davis ACT Centre

The ACT branch held a meeting in July on wine and weather. Around 20 people attended, many from the surrounding ACT wine region.

Elly Spark gave a talk on the impacts of weather on cool country wine that included some wine tasting while Clem Davis gave a talk on how the local climate has been changing.

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On August 23rd, the branch held a National Science Week seminar on severe weather and its impacts on built up and human societies. Our four speakers talked about: agriculture, impact on communities and mitigation, insurance, and local emergency arrangements.

Our AMOS branch is also going to be organising the AMOS conference in February 2017. This conference will also include the New Zealand Meteorological Society and will be run in conjunction with the ANZ Climate Forum.

News from the Centres

NSW Centre News Fiona Johnson Chair, NSW Centre

University of Newcastle/AMOS Student Lunch. Image: Andrew Magee.

AMOS members do, how to sign up as AMOS members and future career opportunities.

The annual University of Newcastle (UoN) AMOS student lunch was held on Monday 10th August. More than 30 students participated (mostly undergraduates), tempted by delicious pizza and to hear all about AMOS.

The event also gave students the opportunity to ask general questions regarding honours and postgraduate programs that align with climate science at UoN. The UoN seminar will be held in early November (details to follow).

After an introduction to the society and what it offers, students had many questions about the types of jobs

Are you a research student enrolled at a university in NSW or the ACT? Do you work in an area related to meteorology, oceanography or climate?

AMOS and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science bring you the:

2015 AMOS NSW Centre Student Symposium Wednesday 28th October 2015, 09:30 – 17:30 at the

Climate Change Research Centre, Level 4, Mathews Building, Kensington Campus, University of New South Wales, Sydney This event will give students working in meteorology, oceanography or the climate the opportunity to share their research with other students and hone their presentation skills in a presenter-friendly environment. Students will also pick up tips and advice that they may find useful in their studies and future careers from a panel of postdocs, and an invited speaker.

The program for the day will include a Q&A session with the postdocs, a presentation from our invited speaker and 15 minute talks by student attendees. Lunch will also be provided, kindly sponsored by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. The best student presentation will be awarded a $100 prize.

Presentation slots at the symposium are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so get in quick!

If you wish to attend the event, please RSVP to Tammas Loughran (t.loughran@unsw.edu.au) by Friday 23rd October indicating: 1) The title of your oral presentation 2) Dietary requirements

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AMOS

Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society

The AMOS Melbourne Centre Presents:

DROUGHT Workshop Tuesday 22nd September

This FREE event is an opportunity to hear from Australian scientists from the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and Monash University on the latest research and challenges around the observation & measurement, and the definition & communication of drought.

We welcome you to come along and listen to the experts talk about the research being undertaken in this area including remote sensing & hydrological modelling all the way up to future projections of drought. In addition an overview into how research and forecasts are communicated to stakeholders ranging from governments to agriculture.

1:00pm 1:10pm 1:40pm 2:10pm 2:40pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm

Event Details Date: Tuesday 22 September Time: 1:00pm – 5:30pm Level 6, Conference Room 3, Bureau of Meteorology, 700 Collins St., Docklands.

Please register your attendance at the front desk upon arrival.

Introduction + welcome FREE EVENT Ailie Gallant, Monash University: What does drought look Afternoon tea, like in Australia?

Rob Pipunic, BoM: Soil moisture measurement and model wine and cheese included! assimilation Adam Smith, BoM: Overview of the Australian Water Contact: Resource Assessment Modelling System (AWRAMS) lousie.wilson@csiro.au sonya.fiddes@unimelb.edu.au Light afternoon tea Blair Trewin, BoM: The Millennium Drought Graeme Anderson, EcoDev: Agricultural engagement: tools and resources used to understand and predict local impacts Karl Braganza, BoM: An operational perspective: drought assessment, stake holder engagement & future directions Dewi Kirono, CSIRO: CMIP5 Projections of future drought for Australia Wine, cheese and informal discussion

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AMOS 2015

Conference dinner and AMOS award presentations in pictures

Clockwise from left: 1). Sophie Lewis, AMOS 2014 Early Career Researcher Award; Todd Lane, AMOS President; Mary Voice, newly minted AMOS Fellow; John James, 2014 Gibbs Medallist; and Yi (Vivian) Huang, 2014 Uwe Radok Ph. D. Thesis Award.

2). 2014 AMOS Award winners with AMOS President Todd Lane.

3). Dr. Bill Gail, Chief Technology Officer of the Global Weather Corporation, gives the dinner address.

Images: Melissa Lyne.

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AMOS 2015

Conference wrap-up Michael Hewson Brisbane Centre

Lesson #1: conference themes aren’t just a mantra—they need to be guiding governance Professional people come to conferences for the science right? And I mean scientia in the Latin sense—knowledge, a knowing; expertness. Maybe—but as all public speakers know; they also come to be entertained (take that as you like). Good plenary speakers make a good conference.

For me, that was the hallmark of the Brisbane conference.

For that we have to thank Todd Lane and the AMOS Executive who made some winning suggestions building on our science committee captain(s) picks. To our plenary speakers we owe a debt of gratitude, and a legacy of education.

Lesson #2 (or lesson #348 repeated each conference): good plenary talks based on the theme “make” a conference Yes, people come to conference to connect—and there was good observational evidence this happened too.

AMOS 2015 Icebreaker, held at The Cube in Brisbane. Image: Melissa Lyne.

Let’s be clear—a lot of AMOS members are domiciled in the southern states. So when they joined us in Brisbane for the 2015 AMOS annual conference mid-July, was an outbreak of cold southerly air purely coincidental?

Maybe—and we did get just compensation in the form of a less blustery Ekka1 mid-August—if you discount an afternoon squall line on people’s day.

On behalf of the science committee, let me offer some reflection.

With Andrew Wiebe’s capacity for clear thinking, the science committee picked the “Research to Community” (R2C) and “Communicating our Science” theme very early on in the conference planning cycle. While the challenge of professional communication has been a topic of conversation amongst us for a few years now, your conference feedback suggests you enjoyed the crystallisation of that concept—it seemed to resonate.

1

Google it …

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Being scientia, we clearly disproved the conventional hypothesis that “good help is hard to get” by having great people do fabulous things. At this point your scribe could add a long list of worthy names, but that would increase this communique beyond the travel-induced attention span of the reader (who is currently on the #72 tram to Camberwell). Suffice to say then, that conference hallmark #2 was the long list of engaging side activities. To those who put together an event—thanks! Of course this adds a large logistics overload, and so I will single out Jeanette Dargaville and Melissa Lyne for thanks, because their frenetic work load made the conference possible. So many people, processes and paraphernalia pulled into line—you would do an RSM2 proud. And Jeanette­—great conference graphic! (See left—Ed.) The support offered by the student volunteers was vital too.

Lesson #3: your professional body employees are awesome But did that mean the program was too full? Well yes—if you attended each item. But no—if you made judicious selections! Seriously, the conference would have been much poorer without the efforts of a lot of people. That says something about AMOS and its healthy morale.

I think the conference needs to be like that in future in order to attract further attendees. However, there will be a limit to volunteer event co-ordination by AMOS members I imagine (I just don’t know what that limit might be).

2

Regimental Sergeant Major.

AMOS 2015 Lesson #4: bring your audience with you We worked hard to ensure oceanography, atmospheric science and climatology had equal space in the program. I think the science committee achieved that.

Maybe it is because I missed the Hobart conference (sadly) but I was surprised by the number of special sessions that were suggested by punters: nearly the whole program. Did that mean we had little space for “general sessions”? Well yes, but to very good advantage. Let me explain. Firstly, special sessions mean someone is interested, engaged and keen enough to get something going. And secondly, it meant the science committee had a whole swag of people who could filter the oral, poster and lightning lecture allocations and convene sessions—experts in those fields.

I think the virtual science committee worked fabulously.

Our thanks to you!

Lesson #5: a challenge for budget holders We in AMOS still need to work on enticing colleagues from the constituent scientia to join us in professional conversation. Certainly in Queensland. I’m told by psychologist types that people with limited time will only join those organisations that actually, or at least are perceived to, have an “economy of scale”. Maybe it is time

to work closer with the likes of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ) and related oceanographic professional organisations. And perhaps the recent (and continuing) examples of working with like bodies in New Zealand are pointers for the future.

The good thing about professional societies? There are so many to choose from…

In conclusion So I hope you poked around Brisbane, maybe spent some time on the beach (I’m a Lamington Plateau kinda guy myself) and otherwise realised Brisbane has changed these last 20 years.

I guess we in Queensland will swap the Steeden3 for the Sherrin4 for the 2016 AMOS conference. I’m certainly hoping to be there.

I’d like to acknowledge the rest of the science committee AMOS conference 2015: Andrew Wiebe, Dr. Robin Robertson, Michael Gray, Dr. Johanna Speirs, Dr. Matthew Mason, Thomas Kavanagh and Jim Davidson.

Our thoughts are with Jim as he contends with illness 3

See 1

4 ask her.

The aforementioned reader on tram 72 knows what this is—

AMOS/ARCCSS National Conference 2016 From minutes to millennia: traversing the scales 8-11 February, 2016

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Melbourne, Australia

The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (ARCCSS) joint National Conference 2016 will feature a central theme on scales – from turbulent eddies to palaeoclimates, and cloud microphysics to planetaryscale ocean circulations. There will be a focus on the processes in our atmosphere, oceans and on the land surface, and their interactions across different time and space scales. For proposed sessions, abstract submission and other information, visit www.amos.org.au

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EXCEPTIONAL MARINE FACILITIES

FOR CAMPS & CONFERENCES UQ’s Research Stations provide the ideal location for student camps, conferences, workshops and retreats, with easy access to North Stradbroke Island from Brisbane, and to Heron Island from Gladstone.

With accommodation, and flexible facilities to suit groups of diverse nature and numbers, the UQ Research Stations are the perfect setting for senior secondary school student camps and teacher conferences or retreats.

Explore these unique locations for educational or team-building activities and make use of the Stations’ well-equipped educational and recreational facilities including a range of accommodation options, seminar/meeting rooms, teaching laboratories and AV services.

Choose a self-catering option, or use our caterers to re-fuel your group after a day of learning, bush walking, boating, diving or snorkelling at one of these beautiful locations.

Heron Island Research Station Heron Island Research Station (HIRS) offers world class facilities and immediate access to the Great Barrier Reef. It provides hands-on opportunities to explore scientific principles within the context of the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem.

Moreton Bay Research Station (MBRS) on North Stradbroke Island offers extraordinary marine and terrestrial environments, as well as historical and cultural sites, allowing for tailored learning programs using your own or UQ-generated lesson plans.

Stradbroke Island Science Camps provide a meaningful and challenging out-of-classroom learning experience. They are aligned with the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, tailored to suit individual group requirements and delivered by UQ trained tutors.

A short ferry ride from Cleveland, the Station is ideally placed as a gateway to Moreton Bay. Education packages start from $69.27 per person per day including accommodation, meals and facility access.

For more information about MBRS Science Camps, educational opportunities and costs, visit www.uq.edu.au/mbrs/education-and-science-camps E mbrs@uq.edu.au T 07 3409 9058

Heron Island is easily accessed from Gladstone via a two hour catamaran ride.

Education packages start from $102.30 per person per day including accommodation, meals and facility access.

For more information about HIRS educational opportunities and costs, visit www.uq.edu.au/hirs/education E hirs@uq.edu.au T 07 4978 1399 You can take a virtual tour of the Research Station at www.uq.edu.au/heron-island-research-station/virtual-tour

cursion was a Heron Island ex taking “Once again the ch a pleasure su is It s. es cc d it phenomenal su experience an ing ng ha -c s life ching career.” students on thi tea my of t gh the highli hool (Qld) continues to be State High Sc , Debra Beamish

Corinda

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 84

Photo courtesy of Janine Waters

CRICOS Provider Number 00025B

Dive into this unique ‘classroom’ on the Great Barrier Reef then discover more in the teaching laboratories, aquaria deck and display aquarium.

Moreton Bay Research Station

AMOS 2015

Let’s talk about communication Alvin Stone

Communication Manager, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of NSW

The AMOS 2015 media panel discussion. L–R: Bronwyn Wake, Michael Lund, Simon Holt, John Cook and Alvin Stone. Image: Melissa Lyne.

It was great to see science communication playing a large role in this year’s AMOS conference. The selection of climate communicators was impressive, combining both experienced, practicing communicators with those who continue to build a strong evidence base for communication through their academic research.

The opening public event, Emergency Communication for Severe Weather Events, was an example of the importance of communication. It covered the forecasting process right through to the clean-up after a weather disaster has passed through.

ABC science broadcaster Robyn Williams led a discussion between: • A former Director of the Queensland

Department of Community Safety, Prof. Jim McGowan; •

Leader of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC consortium on emergency and crisis communication, Prof. Vivienne Tippett;

•

Director, Resilience and Recovery, Strategy, Governance and Resilience Division at the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, Ms. Jo Beadle;

•

Queensland Regional Director of the Bureau of Meteorology Mr. Rob Webb.

One of the striking points to arise from the discussion was the disconnect between what experts in the field

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understood to be the meaning of terms used in forecasting compared to the understanding of the general public.

Where it related to bushfire warnings, this led some people to put themselves in harm’s way because of the way fire messages were interpreted.

There was some commentary about how live footage of reporters standing hip deep in floodwaters tended to attract the television audience to dangerous areas. This is an area that broadcasters need to reassess.

An extraordinary factoid to arise from the discussion was that in Australia, governments spent only $600 million on disaster prevention around extreme weather events but invested $13.2 billion in cleaning up in the aftermath.

The opening plenary by Dr. Karl Braganza on the first day was a presentation masterclass in understanding your audience and responding to them. His use of medical examples to explain the uncertainties around climate change was particularly striking as was his advice to dress as your audience expects and to talk in their language.

His anecdote of talking to the concerns of a conservative business audience in terms of energy security and business growth was interseting. He then illustrated how finding points of common ground as a starting point was a very effective strategy to help them understand the consequences of climate change.

The communication streams that followed in the breakout groups were filled with examples of how we could improve forecasting. The power of social media is

AMOS 2015 that it can deliver real time information with a variety of responses by researchers, the Bureau of Meteorology and others to explain weather, forecasting and climate change in accessible terms.

On the second day, we held a special Media Panel Discussion bringing together: •

Senior Editor of Nature Climate Change, Dr. Bronwyn Wake;

• Science and Technology Editor with The Conversation Mr. Michael Lund; •

Founder of Skeptical Science and online media guru Mr. John Cook;

•

and, Editor in Chief of the Brisbane Times Mr. Simon Holt.

The panle provided some astonishing insights into the way communication is changing, and the understanding that those in the media have gained into the habits of their online audience as a result of tracking technology.

Mr. Cook highlighted how by 2016 more than 84% of all media consumed online will be in the form of video, suggesting this will be an important communication tool in the years ahead.

Mr. Holt also revealed what makes audiences respond to stories. The ability to respond rapidly to audience interests is a key part of the online environment and it is why it is becoming more important for scientists to

AMOS 2015 included a talk

by Dr. Ben McNeil, founder of Thinkable.org, and senior lecturer in oceanography at UNSW. He spoke about using videos to communicate your science, including how this relates to attracting funding.

Image: Melissa Lyne.

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understand what audiences care about when fashioning their communications. He also talked about solutionbased stories, a new technique that is based on putting forward multiple options to a problem in the form of a news story to excite an online discussion. This is a very different approach to that taken by media in the past—and we are likely to see more of this in coming years.

One of the big issues with this particular session was the lack of time for questions from the audience. In the future it might be worth considering extending the session or shortening the stage discussion to go straight to the audience.

Friday’s Science Communication Workshop Breakfast with Dr. Rod Lambert was a free flowing and insightful affair. With a wealth of research behind him and a series of extremely practical tips he engaged, informed and challenged his audience with an evidence-based approach to communication.

Once again it was one of those sessions that could have gone on for twice as long and still captivated the audience.

Bringing communications into the 2015 AMOS conference added an extra dimension that engaged everyone from senior to junior members. It is clear that this is an area of great interest and where many researchers have a hunger for more information. It would be great to see communication become a regular part of AMOS conferences in the future.

AMOS 2015

Attracting research funding Simon Torok

Communication Manager, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Communication was a key theme at the 21st AMOS National Conference, held in Brisbane in July.

Communication can raise the profile of research. It can help ensure research results reach a wider audience and hence have greater impact. Communication can raise general science awareness and increase understanding. It can even effect behavioural change.

These are all noble goals of putting time and resources towards communicating our science. But we also need communication to generate funding to support science.

Such funding-focussed communication takes place in an increasingly tight, and therefore competitive, environment. In Australia, and around the world, funds need to be sourced from a diverse base. So who are the funders, how do we reach them, what tools should we use, and where can we go for help? A panel session about communication for partnerships was held at the AMOS conference to answer these questions.

Dr Bill Gail, Past-President of the American Meteorological Society and Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Global Weather Corporation1, spoke from his perspective as director of several companies over the years, including ones that charge fees, raise venture capital, and act as a bridge between research and business. He said it was important to understand who could benefit from your research: is it society as a whole, the science community, particular industry sectors, or even specific companies?

Once you have an understanding of these audiences, he said you need to seek applied uses of your research, guided by who benefits from your work. Bill also explained that you need to identify alternatives to traditional grant funds, such as technology licensing, commercial consulting, start-up investment, and so on.

Paul Holper, now a communication consultant after his 25-year career working at CSIRO in communication, business development, and science program management, spoke from the perspective of sourcing, attracting and securing funds for science programs. Paul said there’s great value in all research groups having a strong public profile to provide the base for attracting funds. He said that researchers need to work as a team to brainstorm ideas and strategies to reach potential funders, including government, international organisations, industry, and philanthropic sources. This doesn’t need to be done alone— 1

http://www.globalweathercorp.com/

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assistance is available within many research organisations, and elsewhere, from professional communicators and business development staff.

Dr. Donna Green, a senior lecturer and researcher at the UNSW’s Climate Change Research Centre, provided the panel with the perspective from a university environment, where she has pitched her research at a level that attracts research funding from a variety of sources. She spoke of the importance of being strategic and playing to your strengths, and emphasised the point that if you aren’t sure about what to do, ask for professional communication advice. Donna said it is important to stand out, to ensure your proposal shows passion and connection to a real world issue, and to ensure that connection stands out in the first paragraph of your proposal, opening conversation, or elevator pitch. Brainstorm anything legitimate that you can use to make your application stickier and therefore more memorable. She also noted the importance of understanding the politics of the funding landscape—not only the written funding rules, but also the unwritten rules.

Karen Pearce, a science communicator, editor, and director of Bloom Communication, provided a practical perspective of using communication to get the message out to potential funders in a changing media environment.

She said it is important to be relevant and to lead with the bottom line when discussing your work—explain why an organisation should care about your work, and what’s in it for them. Karen said researchers need to be clear, concise, and not make people have to work to understand what you do and what you want from them. She said you need to be audience-appropriate; that is, know your audience so you can use the right language and tools to reach them. And in terms of getting support for your work, communication doesn’t start and stop with filling in a funding proposal.

You need to do the groundwork (profile building, making your work more accessible) and the follow-up (updates, informal/formal reporting, public communication, etc.) to succeed.

In summary, the panel agreed that it is important to understand the benefits to potential funders and clients so you can target the audience and demonstrate impact; that you need to build a public profile to stand out from the crowd; and that you can draw on your wider team—and professional help—to target potential partners to attract research funding.

Meeting Report

Meteorological & atmospheric sciences research in Australia Tom Beer

National IAMAS Correspondent Dr. Tom Beer presented this report on Meteorological and atmospheric sciences research in Australia at the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) Executive Meeting that was held in June in Prague.

Context The last IUGG General Assembly took place in Melbourne, Australia in 2011, so that at first sight it would appear that geodetic and geophysical activity in Australia is strong.

However the political landscape has changed significantly since that time and the election of a new government in September 2013 led to re-assignment of political priorities with all aspects of climate change research being given much lower priority than before.

In this regard it may be worth informing our international colleagues that climate change is an issue in Australia of sufficient political toxicity that it has led to three leaders (two of whom were Prime Ministers) losing their position in large measure because of their support for climate change policies which, in a coal-producing country such as Australia, appear to have little electoral appeal.

The three leaders were: Malcolm Turnbull, who was replaced by Tony Abbott as Leader of the Opposition because Turnbull favoured a bi-partisan approach to climate change policies whereas Abbott is opposed to climate change policies.

Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister at the time, who declared climate change to be the greatest moral issue of the century but then lost interest in the issue when the Copenhagen COP failed to reach agreement. This led to a loss of voter support that partly led to Julia Gillard replacing Rudd as Prime Minister.

Julia Gillard, as Prime Minister, introduced a fixed-price emission trading scheme. Abbott campaigned strongly on a platform of repealing the scheme with the slogan “axe the tax”. This led to Gillard’s party replacing her with a reinstated Rudd, who then lost the last election to Abbott.

Both the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO (Australia’s governmental scientific research agency) used to receive dedicated funding from the Australian Climate Change Science Program. This has now been terminated as a separate program and has administratively become a small part of the National Environmental Science Program.

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In theory this has made funding climate research more contestable, because universities and other organisation are now eligible to apply. In practice the governmental funding for climate change research has halved.

The Australian Research Council continues to provide funding for atmospheric sciences research. In 2011 it established the Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science as a research consortium of five Australian universities and a suite of outstanding national and international Partner Organizations. Its mission is to build on and improve existing understanding of the modelling of regional climates to enable enhanced adaptation to and management of climate change, particularly in the Australian region. The Centre is directed by Prof. Andy Pitman of the University of New South Wales.

Australia and IUGG The formal Australian connection with the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) over the 2011 to 2015 period has been twofold.

Neil Holbrook of the University of Tasmania was President of the IAMAS International Commission on Climate (ICCL) over this period, and Tom Beer was the IUGG National Correspondent for Australia whose formal role is to maintain the links between three groups: the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), which appoints the National Correspondent, the Australian meteorological and atmospheric sciences community, and IAMAS. The role of an Australian IUGG National Correspondent is made particularly difficult because the many fields covered

by IUGG are handled by different AAS committees. The national correspondents form a sub-committee of the AAS National Committee for Earth Sciences, whose task is to foster and deal with Australian solid earth science.

The AAS committee that deals with fluid earth science is the Committee for Earth Systems Science but their concern, under their 2010 strategic plan, is development of a broader cross-academy approach to ESS in Australia that meshes with the new Future Earth initiative of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

In practice the IAMAS national correspondent has concentrated on making important IAMAS information known to the relevant Australian community by publishing regular IAMAS notes every two months in the Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. The regular IAMAS newsletter sent out by Jenny

Meeting Report Lin has greatly assisted in providing material to include in the IAMAS notes to the Australian community.

also pursue research on other topics determined by their own internal priority setting process.

Despite the significant scientific activity in Australia, the last Australian representative on the IAMAS Executive committee was Dr. Robert Vincent of the University of Adelaide during the 2003–2007 period, and thus Australia has formally nominated Dr. Lisa Alexander of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science for this position who, we believe, would be an excellent member of the executive if elected.

Meteorology and atmospheric sciences is important to many practical societal issues so that research is undertaken in many other governmental laboratories both at Federal level, for example at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, and at State level, for example at the various environmental protection agencies that are responsible for air pollution within their own State.

Similarly, many universities in Australia conduct research in this area. The five universities that comprise the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science are the University of New South Wales, Monash University, the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania. However these are just a few of the many universities active in the area of climate and climate research. For example, Griffith University hosts the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) that works to support decision makers throughout Australia as they prepare for and manage the risks of climate change and sea-level rise.

Dr. Alexander chairs the World Meteorological Organisation Commission for Climatology Expert Team on Sector-specific Climate Indices and is co-chair of the World Climate Research Program Grand Challenge on Extremes.

Her home page is at: https://www.climatescience.org.au/ staff/profile/lalexander The IAMAS web site at: http://www.iamas.org/officers/ PastOfficers/ lists past officers of IAMAS and the Commissions since 1991. The Australian names on this list are: Prof. Bob Vincent, (University of Adelaide)

Vice-President

(1999–2007)

Dr. Kendal McGuffie, Secretary ICCL (1995–2003) (University of Technology Sydney) Dr. Peter Baines, President ICDM (2003–2007) (CSIRO and now University of Melbourne) Prof. Mervyn J. Lynch, Secretary IRC (1996–2000) (Curtin University)

Meteorology and Atmospheric Science in Australia Entering “Meteorology atmospheric science Australia” into Google produces 1,010,000 results (0.57 seconds), with four organisations: the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, Monash University and the University of New South Wales appearing on the first page of results.

Over the 2011 to 2015 period the two major governmental bodies undertaking research in the meteorological and atmospheric sciences—the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO—formed a partnership known as the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research (CAWCR) (this year rebadged as Collaboration for Australian Weather and Climate Research—Ed.) with major research programs on climate, on oceans, on measurement, on modelling and on weather and environmental processes (including air pollution). This partnership continues but an internal re-organisation within CSIRO in 2014 meant that the two partners now

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If one examines the locations from which past IAMAS officers emanated, then we find that the University of Adelaide continues to explain the middle atmosphere within their School of Physical Sciences; and Curtin University continues the Remote Sensing and Satellite Research Group (RSSRG), as part of a national and international network to undertake quantitative research in the field of Earth observations from space.

Backword In past years many of the national reports from national correspondents consisted of lists of scientific publications produced from scientists in their country during the past quadrennium. The United States used to take this a step further and publish a review of the discipline, on the basis of these published papers, in the journal Reviews of Geophysics. This idea took hold in the climate area, and the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change consist of disciplinary and regional reviews of the published literature and much of the work of Australian atmospheric scientists can be found in the IPCC fifth assessment report. This will, of course, not cover the whole spectrum of Australian meteorological and atmospheric research and this report to IAMAS thus deals with an eclectic and idiosyncratic overview of the work that impinges directly on IUGG. Nevertheless, all Australian researchers in meteorology and atmospheric science are members of IAMAS—through the Australian membership of IUGG—and thus one hopes for greater and more visible Australian involvement.

Conference Report

The European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Austria 12–17 April 2015 Duncan Ackerley1 2, Jennifer Catto1 2, Steven Phipps3 4 and Nicholas Tyrrell1 2 ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Monash University, Clayton, VIC. School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC. 3 Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW. 4 ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW. 1 2

Planning your way around a large, yet well-organised, conference such as the EGU General Assembly is a piece of cake! A piece of the famous Sacher-Torte from the Hotel Sacher cafe in Vienna. Image: Jennifer Catto.

The 2015 European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly (http://www.egu2015.eu/home.html) was held at the Austria Center Vienna, which is adjacent to the United Nations office (Vienna International Centre). Vienna sits astride the Danube and is a beautiful city, full of historic buildings and parks. Art and culture abound, enhanced this year by the buzz surrounding the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. On the Sunday before the meeting, the Vienna City Marathon wound its way through the ancient streets. This sight inspired some of us to embark on our own runs through the city. However, any benefits of this exercise were rapidly undone by the hearty Austrian food.

Many evenings were spent in breweries, drinking excellent beer and discussing science while tucking into large plates of meat. Of course, no trip to Vienna is complete without the consumption of cake—in particular the famous Sacher torte from the Hotel Sacher (pictured above).

Despite the obvious Viennese attractions, we were there first and foremost for the conference. This could be quite daunting for the uninitiated! The EGU General Assembly (and the organisation as a whole) represents a vast array of subjects, which range from atmospheric, oceanic, hydrological, soil and land surface processes Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 90

science to tectonics, planetary and solar system sciences, geochemistry and geomorphology. The conference therefore provided a wide range of sessions (577 in total) that were both directly and indirectly related to the AMOS sciences (or not at all but still fascinating!). The question with such a large conference is, “how do you know what to go to?” In order to cope with this, the EGU provides a section on the web site dedicated to planning your conference and how to do it. You can browse the sessions as you please and then select the presentations you want to visit and produce a “personalised program” PDF. This document included all the relevant times and dates of your choices. This would give you a baseline from which to target such a large conference.

The size of the conference is mind-boggling. There were 11,837 scientists who attended of which 157 were from Australia (ranked 20th in country representation). There were more than 4,500 oral presentations and almost 9,000 poster presentations, which were distributed over numerous parallel sessions. An interesting addition for the presentation program—introduced at EGU in 2013— was the Presenting Interactive COntent (PICO) format.

For PICO, an author is given two minutes to present a

Conference Report

A view across Maria-Theresien-Platz towards the Natural History Museum in the Museumsquartier district of Vienna. Image: Nicholas Tyrrell. snippet of their material (akin to the lightning lectures at an AMOS conference) to advertise it to the audience.

Then, extra content is uploaded to an interactive, touchscreen system where authors can discuss work with other interested delegates. It therefore has the benefit of increased engagement and discussion between scientists (like at a poster) but can include more content than just one poster (like a talk). Essentially, PICO takes the best parts of oral and poster presentations and puts them together. It appears to be a successful new method as there were 705 PICO presentations in 2015. Further details on PICO can be found here: http://www.egu2014.eu/pico.html.

Conference registration began on Sunday 12th April and gave the first opportunity to mingle with other delegates in an informal atmosphere with some food and drink.

At registration, each of the delegates was presented with a stunning photograph book entitled, “A voyage through scales”, which can be downloaded at: http://www.egu2015. eu/A-voyage-through-scales-book.pdf. The only downside to these books (and the stunning images they contain) was that they were rather unwieldy and several delegates were unable to take them due to space constraints. Nonetheless, the images are really amazing and the book shows the time and space scales over which each of the photographed images occurs and is well worth a read!

The conference began in earnest the next day (Monday 13th April) with a variety of sessions. A talk by Gill Martin (United Kingdom Met Office) on “Systematic errors in the simulation of the Asian summer monsoon: the role of rainfall variability on a range of time and space scales”, was particularly interesting and related to climate modelling work being done here in Australia. The talk discussed the assumption that all general circulation models (GCMs) precipitate too frequently and at too low intensity.

Dr. Martin’s work with the Met Office Unified Model Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 91

(MetUM) showed that this is not the case in the MetUM where precipitation is actually very heavy at individual time steps but appears to be light when averaged over several hours. This is of particular importance to users of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) here in Australia, which is largely based on the MetUM. Dr. Martin’s talk was also complemented by Nicholas Klingaman’s poster (University of Reading, UK: “Spatial and temporal intermittency of sub-daily precipitation in GCMs”). Dr. Klingaman showed that this temporal (and spatial) intermittency happens in high and low-resolution simulations with parameterized convection.

Such climate model evaluation also provides a source for robust discussion at these large conferences, especially on their usefulness as well as their deficiencies; however when a senior scientist said the phrase (light-heartedly), “trusting climate models isn’t science, it’s fortune telling!” during a question time, one did feel sorry for the Ph. D. student on stage. Models were again under scrutiny when Bjorn Stevens described aerosols as the “magic pixie dust” of climate models. Prof. Stevens then used observations and simple but comprehensive models to argue that the maximum (negative) aerosol radiative forcing is approximately –1.0 Wm-2, less negative than currently thought. Disproving paradigms was also in order for Peter Greve and Mike Byrne from ETH-Zurich, who showed that the rich-get-richer theory on rainfall changes with global warming is valid over oceans but breaks down over land surfaces.

The Wednesday program saw the return of the annual “Mid-latitude Cyclones and Storms” session, which has always been very well attended—despite being in a hardto-get-to room. This year there were six talks covering a wide variety of related topics. Tim Hewson spoke about

Conference Report the different wind footprints associated with mid-latitude cyclones—the warm jet, the cold jet, and the sting jet—and how not all cyclones are created equally in these respects.

The winds associated with extratropical cyclones were also a feature of Berndt Becker’s talk. He is concerned with the impacts of winds and using information about past European windstorms to inform planning for future storms. Ruairi Rhodes’ talk was concerned with the other major aspect of mid-latitude cyclones—precipitation. In particular he spoke about associating extreme precipitation to cyclones using gridded data and taking into account the irregular shape of the precipitation extent. He showed that different types of extreme precipitation events exist—short and long timescale—that are associated with different cyclone passages. The posters for this session were also very well attended, with topics such as polar lows, seasonal forecasting of mid-latitude cyclones, classifying cyclones, the impacts of cyclones, different identification methods, and model evaluation.

On the Friday morning Geraint Vaughan (University of Manchester, UK) gave a presentation entitled, “Organized convection ahead of a potential vorticity anomaly”. This talk described the observations of a convective rainfall event that occurred over the UK and Ireland that was probed from a research flight through the system. A threedimensional map of the event was produced and threw up a surprising result. Potential vorticity anomalies are associated with areas of vertical motion in the atmosphere (up and down) that are likely to organise or suppress convection. The interesting thing in this case was that the convection appeared to form in the region typically associated with descending motion in the atmosphere.

The convection seemed to be entirely the result of a lowlevel convergence zone that did not depend on the upperto-mid-level atmospheric conditions. Given that this was the initial analysis of the results, Prof. Vaughan did suggest that the results should be taken with caution but were still fascinating given the counter-intuitive result.

On the Thursday evening, a reception was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the EGU journal Climate of the Past. One of the early leaders in open access and transparent, public peer review, Climate of the Past has established a justified reputation as one of the leading international journals for publishing work on the history of the Earth’s climate. Prizes were awarded for the most highly cited article in the journal’s history, as well as for somewhat more obscure achievements such as the articles with the longest and shortest titles. We are confident that Climate of the Past will continue to go from strength to strength in future.

Those who remained to the very end of the conference on the Friday afternoon were rewarded with a particularly enlightening session on ENSO: Dynamics, Predictability and Modelling. Topics included the drivers of hiatus periods, the role of mesoscale ocean dynamics, and predictions of a future increase in the frequency of extreme ENSO events. Several presentations also addressed the “failed” El Niño event of 2014, which challenges our assumptions regarding ENSO dynamics and our ability to forecast future events.

Beer and ribs consumed at the wonderful Salm Bräu Restaurant and Brewery on Rennweg (near Belvederegarten) in Vienna. Beer could be ordered by the stein (1 litre) here! Image: Steven Phipps.

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An EGU “Great Debates” session was also held on the Friday afternoon on “Open Access Publishing”. A panel of representatives from most of the major academic publishers spoke about how they see the future of publishing. The EGU journals themselves are open access, with many even encouraging public peer review processes—for example Climate of the Past. The general consensus from the panel and from the audience was that there are many positives to open access publishing (greater visibility of research, access for all that is independent of institute or budget, better public engagement with research) and very few negatives. So while there may be a bit of transition time to get to open access, the panel’s view was that this change is inevitable.

After a week of discussion and presentations the conference came to a close with drinks at the final poster session on Friday evening (a good way to keep delegates from leaving in the early evening). Despite its large size, the EGU General Assembly is incredibly well organised and, once you have your conference plan sorted, is extremely easy to negotiate. The 2016 EGU General Assembly will again be held at the Austria Center Vienna from 17th–22nd April 2016. There is currently a call for proposing sessions at the conference, which closes on 18th September with a call for abstracts to follow later this year. All details can be found at http://egu2016.eu/home.html.

Science Article

Extreme summer temperatures more prevalent in Melbourne during Australian Open tennis tournaments 1987–2014 Ben Hague

School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne Correspondence: b.hague@student.unimelb.edu.au

Background A run of four consecutive days recording maxima of at least 41.6oC at Melbourne Olympic Park from 14–17 January 2014 saw domestic and international media speculating on whether Australian conditions were too extreme for international tennis tournaments in summer, ie. The Conversation, The Age, (2014). This analysis shows that average temperatures in Melbourne during the Australian Open have increased significantly since the tournament became a mid-January event in 1987, and that these changes reflect broader trends in Melbourne’s summer temperatures from 1910 to present.

Method In 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology installed an automatic weather station within the Melbourne Olympic Park (MOP) sports precinct, however its current length of record is too short to analyse changes in temperature at that location. As a result, three comparable alternative sites (Melbourne Airport, Laverton RAAF [Laverton] and Melbourne Regional Office [MRO]) were used in this study.

Melbourne Airport observations were chosen as that site was the only source of half-hourly temperature observations in the greater Melbourne region extending back to 1987—the first year the Australian Open was run in mid-January. This meant that the temperatures the athletes felt whilst on the court could be analysed, rather than just the daily maximum and minimum temperatures recorded. Averages of these half-hourly temperatures over the day session (11a.m.–5 p.m.) and night session (5 p.m.–11 p.m.) over the days that the Australian Open was scheduled to run could then be analysed. The exact tournament dates change each year—the Australian Open runs for 14 consecutive days in mid-late January, beginning on the Monday falling between 13–19 January (except for the tournaments in 1987 and 1988 which began on 12 and 11 January respectively).

The analysis of half-hourly observations over Australian Open competition days is of interest and of importance to the health and safety of the competitors, spectators and officials at the Australian Open. However, climatologically, there is also interest in how these results compare to similar analysis undertaken with daily maximum and minimum temperatures over summer and each of its constituent months. For consistency and comparability to the results from the half-hourly observations, the Melbourne Airport Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 93

observations were also used for this analysis. Observations from Laverton RAAF (henceforth referred to as Laverton) were also analysed. Laverton and Melbourne Airport are both approximately 20km from the Melbourne CDB, with similar topography. The Laverton site likely has a stronger urban influence than Melbourne Airport. Laverton was selected for this study as, unlike Melbourne Airport, it is a homogenised Australian Climate Observations Reference Network—Surface Air Temperature (ACORN—SAT)site, (Trewin, 2012). It also has a longer record than Melbourne Airport (commencing in 1945, whereas Melbourne Airport commences in 1971). The analysis of Laverton’s daily maximum and minimum air temperatures was undertaken over both the overlap period of 1971–2014 and the full Laverton record.

Melbourne Regional Office (MRO), the nearest ACORN— SAT station to Melbourne’s CBD, was used in a broken trend analysis, quantifying the total increase in mean summer maximum temperatures, as well as changes in the highest monthly maximum temperatures, over the two periods 1910–1989 and 1990–2014. This site was used for this analysis because it enabled the full period of Melbourne’s homogenised daily temperature observations to be examined. MRO was not used for any of the other analysis, primarily because its lack of half-hourly data precluded its use in that section of the analysis and consistency between the half-hourly and daily analysis was preferred.

Results Comparison of Melbourne’s observational network sites Whilst it would have been preferable to use only one high-quality site near Melbourne Olympic Park (MOP) with half-hour data available from 1987, this was not possible. However there are some broad similarities (and a few differences) between the three sites used and the new site located at MOP. Table 1 shows the difference in the monthly mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures averaged over the period June 2013– January 2015 (the only months of overlap) for the four sites. During the summer months Melbourne Airport maximum temperature observations (26.84oC) are, on average, closer to the observations from MOP (25.58oC) than the MRO observations (27.46oC), despite MRO being only a few kilometres from MOP. The larger difference between average temperatures at MRO and MOP is most likely related to the physical characteristics of each location. The MOP site is set within parkland, while

Science Article

Table 1: Comparison between the four Melbourne sites referred to in this study. ‘All Overlap’ indicates the maximum and minimum temperatures (oC) averaged over all months June 2013–January 2015 inclusive, ‘Summer Overlap’ includes only summer months in the June 2013–January 2015 period, similarly ‘Winter Overlap’ includes only winter months in the June 2013–January 2015 period.

Figure 1: Comparison of yearly average maximum (top three curves) and minimum (bottom three curves) temperatures recorded at Melbourne Airport (blue; purple), Melbourne Regional Office (red; yellow) and Laverton (green; orange) over the period of overlap of these three sites: 1971–2014.

the MRO site is set within a highly built environment in the Melbourne CBD and is poorly exposed to winds, with winds originating from the SW quadrant passing through the CBD before reaching the site. The Melbourne Airport site is well exposed. Figure 1 shows that all the sites have similar trends and variability in yearly average maximum and minimum temperatures, although daytime MRO temperatures appear to increase more rapidly than both Melbourne Airport and Laverton in the later three-quarters of the record. This may be associated with the construction of large buildings in the immediate surrounds of the MRO site in the mid-1990s.

Analysis of half-hourly data For the instantaneous half-hourly observations for 1987–2014, on days when the Australian Open was scheduled, the mean temperature (the daily average of all of the instantaneous half-hourly observations) increased by 1.09oC per decade (p=0.0049), with temperatures between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. (local time) increasing 1.25oC per decade (p= 0.0084; Figure 2) and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. temperatures increasing 1.00oC per decade (p=0.0055).

The trends for January overall were slightly less: 0.75oC per decade (24-hour average) (p=0.0045), and 0.81oC for afternoons (p=0.0049) and 0.67oC (p=0.01075) for evenings. Figure 2 shows the changes in mean temperatures recorded whilst athletes, spectators and officials attended the main afternoon session (when the outside courts are Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 94

primarily used). The figure also shows the wet-bulb globe temperatures (WBGT) and relative humidity (RH) values derived from these averages of half-hourly temperature observations, and their corresponding half-hourly dew point measurements. The wet-bulb globe temperature is the measurement of heat stress used by the Australian Open tournament organisers to determine whether or not play should be stopped on the outside courts due to their extreme weather policy, (BBC Sport, 2014). Equations 1, 2, 3 are the formulae used to calculate the WGBT1 and RH2.

The number of half-hourly observations where a temperature of 35oC or more in January was recorded has increased more than two-fold between 1987–2014.

This was determined by using the least squares regression equation, obtaining an estimate of 20 for 1987, and an estimate of 46 half-hourly observations for 2014. The majority of these observations have been due to increased frequencies of 35oC observations during the hours of 11 a.m.–5 p.m. local time (Figure 4). These air temperature trends are substantially larger than the mean global warming trends over similar periods, with IPCC (2013) reporting an increase in global average temperatures of between 0.65oC and 1.06oC over the entire 133-year 1 American College of Sports Medicine, Prevention of thermal injuries during distance running - Position Stand. Med. J. Aust. 1984 Dec. pp. 876 2 Calculated using August-Roche Approximation: http:// andrew.rsmas.miami.edu/bmcnoldy/humidity_conversions.pdf

Science Article

Figure 2: Half-hourly air temperature, Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and Relative Humidity (RH) averaged over all the afternoon sessions on each of the 14 days that the Australian Open ran on each year.

Equations 1, 2, 3: Equations used to calculate Relative Humidity (RH) (%) and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) (oC). Tdew (oC) is dew point temperature, Tair (oC) is air temperature and e (hPa) is vapour pressure.

Figure 4: The total number of halfhourly observations that exceeded 35oC recorded in January at Melbourne Airport from 1987–2014 over all hours (blue line), daytime/afternoon (red line) and evening/night (green line), with trend lines.

period from 1880 to 2012 (IPCC, 2013), and upper-level estimates of 0.3oC per decade between 1979–2012 for land surface air temperatures (Hartmann et. al., 2013). There was also a statistically significant decrease in relative humidity in January (p=0.0203) consistent with drier conditions in central Victoria from the mid-1990s, and a statistically significant increase in the Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature both during the tournament (p=0.0137) and during January (p=0.0404).

Analysis of Melbourne’s daily maximum temperatures since 1911 At Melbourne Regional Office (MRO), the closest ACORN—SAT site to Melbourne Park, average daily summer maximum temperatures have also increased. A Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 95

broken trend analysis with the summer months separated into two periods: 1911–1989 and 1990–2014, found 0.2oC of warming prior to 1990 (Figure 5) and 1.82oC of warming after 1990 (Figure 6), with respect to the average daily summer maximum temperature (summer years are based on the year that contains January). This is consistent with the conclusions of a recent study using Fraction Attributable Risk of high temperatures that found a 2.5-fold increase in the risk of recent extreme summer temperatures in Australia associated with anthropogenic influences (Lewis & Karoly, 2013). These values were derived by multiplying the least-squares slope co-efficient for the relevant variables by the number of years in the record. The warming trend for the highest temperature recorded in January was also larger from

Science Article

Figure 5: Summer temperature trends at Melbourne Regional Office from 1910–1989.

Figure 6: Summer temperature trends at Melbourne Regional Office from 1990–2014.

1990, with the highest temperature increasing by 3.25oC over the 25-year period. Similarly during December, the observed trend from 1989–2013 (noting 1989 was classed as the summer of 1990 for this analysis) for the maximum December temperature recorded each year was 4.88oC. The interpretation of this is that it would be expected that the highest temperature recorded in December 2013 would be nearly 5oC greater than the highest temperature recorded in December 1989.

Analysis of Melbourne’s daily maximum and minimum temperatures since 1987 The increases observed in the half-hourly data from Melbourne Airport have also been accompanied by increases in the observed daily maximum and minimum temperatures at both Melbourne Airport and Laverton, in monthly and summer averages. Statistically significant trends were found in each of the metrics shown in Table 2, with all p-values less than 0.01.

This analysis found statistically significant changes in the distribution of Melbourne’s summer temperature profile.

Table 3 shows statistically-significant increases in the number of hot days and warm nights, as well as statisticallysignificant decreases in the number of cool days. This has potential implications for population health, with adverse Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 96

health impacts and increased mortality in Melbourne associated with a mean temperature (average of daytime and night-time temperature) above the threshold of 30°C for a single day and above 27°C for three consecutive days (Loughnan et. al., 2010).

To compensate for leap years and years with missing data a normalisation procedure was applied, which has its greatest effect on results prior to 1987; however it was not enough of an effect to alter the significance of any of the above results. There were instances where a metric was only significant at one site, not both, and these cases are not discussed for reasons of brevity.

Conclusions An overall warming of maximum and minimum temperatures has been observed in Melbourne over summer, especially in January and December, in conjunction with an earlier onset of high summer temperatures, and more frequent extreme heat being observed in summer. The overall warming appears to be centred on mid-late January, the time when the Australian Open has been run since 1987, a time where Melbourne often sees very high temperatures. A reduction in relative humidity has also been observed, however, this has not been sufficient to counter the temperature-driven increase

Science Article

Table 2: Statistically significant (at 1% level) trends in maximum and minimum temperature metrics for Melbourne Airport and Laverton observational sites, 1987–2014.

Table 3: Statistically-significant (to the 4% level) trends in the number of extreme temperature events, 1987–2014.

in the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT). This increase indicates a greater discomfort for the tennis players, spectators and officials at the Australian Open as well for Melburnians in general during summer. This increase in heat-related discomfort could lead to (or exacerbate existing) public health impacts related to both heat stress whilst exercising and reduction in physical activity participation due to hot weather dissuading people from exercising.

Acknowledgements The author acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology for supplying data and providing support in completing this study.

References Media interest in Open and heat e.g. http://theconversation. com/how-heat-can-make-your-body-melt-down-fromthe-inside-out-22042 AND http://www.theage.com.au/ comment/melbourne-open-for-tennis-or-closed-by-climate20140116-30xiq.html Trewin, B. Techniques involved in developing the Australian Climate Observations Reference Network— Surface Air Temperature (ACORN—SAT) dataset, CAWCR Technical Report No. 049, 2012 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/tennis/25755065

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 97

IPCC, 2013: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Table 2.4 in Hartmann, D.L., A.M.G. Klein Tank, M. Rusticucci, L.V. Alexander, S. Brönnimann, Y. Charabi, F.J. Dentener, E.J. Dlugokencky, D.R. Easterling, A. Kaplan, B.J. Soden, P.W. Thorne, M. Wild and P.M. Zhai, 2013: Observations: Atmosphere and Surface. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., Qin, D., Plattner,G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S.K., Boschung, J. , Nauels, A. , Xia, Y. , Bex, V. and Midgley, P.M. (eds.)].

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Lewis, S., and Karoly, D. (2013), Anthropogenic contributions to Australia’s record summer temperatures of 2013, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, pp.3705–3709 Loughnan, M. , Nicholls, N. and Tapper, N. 2010. When the heat is on: Threshold temperatures for AMI admissions to hospital in Melbourne Australia. Applied Geography, 30. pp. 63-69.

Charts from the Past with Blair Trewin

24 August 1929 The mid-winter of 1929 was a rather cold one in southeastern Australia. July 1929 was the coldest July on record for Victoria, more through consistently cold temperatures than any particular extremes (Ballarat had only four days above 10°C for the month). Severe frosts occurred in the first week of August, including −20.6°C at Kiandra, the only instance of a recorded minimum below −20°C at an Australian site other than Charlotte Pass.

Conditions warmed somewhat during August, but temperatures fell again with a major cold outbreak in the fourth week of the month. A strong cold front reached Victoria on the morning of the 23rd, and moved rapidly eastwards, placing southeastern Australia in a very cold southwesterly flow. A low then formed off the east coast on the 24th, providing a further northward push to the cold airmass on its western side and driving very cold air beyond the Queensland border.

The coldest air initially affected Victoria on the 23rd, with snow falling down to 100–200 metres in the Melbourne area. Snow was especially heavy in the Kinglake area, where falls of 15 centimetres were reported to be the heaviest for more than 20 years, while Belgrave had its heaviest snow for eight years. Tasmania was largely unaffected (there were newspaper reports of snow in Burnie, but temperature observations suggest this was probably hail). Amongst the impacts of the snow was the abandonment of a coursing meet at Craigieburn.

The coldest air moved north overnight and on the morning of the 24th. The Canberra region had its heaviest snowfalls since the city’s founding 16 years earlier (and its second in a few weeks), with 5–10 centimetres in Canberra and 15 centimetres in Queanbeyan. In the Braidwood area, where

about 10 centimetres fell, it was the heaviest snow since 1887. Further west, 5 to 10 centimetres fell at Bathurst and Molong with much deeper falls on higher ground (up to 60 centimetres between Bathurst and Lithgow), while light snow also settled on the ground at Parkes, at an altitude of 320 metres. While the rapid movement of the coldest air meant that daily maximum temperatures recovered during the afternoon to levels which were cold but not recordbreaking (8.0°C at Canberra, 5.6°C at Bathurst, 10.6°C at Forbes), an indication of the coldness of the air mass was the minimum of 3.8°C at Sydney, which was a late-season record. (The most notable maximum was probably 11.7°C at Port Macquarie—a very low value for a coastal site in a cold-outbreak, as opposed to persistent-rain, situation).

The final stage of the event was on the afternoon and evening of the 24th, as the coldest air moved into northern New South Wales. Snow fell down to 500 metres at places such as Inverell and Manilla, and reached the eastern side of the New England ranges around Dorrigo and Comboyne. The northernmost extent of the snow was in the far south of Queensland, where Stanthorpe had one of its heaviest falls of snow on record. Stanthorpe was about the northern limit of the moisture, with strong southerly winds causing dust storms further north in Queensland.

Conditions warmed up quickly on the 25th as a high pressure ridged in from the west. It was not a particularly wet system and precipitation totals from the event were mostly less than 10 mm, except on exposed coastlines in East Gippsland and the South Coast of New South Wales, which experienced onshore flow as the low formed on the 24th. The heaviest daily totals were 71 mm at Robertson and 69 mm at Burrawang.

Synoptic chart for 0900 AEST, 24 August, 1929.

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 98

Charts from the Past with Blair Trewin

From the same winter, but a little later in the season: John Curtin holding a lump of snow in Canberra, September 1929.

Image: John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library. Records of the Curtin Family. (JCPML00450/2).

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 99

The Research Corner with Damien Irving

The CWSLab workflow tool: an experiment in community code development Give anyone working in the climate sciences half a chance and they’ll chew your ear off about CMIP5. It’s the largest climate modelling project ever conducted and formed the basis for much of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, so everyone has an opinion on which are the best models, the level of confidence we should attach to projections derived from the models, etc. What they probably won’t tell you about is the profound impact that CMIP5 has had on climate data processing and management. In the lead-up to CMIP5 (2010/11), I was working at CSIRO in a support scientist role. When I think back on that time, I refer to it as The Great Data Duplication Panic. In analysing output from CMIP3 and earlier modelling projects, scientists simply downloaded data onto their local server (or even personal computer) and did their own analysis in isolation.

At the CSIRO in Aspendale alone, there must have been a dozen copies of the CMIP3 dataset floating around. Given its sheer size (~3 PetaBytes!), we recognised very quickly that this kind of data duplication just wasn’t going to fly for CMIP5.

Support scientists at the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology were particularly panicked about two types of data duplication: download duplication (i.e. duplication of the original dataset) and processing duplication (e.g. duplication of similarly processed data such as a common horizontal regridding). It was out of this panic that the Climate and Weather Science Laboratory (CWSLab) was born (although it wasn’t called that back then).

Download duplication The download duplication problem has essentially been addressed by two major components of the CWSLab project: the data library and computational infrastructure.

The data library stores a variety of local and international climate and weather datasets including CMIP5, while the computational infrastructure (hosted at the National Computational Infrastructure in Canberra; NCI) is built directly on top of that library so that scientists can do their data processing in situ rather than downloading to their own machine/server first. For extremely complex and/ or data intensive tasks the computational infrastructure offers a powerful supercomputer called Raijin and the

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 100

NCI High Performance Cloud, while for regular data analysis scientists are now being encouraged to try out the CWS Virtual Desktops. These virtual desktops have more grunt than your personal laptop or desktop (4 CPUs, 20 GB RAM, 66 GB storage) and were deemed the best way to provide scientists with remote access to data exploration tools that involve a graphical user interface, such as MATLAB and UV-CDAT. While solving the download duplication problem has been a fantastic achievement, it was aided by the fact that the solution didn’t require everyday scientists to change their behaviour in any appreciable way. They simply login to a machine at NCI rather than their local server and proceed with their data analysis as per normal. In contrast, the processing duplication problem will require a change in behaviour and may therefore be more difficult to solve…

Processing duplication The CWSLab’s answer to the processing duplication problem is the CWSLab workflow tool, which can be run from the CWS Virtual Desktop. The tool is a plugin/ add-on to the VisTrails workflow and provenance management system and allows you to build, run and capture metadata for analyses involving the execution of multiple command line programs. The code associated with the VisTrails plugin is hosted in three separate public GitHub repositories: •

https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-ctools

A collection of command line programs used in performing common weather and climate data analysis tasks. The programs can be written in any programming language, so long as they are able to parse the command line.

•

https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-mas

The source code for the plugin. In essence,

it contains a wrapper for each of the command

line programs in the cwsl-ctools repository,

which tells VisTrails how to implement those programs.

The Research Corner with Damien Irving •

https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-workflows

A collection of example workflows that use the VisTrails plugin.

The CWSLab workflow tool writes output files using a standardised data reference syntax, which is how it’s able to solve the processing duplication problem. For instance, if someone has already regridded the ACCESS1-0 model to a 1 by 1 degree global grid, the system will be able to find that file rather than re-creating/duplicating it.

A community model for help and code development Unlike the NCI infrastructure and data library which have dedicated staff, the group of support scientists behind the VisTrails plugin have very small and infrequent time allocations on the project. This means that if the workflow tool is to succeed in the long run, all weather and climate scientists who do data analysis at NCI will need to pitch in on both code development and requests for help.

Fortunately, GitHub is perfectly setup to accommodate both tasks. Scientists can “fork” a copy of the CWSLab code repositories to their own GitHub account, make any changes to the code that they’d like to see implemented (e.g. a new script for performing linear regression), and then submit a “pull request” to the central CWSLab repository. The community can then view the proposed changes and discuss them before finally accepting or rejecting. Similarly, instead of a help desk, requests for assistance are posted to the CWSLab chat room on Gitter (https://gitter.im/CWSL/cwsl-mas). These rooms are a new feature associated with GitHub code repositories that are specifically designed for chatting about code. People post questions, and anyone in the community who knows the answer can post a reply. If the question is too long or complex for the chat room, it can be posted as an issue on the relevant GitHub repository for further community discussion.

Multiple birds with one stone By adopting a community approach, the workflow tool addresses a number of other issues besides data duplication: 1.

Code review.

Software developers review each other’s code all the time, but scientists never do. Recognising this as a problem, the Mozilla Science Lab have now run two iterations of their Code Review for Scientists project to figure out when and

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 101

how scientific code should be reviewed. They’ve found that code review at the completion of a project (e.g. when you submit a paper to a journal) is fairly pointless, because the reviewer hasn’t been intimately involved in the code development process (i.e. they can make cosmetic suggestions but nothing of substance). Instead, code review needs to happen throughout a scientific research project. The pull request system used by the CWSLab workflow tool allows for this kind of ongoing review.

2.

Code duplication.

Any scientist that is new to data analysis in the weather and climate sciences has to spend a few weeks (at least) writing code to do basic data input/output and processing.

The open availability of the cwsl-ctools repository means they no longer need to reinvent the wheel. They have access to a high quality (i.e. lots of people have reviewed it) code repository for all those common and mundane data analysis tasks.

3.

Reproducible research.

The reproducibility crisis in computational research has been a topic of conversation in the editorial pages of Nature and Science for a number of years now, however very few papers in weather and climate science journals include sufficient documentation (i.e. details of the software and code used) for readers to reproduce key results. The CWSLab workflow tool automatically captures detailed metadata about a given workflow and therefore makes the generation of such documentation easy.

Conclusion The CWSLab workflow tool is an ambitious and progressive initiative that will require a shift in the status quo if it is to succeed. Researchers will need to overcome the urge to develop code in isolation and the embarrassment associated with sharing their code. They’ll also have to learn new skills like version control with git and GitHub and how to write scripts that can parse the command line. These things are not impossible (e.g. at the AMOS Software Carpentry workshop in Brisbane last month we covered command line programs and version control in a single afternoon) and the benefits to all involved will be substantial, so here’s hoping it takes off!

For more information about the CWSLab, check out the website: http://cwslab.nci.org.au/

O CE A N S & AT M O S P H E R E F L A G S H I PA N S & AT M O S P H E R E F L A G S H I P

Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry Observations and Modelling Conference incorporating the

Cape Grim Annual Science Meeting 2015 Aims of Meeting

Wednesday 11th November – Friday 13th November 2015

•

To understand the role of atmospheric chemistry and composition in global atmospheric change as expressed in the Australasian region and internationally.

• To provide a forum for Australian atmospheric composition and chemistry researchers from different disciplines (in situ observations, remote sensing observations, modelling) to share ideas, enhance collaboration and develop a coordinated regional approach to characterising atmospheric processes in Australasia.

Students and early career researchers are particularly encouraged to attend and present their work. Travel grants are available thanks to sponsorship from NSW Trade & Investment and the University of Wollongong Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health.

Location: The conference will be held at the Murramarang Beachfront Nature Resort on the NSW south coast.

Murramarang is about a 2.5‐hour drive from Wollongong, a 2‐hr drive from Canberra, or a 4‐hour drive from the Sydney airport

Registration and Abstracts The meeting registration fee of $423 AUD includes two nights' accommodation and all meals including lunch on Wednesday 11th before the meeting starts and lunch on Friday 13th after the meeting closes. To register please email clarem@uow.edu.au AND contact Murramarang Beachfront Nature Resort to pay the registration fee.

(If you wish to stay longer or have special dietary requirements please make arrangements with staff at Murramarang directly.)

Abstracts for those wishing to apply for funding must be submitted by August 15th. All other abstracts are due October 21st. Please use the abstract template provided and send to Nada Derek (nada.derek@csiro.au) and copies to Clare Murphy (clarem@uow.edu.au) and Paul Krummel (paul.krummel@csiro.au).

Funding Funding is available to support attendance at the meeting. Preference will be given to students / early career researchers and keynote speakers. Requests considered include waivers of registration fees (which include accommodation and meals) and requests for support towards travel. Please note that abstracts must be submitted by August 15th to be considered for support.

To apply, complete the form on our website: http://smah.uow.edu.au/cac/UOW194388.

Sponsors We are grateful to the ACCOMC2015 sponsors: NSW Trade & Investment (Conference Sponsorship Program), the University of Wollongong Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health (Forefront of Research Events program), and EcoTech Ltd.

Contact For questions regarding the meeting, please contact Dr Clare Murphy (clarem@uow.edu.au) or Nada Derek (nada.derek@csiro.au) or check out the conference webpage: http://smah.uow.edu.au/cac/UOW194388.

Sponsored by:

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 102

EcoTech Ltd

Calendar

2015

2016

October

January

5–9 11th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography, Santiago, Chile

10–14 Sixth Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python. AMS, New Orleans, USA

19–22 CAWCR Annual Workshop, Coupled Modelling and Prediction: from Weather to Climate, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne

February

27–29 4th Pages Aus2k Workshop, Auckland, New Zealand

21–26 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA

27–30 GREENHOUSE 2015: Atmosphere, oceans and ice, Hobart, Tasmania

8–11 AMOS National Conference 2016, Melbourne

April November 9–11 Satellite Oceanography User Workshop, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne 11–13 Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry Observations and Modelling Conference (incorporating the Cape Grim Annual Science Meeting), Murramarang, NSW 16–19 2nd World Congress on Disaster Management, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India 17–19 International Conference on the “Water and Energy cycles in the Tropics” Institut d’Océanographie, Paris, France 23–25 Meteorological Society of New Zealand—Annual Conference. Meteorology and Ocean, Raglan, New Zealand 29 November–4 December Biannual MODSIM2015 congress of the Modelling and Simulations Society of Australia and New Zealand, Gold Coast, Australia.

30 November–4 December International Symposium on the Indian Ocean - “Dynamics of the Indian Ocean: Perspective and Retrospective”, Goa, India

December 14–18 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA

Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 103

17–22 EGU 2016, Vienna International Center, Vienna, Austria

BAMOS Author Guidelines

For all submissions: The Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (BAMOS) accepts short (<2500 words) contributions of original research work for peerreview and consideration in the “Science Articles” section.

Longer articles will be considered at the discretion of the Editor and Editor-in-Chief. Articles submitted to BAMOS should also be appropriate for the whole AMOS community (from weather enthusiasts to professional members) and should aim to be concise without using excessive scientific jargon.

For the peer-reviewed “Science Articles” section, authors should follow these guidelines: 1. Articles should be submitted as a PDF or Word document (or similar) for peer-review and include all figures and tables either within the main text or consecutively at the end of the article.

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4. An abstract is required and should not be more than 150 words in length.

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6. References should follow these example formats: •

Journal Articles:

Jung, T., Ferranti, L. and Tompkins, A.M., 2006, Response to the summer of 2003 Mediterranean SST anomalies over Europe and Africa, Journal of Climate, 19, 5439–5454.

•

Books:

Holton, J.R., 2004, An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. Academic Press, New York. 535 pp.

•

Book chapter:

Raymond, D.J., 1993. Chapter 2: Observational constraints on cumulus parameterizations. In: The representation of cumulus convection in numerical models, Meteorological Monographs, 24 (46), 17–28, American Meteorological Society, Boston, USA. Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol. 28 page 104

•

Theses:

Trewin, B., 2001, Extreme temperature events in Australia.

PhD Thesis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

•

Web sites:

Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2012, Bushfire history - Major bushfires in Victoria, www.dse. vic.gov.au/fire-and-other-emergencies/major-bushfires-invictoria/ 7. We recommend that the author(s) make five suggestions for referees to undertake the peer-review.

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2015 AMOS Council Executive

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2015 Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society ISSN 1035-6576

Editor

Melissa Lyne Email: melissa@amos.org.au

Science Editor

Willow Hallgren Email: whallgren@tpg.com.au

Associate Editor (oceanography)

Christopher Bull

Regional Sub-editors Michael Hewson (Brisbane) Shannon Mason (Melbourne) Fiona Johnson (NSW) Bob Cechet (ACT) Craig Macaulay (TAS) Jenny Hopwood (WA)

Contributors Blair Trewin Damien Irving

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