AMOS
AustralianMeteorological & OceanographicSociety
Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society Vol 25, No.6, December 2012 ISSN 1035-6576
Contents Editorial ..........................................................................................................................................................................88 President’s Column ........................................................................................................................................................88 News ..............................................................................................................................................................................89 News from the Centres ..................................................................................................................................................93 Conference reports .........................................................................................................................................................94 Obituary — Neil Streten ..............................................................................................................................................96 Articles ...........................................................................................................................................................................97 D. Irving — Improving how we do science: A boot camp and blog ...................................................................................97 B. V. Hamon — My working life: 1941–1979 ..................................................................................................................98 Meet a Member .......................................................................................................................................................... 103 Snapshot ..................................................................................................................................................................... 104 Charts from the Past with Blair Trewin ....................................................................................................................... 105
ISSN 1035-6576 Cover picture: This photo was taken around sunset on 27 April 2012, in Noumea, New Caledonia during the 11th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography. The view is from the beachfront at Royal Tera Beach Resort on Promenade Roger Laroque, looking our over Baie de l’Anse Vata to the Coral Sea. Image: AMOS member Tess Parker. 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
Pushing BAMOS forwards As the year draws to a close I thought I would follow up my announcement in the October issue about increasing the profile of BAMOS with my intentions for the next year. In the process of raising BAMOS’s profile, we have developed a proper peer-review policy (members can acquire a copy by contacting me and we will look to make it publicly available in the future) and a list of author guidelines. The guidelines are included in this issue of BAMOS (see p107) and will be included in all subsequent issues. These guidelines are likely to evolve over time and I would welcome any suggestions from our readers. The guidelines are there to make the process of preparation, submission, review, response and publication even faster (and they will also make formatting easier for the editor!). All of the steps undertaken so far have been to make BAMOS a more attractive medium in which people can publish their work. The next step is to make BAMOS more visible by advertising it to AMOS members as well as the wider atmospheric and oceanic science community. I have started this process by drafting an email to all members to encourage people to make submissions to BAMOS. Following that I aim to advertise BAMOS in the e-newsletter and to send out monthly reminder emails asking for contributions. I would also like to work with groups at various scientific institutions to have visible adverts for BAMOS, which could encourage nonmembers to submit articles. The main reason for doing this advertising push is simple—I am receiving almost no science articles for
BAMOS. I have had to request that people submit articles to BAMOS and while I will continue to do this I would much prefer to have people actively seeking to publish work here. So, now that the profile has been raised it is up to me to advertise BAMOS more so that people are aware of its new status. This should (hopefully) encourage more submissions. I would also like to re-iterate that the submitted articles do not necessarily need to be peer-reviewed. For example, I would very much like to see contributions from weather enthusiasts who experience an interesting event and want to mix a few photographs with a description of the event. Also, informative and general-interest pieces (such as the article by Damien Irving on p97 of this issue or Bruce Hamon’s autobiographical piece on p98) are very welcome (and not peer-reviewed) so feel free to send any such articles my way. We also accept a wide range of news and conference reports, so if you have something interesting to report on then please do so as this is open to anyone. Overall, I hope that by doing the above we can refresh BAMOS somewhat and keep it going strong. I will of course keep you informed of my progress but I hope that my next editorial will return to a more atmospheric/ oceanic theme. I wish you all the very best over Christmas and the New Year!
Duncan Ackerley
President’s Column
A busy summer ahead As I write this, we are about to reach the start of summer. For some of our readers this means holidays are approaching, for some it means exams have just finished, for others it means that the time available to clear the year’s to-do list before the end of the year is shrinking rapidly (like many of you, I place myself squarely in the final category). For those who are in the operational field, summer is anything but a relaxed time. No-one who lives in a region susceptible to tropical cyclones or bushfires will need reminding of what can happen at this time of year, and it is also a peak time of year for other forms of severe weather in many parts of the country. The weather doesn’t stop for the Christmas–New Year period and the Australian community owes its thanks to those in forecasting and other areas who don’t stop for it either. Our science’s capacity to forecast for, and issue warnings for, severe events continues to improve—the ECMWF Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 88
forecast for Hurricane Sandy was nothing short of remarkable. There are still limits to the science, though, and more limits to how well the outputs of the science can be effectively communicated, which is what is needed if the message is to get out to those who need to know. Recent events in Brisbane underline that public expectations in this area are very high indeed—perhaps unrealistically so. Summer is also the time when the sharp end of climate change tends to make itself felt, as every year a different part of the world plays host to an exceptional heatwave, with all the consequences which that brings. In 2010 it was Russia, in the last two years it has often been North America. We can only hope that such events won’t come our way this summer, but against a background of overall warming, extreme heat is something which we can expect to be getting more and more familiar with over the coming decades.
Summer is also the season of the AMOS National Conference—a timing which makes it hard for operational people to attend because they’re busy with some of the things mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. (One of the things we’re investigating is the feasibility of running ‘virtual’ conferences and seminars to engage the operational community better). Despite this, it is very pleasing to see the level of interest in the Conference. More than 400 abstracts have been submitted, the most ever for a standalone AMOS Conference, and we hope that this will extend to a record turnout. We will also be presenting several awards at the Conference, all of which
have worthy winners, but I’ll leave that announcement for the day. Finally, we are continuing the process of planning for AMOS’s future. As part of this, you should either have received, or be about to receive, a link to a survey about AMOS (or a paper form if you still get the Bulletin in hard copy). I would ask you to make sure you respond to this so that we can get as broad an indication as we can of the interests of our members, to help guide our direction for the future.
Blair Trewin
News
International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) News Tom Beer
National IAMAS Correspondent IAMAS International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation (ICCP) and the International Ozone Commission (IO3C) will work on the resolution together.
Main decisions of the IAMAS Meeting on 15-16 Nov 2012 Several IAMAS and other IUGG representatives met in Paris on 15–16 November 2012, at a meeting at Paris Observatory hosted by IAMAS President, Athena Coustenis. Fruitful discussions took place during that meeting which offered a good opportunity for exchanges and dialogue among the various representatives. t
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It was agreed that there was solid science interest and justification for having a joint IAMAS-International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO)-International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) assembly in 2017. However, since different associations have different procedures and time frames to decide on the place and theme of the next assembly, it was recommended that after the meeting that the minutes be sent to all three associations for discussion before the IAMAS (early July), IAPSO (mid July) and IAGA (August) major conferences in 2013. Presidents of the three associations will meet in September 2013 to reach a final decision. John Turner was appointed to be the chair of the IAMAS Early Career Scientist Award committee and he agreed to write to Members at Large to invite them to serve on the committee. The IAMAS Bureau encourages cooperation between IAMAS and Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS), an international journal sponsored by the Chinese National Committee for IAMAS. IAMAS meetings are welcome to publish special issues in AAS. Individual contribution is also welcome. IAMAS will consider issuing a resolution on geo-engineering at the Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly 2013 (DACA-13) in response to the to-be-released IPCC assessment report. The
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DACA-13: the first deadline is approaching t
Deadline for abstracts with grant application: 14 December 2012
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Deadline for abstracts without grant application: 31 January 2013
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Acceptance information and draft program: 28 February 2013
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Deadline early registration: 31 March 2013
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Conference DACA-13: 8–12 July 2013
Call for nominations for the IAMAS Early Career Scientist award (deadline: 28 Feb, 2013) IAMAS will present this award plus a medal to an early career scientist working in any area of the atmospheric sciences, who has carried out excellent scientific research and who has the potential to make a significant contribution in the future. “Early career” is taken as a scientist who had earned their highest degree within the last 10 years and were under 40 years of age when nominated. Scientists can be nominated for the Medal by the IAMAS commissions, who will seek potential nominees from early career scientists working in their fields. Each commission may nominate only one scientist prior to an Assembly. Scientists may also be nominated by Members at Large. Nominations should be received by John Turner (JTU@ bas.ac.uk), chair of the Award Committee, by 28 February 2013. The nomination should include a brief (less than 2 page) account of the achievements of the nominated scientist, details of their involvement with IAMAS, a list of their major publications and an assessment of their
potential. The recipient will be then be selected by the Award Committee. The first medal will be presented at DACA-13. The recipient is expected to be present at the Assembly and give a lecture at an appropriate session. If no suitable candidates are nominated the medal will not be awarded. The recipient will receive an inscribed medal and a certificate signed by the President and Secretary-General of IAMAS.
Call for ‘letters of intent’ (pre-bids) for hosting IAMAS 2017 The IAMAS bureau invites interested national committees to express interest in hosting the IAMAS-assembly in 2017. IAMAS will seriously consider a joint event together with IAGA and IAPSO. Until mid-June 2013 official bids are to be submitted, which will be discussed at the IAMAS Executive Committee meetings during DACA-13.
conference web site: http://iccp2012.tropos.de/ or through the ICCP webpage: http://iccp-iamas.org. A special panel was held discussing climate geoengineering, its potential for success and ethical issues related to the use of such projects. A special award was given to Dr. Robert Knollenberg in recognition of his pioneering work in developing the electro-optical spectrometers that revolutionized the measurements of cloud microphysical properties. Prof. John Latham was awarded the ICCP Honorary Member in recognition of many years of outstanding scientific contributions to cloud physics and cloud electrification. Eleven new ICCP members were elected, replacing those that completed two terms: the president, Zev Levin; the vice-president, Andrea Flossmann; and the secretary, David Starr completed their term and new officers were elected.
Report on the ICCP conference in Leipzig and changes in the ICCP leadership
The new officers are:
The ICCP held its International Conference on Clouds and Precipitation in Leipzig Germany, 29 July to 4 August 2012. Some 550 people from 34 countries attended the conference. The program consisted of thirteen sessions covering a wide spectrum of topics related to clouds and precipitation. The full program is displayed on the
Vice President: Prof. Robert Rauber (USA)
President: Prof. Andrea Flossmann (France) Secretary: Darrel Baumgardner (Mexico) The next venue for the ICCP conference (in 2016) will be Manchester, England.
CSIRO Media releases Craig Macaulay
CSIRO, Science Journalist, Marine and Atmospheric Research. Email: Craig.Macaulay@csiro.au
Designing solar arrays for a climate benefit (6 November 2012) In a collaboration between Game Changer Ventures and CSIRO, this study will initially focus upon what effects large solar arrays, used to generate renewable solar power, might have on the surrounding climate. In a geo-engineering study with the potential to assist in the design and planning of extensive solar farms, CSIRO climate scientists Drs Alberto Troccoli and Jack Katzfey will investigate the possible changes to the local climate produced by massive solar farms. The scientists will specifically evaluate whether such solar arrays can be engineered in such a way as to produce statistically significant rainfall differences in addition to electricity. Dr Troccoli said the principle of solar arrays is that they absorb energy from the sun and convert part of that energy to electricity which is then transferred via the electricity grid to remote locations. Thus less energy from the sun is available to heat the solar farm site. “Local climate impact would depend significantly upon the location of the solar array relative to prevailing winds and atmospheric moisture, as well as the shape and orientation of the array.” Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 90
“It is interesting,” said Dr Troccoli, “that solar power plants proposed under the Solar Flagships program in Australia are not designed with any consideration of their effect on weather but this should be determined, both positively and negatively, before they are built.” “For example, we will be trying to assess whether a large solar array can be engineered in such a way as to increase rainfall or induce rainfall in the vicinity of the array, preferentially downwind and not directly over the array,” he said. Mr Riedl, CEO of Game Changer Ventures which is partially funding the project, said that with arrays the size of cities already in planning, such as the one under the DESERTEC project in Morocco, designed to help meet Europe’s energy needs, there are likely to be changes to the local climate and it is important to engineer the arrays in such a way as to make the changes beneficial whenever possible. Large solar power plant installations will locally modify solar reflection, land surface characteristics, vegetation type and energy absorption. “This will have an effect on both the local dynamics and the energy balance of the atmosphere, in ways difficult to compute with simplistic assumptions,” Dr Troccoli said. “A complex numerical
dynamical model will thus need to be employed to provide insights into this intriguing problem.” Mr Riedl said the use of solar panels with reflective backs as opposed to absorptive fronts, would enable these factors to be controlled to some extent by selectively flipping appropriate panels across the array, thus changing panels from absorbing energy to reflecting it.
The widening gap between present emissions and the two-degree target (3 December 2012) “A shift to a 2 °C pathway requires an immediate, large, and sustained global mitigation effort,” says Global Carbon Project (GCP) executive-director and CSIRO co-author of Peters et al. (2012), Dr Pep Canadell. Global CO2 emissions have increased by 58% since 1990, rising 3% in 2011, and 2.6% in 2012. The most recent figure is estimated from a 3.3% growth in global gross domestic product and a 0.7% improvement in the carbon intensity of the economy. Dr Canadell said the latest carbon dioxide emissions continue to track at the high end of a range of emission scenarios, expanding the gap between current trends and the course of mitigation needed to keep global warming below 2 °C. He said on-going international climate negotiations need to recognise and act upon the growing gap between the current pathway of global greenhouse emissions and the likely chance of holding the increase in global average temperature below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. The research, led by Dr Glen Peters from the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO), Norway, compared recent carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and gas flaring with emission scenarios used to project climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “We need a sustained global CO2 mitigation rate of at least 3% if global emissions are to peak before 2020 and follow an emission pathway that can keep the temperature increase below 2 °C”, Dr Peters said. “Mitigation requires energy transition led by the largest emitters of China, the USA, the European Union and India”. He said that remaining below a 2 °C rise above pre-industrial levels will require a commitment to technological, social and political innovations and an increasing need to rely on net negative emissions in future. The Global Carbon Project, supported by CSIRO and the Australian Climate Change Science Program, generates annual emission summaries contributing to a process of informing policies and decisions on adaptation, mitigation, and their associated costs. The summaries are linked to long-term emission scenarios based on the degree of action taken to limit emissions.
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Peters, G.P., Andrew, R.M., Boden, T., Canadell, J.G., Ciais, P., Le Quéré, C., Marland, G., Raupach, M.R. and Wilson, C., 2012. The challenge to keep global warming below 2 °C. Nature Climate Change, doi: 10.1038/nclimate1783.
Our changing beaches—scientists look for a break in the surf zone (4 December 2012) Australian scientists are taking a closer look at a south Perth beach in a research project to improve short and long-term beach and shoreline predictions. A small team of oceanographers from CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship is using a suite of sensors, radar and video cameras to monitor beach change at Secret Harbour. The project is part of Australia’s ocean forecasting system, BLUElink, a joint initiative of CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Royal Australian Navy, that aims to provide forecasts of ocean currents and eddies, and surface and subsurface ocean properties. “Ultimately, we are trying to build a capability to forecast changes in surf zone sand bars and gutters as sea, wind and wave conditions change,” says CSIRO’s Dr Graham Symonds. Dr Symonds said Australia’s beaches and shorelines are continually changing with varying wave conditions and sea level. He said regular beach goers would be familiar with changes in beach shape and shoreline position, for example erosion following storms, or rocky sections exposed during winter and covered with sand during summer. Long term residents may be aware of progressive changes in their local beach over periods of many years. “In the face of changing sea levels, the effects of potential inundation and coastal erosion will continue to be a focus of coastal councils and communities for the foreseeable future. “Our intention is to harness the data we are acquiring here at Secret Harbour and construct a computer model capable of predicting beach shape and shoreline position under the full range of wave conditions.” “There’s an immediate application for this research by the Royal Australian Navy with amphibious landings, however it can also be applied to improve beach safety, monitoring coastal erosion and understanding of how beaches might respond to climate change,” said Dr Symonds.
The suite of sensors at Secret Harbour, Western Australia, used to monitor the surf zone. Images: Graham Symonds, CSIRO .
Secret Harbour beach was chosen because it is a relatively straight beach that is typical of some of the Perth metropolitan beaches. In an experiment that has been running since May 2011, the CSIRO science team has constructed a beach tower, installed a radar system, inwater current meters and pressure sensors, and a video camera system, focussing on an area of beach about 1 km long and extending offshore about 500 m. “Waves break over shallow sandbars so video and radar observations of breaking waves provide a measure of the underlying bathymetry. Gaps in the surf zone are associated with deeper water where the waves don’t break and often indicate the location of rip currents.” Dr Symonds said the laptop-based ocean modelling system for the surf-zone will provide wave and current forecasts several times a day for use by the Royal Australian Navy, and will also be relevant for rescue agencies, environmental protection and recreational marine activities such as fishing and surfing. The project will help develop a core capacity in wave and near-shore dynamics comparable with that available in ocean and atmosphere dynamics in Australia.
Ocean science robot revolution hits symbolic millionth milestone (12 December 2012) An innovative global observing system based on drifting sensors cycling from the surface to the ocean mid-depths is being celebrated by scientists today after reaching a major milestone—one million incredibly valuable ocean observations. From 10 drifting robotic sensors deployed by Australia in the Indian Ocean in late 1999, the international research program has been quietly building up a global array which is now enabling new insights into the ocean’s central influence on global climate and marine ecosystems. The initial objective was to maintain a network of 3000 sensors, in ice-free open ocean areas, providing both real-time data and higher quality delayed mode data and analyses to underpin a new generation of ocean and climate services. The program is called Argo. “We’re still about 50 years behind the space community and its mission to reach the moon,” says Argo co-Chair and CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship scientist, Dr Susan Wijffels. “The world’s deep ocean environment is as hostile as that in space, but because it holds so many clues to our climate future exploring it with the Argo observing network is a real turning point for science.” “In its short life the Argo dataset has become an essential mainstay of climate and ocean researchers complementing information from earth observing satellites and uniquely providing subsurface information giving new insights into changes in the Earth’s hydrological warming rates and opening the possibility of longer term climate forecasting,” Dr Wijffels said.
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Although the one millionth profile of the upper ocean, measured from the surface to a depth of two kilometres, was achieved in early November, oceanographers around the world are today celebrating this critical benchmark in ocean monitoring which delivers data to a scientist’s desk within 24 hours of sampling. Celebrations included a series of high-level international presentations by senior scientists involving Dr Wijffels, her Argo co-Chair Prof Dean Roemmich from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, oceanographer Dr Josh Willis from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Dr Jim Cummings from the US Naval Research Laboratory. The Argo array has now risen to more than 3500 sensors, the largest there has ever been. The average lifetime of the floats has improved in the past decade greatly increasing the efficiency of the operation. Presently 28 countries contribute to the annual $25 million cost of operating the program. The USA is the largest provider of sensors to the network, with Australia, led by CSIRO with the Integrated Marine Observing System and the Bureau of Meteorology, maintaining more than 300 profilers for deployment mainly in the Indian and Southern Oceans, and Tasman Sea. The 1.5 m tall robotic sensors cycle vertically every 10 days, sampling temperature and salinity. At the surface, the sensors despatch their data via satellite to national centres across the globe. The data are then checked, packaged and sent to synchronous assembly centres in France and the USA. The sensor’s ascent and descent is regulated by a hydraulic pump, powered with lithium batteries. Their life expectancy is between 4–9 years, averaging more than 200 profiles per sensor as they drift with the currents and eddies. Data are collected at the impressive rate of one profile approximately every four minutes (360 profiles per day or 11000 per month), and on 4 November 2012 Argo passed the symbolic milestone of collecting its one millionth profile. To put this achievement in context, since the start of deep sea oceanography in the late 19th century, ships have collected just over half a million temperature and salinity profiles to a depth of 1 km and only 200000 to 2 km. At the present rate of data collection Argo will take only eight years to collect its next million profiles. Dr Wijffels said almost 1200 scientific papers based on or incorporating Argo data have been generated since the start of the program. Prominent findings include: t
Analysis of ocean salinity patterns that suggests a substantial (16% to 24%) intensification of the global water cycle will occur in a future 2 °C to 3 °C warmer world.
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A more detailed view of the world’s largest ocean current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
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An insight into changing bodies of water in the Southern Ocean and the way in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere.
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Isolating the effect of ocean warming and thermal expansion on the global energy and sea level budget.
Dr Wijffels said Argo data are now also being widely used in operational services for the community, including weather and climate prediction and ocean forecasting for environmental emergency response, shipping, defence, and safety at sea. Co-Chair of the International Argo Steering Committee, CSIRO Wealth from Ocean’s Susan Wijffels celebrates the 1,000,000th Argo ocean observation. Image: Craig Macaulay, CSIRO.
News from the Centres
NSW Centre News Fiona Johnson Chair, NSW Centre
In early November the University of Wollongong hosted its first AMOS NSW-sponsored seminar. The seminar was presented by Dr Jody Webster, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. Dr Webster presented new and exciting results on the history of the growth and demise of the Great Barrier Reef as the climate warmed from the Last Glacial Maximum (20000 years ago) to present. The data were generated out of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) to drill in a succession of submerged reefs from the northern and central Great Barrier Reef. The IODP data document a dynamic coral reef system that grew, drowned and backstepped repeatedly up-slope as sea level rose and climate changed. The results of their work have implications for how coral reefs respond to environmental disturbance. The seminar was well attended by a bumper crowd of staff and students. Students were also given an opportunity to meet with Jody over drinks and dinner after the seminar.
The University of Wollongong AMOS membership is set to increase as a result of the seminar with several attendees keen to join the Society. The NSW AMOS centre AGM was held on Tuesday 5 December at Tailors on Central. A big thank you to the 2012 committee for a great year of technical events including our first two events held outside of Sydney. In particular I would like to thank Steven Phipps for his hard work over the last two years as chair of the NSW committee. The 2013 committee is really strong and Steven is to be congratulated for building up the centre to encourage this. The 2013 committee was elected as follows: Fiona Johnson (chair), Anthony Kiem (vicechair), Michelle Ho (secretary), Ian Macadam (treasurer), Timothy Constable, Agata Imielska, Andrew King, Mick Logan, Nicola Maher, Steven Phipps and Chris Webb. Happy Christmas to all and we look forward to seeing you at our NSW events in 2013.
Melbourne Centre News: Chair report 2012 Damien Irving
Outgoing Chair, AMOS Melbourne Centre This has been another busy and successful year for the AMOS Melbourne Centre. Building on the good work of previous years, the Centre has continued to organise prominent events for both those studying/working in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences and the general public. In fact, the Centre added to its regular annual event schedule in 2012 by hosting a postgraduate symposium (see p95 for a report), even while taking on the extra responsibility of organising the 2013 AMOS National Conference. Major activities of 2012 included: t th annual weather tipping competition t "$03/ 4"5 MBVODI t 43&9 QVCMJD MFDUVSF Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 93
t th annual Pearman Lecture t th annual Priestley Cup soccer tournament t UIF 7JDUPSJBO 1PTUHSBEVBUF 4ZNQPTJVN The year started in March with two public forums at the State Library of Victoria. The first discussed the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation 43&9 XIJMF UIF TFDPOE MBVODIFE UIF "VTUSBMJBO Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN-SAT) dataset. These events were co-hosted with the Monash Sustainability Institute and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology respectively. Both were
very well received, with over 100 people in attendance at each. A highlight of the year was certainly the Pearman Lecture, due to both the prominent International speaker and excellent catering. Professor Francis Zwiers from the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium in Canada spoke at CSIRO in June, on progress in detecting anthropogenic influence on temperature and precipitation extremes. Following the new format established last year, the once traditional beach volleyball tournament was replaced with a social event—this time a morning tea prior to the lecture. Frank Drost’s wife Kelly generously offered to cater the event, and certainly lived up to the reputation she has established in the tea rooms of the University of Melbourne and Bureau of Meteorology. Given the high popularity of the Priestley Cup soccer tournament in recent years, the Melbourne Centre committee decided it was appropriate to upgrade this year to a more impressive trophy for the winning team (see p77 of the October 2012 issue of BAMOS for a picture— Ed.). Approximately 60 players and spectators attended the Albert Park Indoor Soccer Centre in late August to witness CSIRO take the title for the first time since 2002. To finish the year, the Victorian Postgraduate Symposium was held at the University of Melbourne on November 28. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science kindly provided $1,000 to cover catering costs, including a ‘pizza and beer’ social dinner event. A total of 19 students from Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Melbourne gave presentations on not only their research, but also their experiences as a postgraduate. Given the popularity of this symposium, it is anticipated that it will become an annual event. In relation to student activities, we have decided to partner with the Bureau of Meteorology Training Centre
(BMTC) for the delivery of the annual careers evening. Instead of being held at the end of the year, it will now be held in April, around the time that applications open for the BMTC Graduate Diploma in Meteorology. In accordance with the nationally consistent regional awards format recently adopted by AMOS National Council, the Melbourne Centre will also be awarding a new annual student award known as the “AMOS Regional Award for Academic Achievement.” It replaces existing awards given at Monash University and the University of Melbourne, and represents a state-wide prize awarded to the best Undergraduate, Honours or Masters student studying in the sciences covered by AMOS. The 2012 winner will be announced at the 2013 National Conference. On top of these regular activities, the Melbourne Centre is excited to be hosting the 2013 AMOS National Conference. Vaughan Barras generously volunteered to be the Conference Convenor late last year, and has been working tirelessly throughout the year in preparation for February 2013 (along with his general organising committee and scientific committee). The 409 submitted abstracts are a testament to the hard work of everyone involved and suggest that the Melbourne conference will be the largest stand alone AMOS conference yet. My sincere thanks go to the Melbourne Centre committee for 2012—Frank Drost, Vaughan Barras, Mitchell Black, Nick Tyrrell, Luke Hande and Sugata Narsey—as well as Luke Garde for running the weather tipping competition. Without your efforts and enthusiasm none of these events would have been possible. A particularly big thank you goes to Vaughan, who will be stepping down from the committee after many years of service. Besides his role as 2013 Conference Convenor, Vaughan was also the Chair of the Melbourne Centre in 2010 and 2011 and has played a large part in the success of the weather tipping competition. He will certainly be missed on committee and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
Conference reports
Two hundred years of Australian climate history revealed 2 August 2012, Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria Joshua Cockfield The University of Melbourne Public sermons to stop the rain, thermometers kept in pubs and forest giants in Tasmania have all helped to improve our understanding of south-eastern Australia’s climate history, according to a public talk at the State Library of Victoria. In August 2012, around 80 people attended the public talk that was the culmination of a three-year project run by the South Eastern Australian Recent Climate History (SEARCH) team at the University of Melbourne. This interdisciplinary project brought together climate scientists, historians and meteorologists in a unique study
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that sheds light on the climate in south-eastern Australia since 1788. “When we experience extreme weather in Australia, people will often ask, ‘Is this normal?’ The only way to answer that question is by looking to the past. If we uncover what our climate was like in the past then can we judge the significance of what we are seeing today,” said project leader Joëlle Gergis. “As Winston Churchill famously said, ‘the further back you look, the further forward you can see’.” The presentation included descriptions of the weather conditions experienced by the First Fleet, rainfall patterns
in New South Wales extending back to 1783 and a 200year history of water flowing through the River Murray. The rainfall reconstruction, based on natural indicators such as tree rings and coral samples, indicated that the recent drought between 1998–2008 was the worst since European settlement. Early instrumental records of temperature and rainfall were presented, including temperature observations taken by one of Melbourne’s first settlers, John Pascoe Fawkner. Fakwner kept a thermometer in a cool, dark room in 1835–1836, most likely the cellar of his hotel. Other early weather records showed extreme events including heavy rainfall in Sydney in 1841 and 1844, and extremely hot conditions across Victoria on Black Thursday, 6 February 1851. Historians on the project also discussed how the early settlers handled the extremes of the south-eastern Australian climate, and how the climate may have shaped early colonisation. Strategies included building grain silos into the stone on Cockatoo Island in Sydney to store wheat for future droughts, continually moving stock to
new pasture, and importing food from other countries. Settlers also turned to the church in times of drought or during floods, as many people felt the weather was a kind of punishment rather than a natural part of the Australian landscape. The SEARCH team have also invited members of the public to get involved by signing up for their citizen science project, OzDocs. OzDocs volunteers help to recover valuable documentary and instrumental records from online archives. People can find out more about OzDocs by visiting the website: http://ozdocs.climatehistory.com.au. The SEARCH project was supported by an ARC linkage grant and a number of partner organisations including the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Victorian Department of Sustainability, Melbourne Water, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NZ), Met Office (UK), National Library of Australia, State Library of NSW, State Library of Victoria, National and State Libraries Australasia, Powerhouse Museum, and Monash University.
The Victorian Postgraduate Student Symposium 28 November 2012, The University of Melbourne Luke B. Hande Monash University
The Victorian Postgraduate Student Symposium was held at The University of Melbourne in late November. The symposium was open to all Earth sciences postgraduate students in Victoria, and in addition, there was a student from the University of Tasmania and another visiting student from Germany in attendance. So technically, this was the inaugural “Victorian International Postgraduate Student Symposium.” The meeting was sponsored by AMOS and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate System Science. All the key Victorian institutes were represented by postgraduate students: The University of Melbourne, Monash University, the Bureau of Meteorology and Swinburne University.
Mitchell Black (the University of Melbourne) giving his award winning presentation. Image: Luke Hande.
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Except for a guest presentation from Melbourne University’s Todd Lane, the day had a strict “No Adults Allowed” policy. Dr Lane gave a great talk on a supervisor’s perspective on what makes a successful student. He touched on all the sensitive topics, including regularly reading papers, practicing writing papers, preparing early for presentations, and setting deadlines for work. His advice was relevant for everyone in the room, be it an Honours student considering further study, or a late stage PhD student looking for postdoctoral positions. The day was designed to give students a chance to get together, talk about their research and student experience in an informal way. The format was quite innovative with time for presenters to talk not only about their research, but also about their personal experiences as a postgraduate student, and pass on advice to others. There was the option for participants to provide feedback to the speakers in order for them to hone their skills in presenting research. In terms of the science, there was a broad array of topics covered in the general Earth and Climate sciences theme. From the weather related near cloud turbulence, to a great talk about Southern Ocean meteorology. From climate related research to mathematical studies of three dimensional non-linear waves. There was even an interesting presentation on the meteorological effects of a superflare on Earth. Some students passed on great advice about a variety of computing tools and resources to make research easier. The best talk of the day was awarded to Mitchell Black of the University of Melbourne for
an impressive presentation on his Masters work on the energetics of southern hemisphere explosive cyclones. It was great to see all the presentations initiate some interesting discussions with the audience. The informal nature of the symposium allowed participants to ask the types of questions, which would otherwise remain unasked in a more formal, time constrained conference. Of course, being a student symposium, the kindly donated funding was well spent on pizza and beer to facilitate socialising after a long day of high quality presentations. It is hoped this postgraduate symposium will continue in years to come, and grow to include more participants and more universities.
The “pizza and beer gathering” after the Student Symposium. Image: Luke Hande.
Obituary
Neil Streten 1933–2012: “Gone with the wind” Compiled by past and present staff at the Bureau of Meteorology Dr Neil Streten, a scientist who loved the wild places, died in Melbourne in August 2012. Neil retired as Deputy Director (Services) in January 1997 after 46 years with the Bureau of Meteorology. He was among the first Bureau meteorologists to gain both a Doctorate of Science and formal academic qualifications in public administration. Neil was particularly respected for his 14 years as chair of the World Meteorological Organization’s Working Group on Antarctic Meteorology. He treasured memories of a year at Mawson in 1960-61 (“the dark and howling winds”) which launched him towards international recognition as an Antarctic meteorologist.
says Neil’s Antarctic research was known and respected throughout the international polar science community. “Neil also provided me with the two best pieces of blunt advice I ever received. He was a very special friend and colleague.” There’s a part of Antarctica that will be forever Neil: Cape Streten, an ice cape on the north-eastern part of Sakellari Peninsula, Enderby Land. Neil is survived by Margaret, his wife of 50 years, son Phillip, daughter Clare and grandchildren.
He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998 for services to meteorology. The many Bureau friends present at his funeral on 5 September thought it fitting that Melbourne’s wildest winds in four years provided a weatherman’s salute, with 100 km/hr gusts at St Kilda. The pallbearers battled to force open the large north-facing doors of the church against the gale, befitting the last journey of a prodigious world traveller who often seemed larger than life. His son, Phillip, eulogised Neil as “a scientist of wide ranging interests and studies—a civilised, serious man of distinct personal style and taste. He was foremost an observer and thinker who had a well-considered ethical and defendable view on just about any serious issue.” Dr Bill Downey, a colleague and friend for 40 years, spoke of Neil’s most passionate scientific interest—the meteorology of Antarctica. “His legacy to Australian science is recorded in the literature; his positive influence on colleagues and friends can’t be recorded in the same way, but was also substantial.” Former Director John Zillman, who followed Neil as a Cadet Meteorologist in Brisbane in the 1950s, and later worked with him on the climate of the South Pacific, Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 96
Dr Neil Streten. Images supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Articles
Improving how we do science: A boot camp and a blog Damien Irving1,2
Chair, AMOS Melbourne Centre The University of Melbourne Address for correspondence: d.irving@student.unimelb.edu.au 1 2
Science is moving rapidly towards an age of greater transparency. Universities are making their course notes freely available, journals are offering open-access to their articles and open-source software is now widely used. Given the highly politicised nature of the subject matter, the weather and climate sciences are at the forefront of this move. The review process of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report is the most open and transparent of its kind, while in the wake of “Climategate” even our private email exchanges are no longer always free from public scrutiny. I have no doubt that our profession is doing the right thing in advocating for, and participating in, the transparency revolution. At an individual level, however, I worry that we might not be ready for what’s coming.
Wilson, will be coming Down Under in February (from his native Canada) to host the boot camp and deliver a keynote lecture at the conference. Greg recognised the lack of computational literacy in the science community many years ago, and his boot camps cover the core skills a research scientist needs in order to be productive in a small team. Institutions such as University College London, Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Oxford, University of California Berkeley and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics all hosted boot camps in 2012, so we are very excited to be bringing Greg to Australia. It is my hope that AMOS and the Centre of Excellence will continue to host regular boot camps around the country in years to come, as an ongoing professional development opportunity for members of our community.
My biggest concern centres around scientific computing. Our work increasingly revolves around the analysis of large datasets and the running of complex mathematical models, both of which require a very high level of computer literacy. Despite this, most of us are self-taught programmers. Our undergraduate training has provided us with a great underpinning in fundamentals such as fluid dynamics, but little or no formal training in the basics of software development. We lack exposure to basic software development practices such as writing maintainable code, using version control and issue trackers, code reviews, unit testing, and task automation. If someone asked us to exactly reproduce a result that we published four years ago (or even four months ago), many of us would find that very difficult. What version of Python/Matlab/IDL was I using back then? Which release of that NASA/UK Met Office/ CSIRO dataset was I analysing? Am I absolutely sure that this old code is error/bug free? Where is the script that I used to generate that plot and what changes have I made to the script since then? In short, I’m concerned that we don’t have the computational competency to participate in the transparency revolution, even if we think it’s a nice idea.
In addition to the boot camp, a few months ago I decided to start a blog. “Dr Climate” is a newspaper style blog dedicated to helping early career researchers in the areas of meteorology, climatology and oceanography. It discusses the tools and general practices that can improve the way people in our field do research. Much of the content focuses on scientific computing, however many other topics including word processing, career planning and keeping on top of the literature are covered. I encourage everyone to not only read the blog, but also to get involved in the discussion by posting comments and perhaps even writing a guest post. I certainly don’t profess to knowing everything about research best practice, so this is not intended to be a one-way communication. Instead, I’m hoping it will become a forum where everyone in the community can contribute. Through sharing our ideas and experiences, we can all become better research scientists.
The good news is that I’m not the only one worried about this issue. In fact, my concerns grew out of dealings and conversations with many people in our community over the past few years. In an effort to raise our collective computational skill, the AMOS Melbourne Centre has teamed up with the computational modelling support team at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. On the two days immediately following the 2013 AMOS National Conference, we will host a “Software Carpentry Boot Camp” at the University of Melbourne. The founder of the Software Carpentry project, Dr Greg Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 97
Software Carpentry Boot Camp Where: The University of Melbourne When: 14–15 February, 2013. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Registration: Closes 31 December at: http://wired.ivvy.com/event/9F319H/
More information Software Carpentry: http://software-carpentry.org/ Dr Climate blog: http://drclimate.wordpress.com Dr Climate twitter feed: @DrClimate
My working life: 1941–1979 Bruce Hamon
AMOS member, NSW This is an autobiographical piece that was generously given to BAMOS by Bruce Hamon. It is a very interesting account and I would welcome such articles in the future—Ed.
At the start I started work in January 1941. I had just finished five years study at Sydney University, in Electrical Engineering (four years) and Science (Mathematics and Physics, one extra year). The war had started in 1939, so recent engineering graduates found themselves in demand. We were offered jobs, and did not have to apply for them! I was given a choice between two new branches of what we now call CSIRO: the Radio-Physics Laboratory and the National Standards Laboratory. Both of these were in the same building in the grounds of the University of Sydney. I chose the National Standards Laboratory, which had three sections (later separate divisions): Meteorology, Physics and Electrotechnology. I chose the latter as it seemed to fit my engineering training better than the other two. I also knew one of the senior appointees already (Keith Clothier) and had met the officer-in-charge (Dr David Myers). I stayed at CSIRO until my retirement in 1979, but changed from Electrotechnology to what was then the Division of Fisheries in 1957.
The Standards Laboratory My first job in the Standards Laboratory was mundane, to say the least. I found myself opening packing cases in the basement. It did have some interest though—these were instruments that had been ordered from England, and which we would have to become acquainted with. It was a week or so of continual Christmas! The Laboratory rooms were also completely empty, causing our voices to echo, which we found amusing! I was in charge of the “Direct Current” (D. C.) measuring and standard instruments, the latter being a set of three 1 ohm standards for resistance, and some “Standard Cells” for voltage. My first engineering job was a switchboard for a large (room sized!) battery in the basement. The cells had to be connected in series for charging, then in parallel for use as a high-current low-voltage source for calibrating low-resistance (down to 0.001 ohm) resistors. The next engineering design was to provide stable voltages for use in the calibration of “Alternating Current” (A. C.) instruments. A special “Sine Wave Alternator” had been imported for this, and was housed in a basement room. I got it running with an adjustable and stable frequency and voltage, and it was used for many years. A paper describing the equipment was published in 1951 in the Australian Journal of Applied Science.
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The build-up resistor A more interesting job was to change the design of a “1100 ohm build-up resistor”. Build-up resistors are used to calibrate standard resistors of higher resistance, in terms of the standard 1 ohm resistors. We had a set of these imported from England. They worked, but were known to have a design fault that introduced small errors. I decided to see if the design could be improved—and after about two weeks, I had the answer. This was a classic example of two very simple changes having important results. The first change was to define each resistor as a “four-terminal resistor” instead of the usual “two-terminal resistor,” and the second change was to use four lead junctions designed so that three of the leads are symmetric to the fourth lead. Although thinking this out took a couple of weeks, it was some time before we could do a detailed design (we had a drawing office, with two good draughtsmen), and then get it made (in our workshop, with the help of two instrument technicians). Then came a delay while it was tested—not an easy job, as no fully independent method was available for comparison. But it did eventually get published (Hamon, 1954) and was probably the most important of my 70-odd papers. The makers of build-up resistors soon adapted their products to the improved design. In the USA, Leeds and Northrup were probably the first to market the altered product. As part of an Australia/USA trade exhibition, they presented me with a model of their new design in Sydney (14 August 1972). This company has since been taken over by another company, so I do not know whether they are still making build-up resistors. Recently, as a result of a Google search on the internet, I found a company in Canada advertising “Hamon Type Resistance Transfer Standards”. After I left the Standards Laboratory, a lot of research on electrical measurement was carried out, and the lab gained internationally recognised status. Another buildup resistor was designed and built specially for this work, with 100 resistors each of 100 ohms allowing a single step from 1 ohm (resistors in parallel) to 10000 ohms (resistors in series), which is described by Wright (1988). The main aim in designing these build-up resistors was to increase the accuracy of measurements. My 1–100 ohm build-up resistor increased the accuracy from a few parts in ten thousand to a few parts in a million. But its follower, the 1-10000 ohm build-up resistor, achieved a staggering few parts in ten million! Once the new design was accepted, the scientists in the Standards Laboratory realised that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in France, should have its own build-up resistor. One was made and despatched to the Bureau. But the Bureau staff had some difficulty with it, and sought help from the Standards Laboratory. This was in 1958, when I
was in England (see below), so I was sent a message asking me if I would go to Paris and sort things out. I jumped at this, and took my wife and daughter with me! I had let myself in for two or three of the hardest days in my life. I had never tried to use my school French, and the Bureau man most concerned with the build-up resistor knew little English. He tried several times to find a translator, but none appeared. I was very tired indeed at the end of each day. I did hear a few weeks later that the problem had been overcome.
Our military projects. We had about six different military projects, referred to by numbers 101 to 106. I remember only the one, numbered 104. It was a mechanical scale model of gun positions and observation posts near the shore in the suburbs of Sydney. Information such as range or bearing of an enemy ship could be fed in, and the “104” would return range and bearing from a 9.2 inch coast defence gun, which could use this information to aim shells at the enemy vessel. The 104 was designed to solve a simple geometry problem, and to do it in real time. The problem would be trivial for a modern computer. I never saw the completed 104, in fact I did not know until recently that it had been completed and tested. It had been designed in the drawing office of the NSW State Railways and built in their workshops in Redfern. It must have been impressive, standing 2 m tall and 2 m wide. I served as a liaison between CSIRO and the drawing office, for the simple reason that I came to work by train from Chatswood to Redfern each day, and could easily break the journey to visit the drawing office near the south end of the Harbour Bridge. But the 104 affected me in another way, as it was probably the main reason I was sent overseas in June 1943–February 1944. I had the drawings of the 104 in a briefcase, which I had to keep with me at all times, in case the enemy stole its contents. This was my first overseas visit, and started with my first flight—from Brisbane to San Francisco! The aeroplane was a Dakota (the military version of a DC3), operated by the US Navy. The route was Brisbane–New Caledonia– Fiji–Canton Island–Hawaii–San Francisco. For at least part of the trip there were no seats, so we made ourselves as comfortable as possible by re-arranging the mailbags. Nights were spent on the ground. After visiting some laboratories (Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, GEC, National Bureau of Standards) it was time to go on to England. This part of the journey was in a flying boat, operated by Pan American. It was summer, so the route was New York, St. Johns (Newfoundland)–Ireland (Shannon Airport)–Poole (Dorsent, UK). As a souvenir of this flight, I have a “SHORT SNORTER” certificate. It consists of a US one-dollar note, inscribed with the date (24 July 1943) and the signatures of all thirty passengers. I was in the UK for some months, with headquarters in London at the Australian Scientific Liaison Office. I moved about, and recall visiting Tenby and Manorbier (Pembrokeshire), Fairlie (Scotland) and Sheppy (Thames Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 99
Estuary). At each of these places I spoke informally to relevant officers about the projects we were working on, particularly the 104. There was some interest, but there was no follow-up that I was aware of. The return trip to the USA was a marathon flight. The direct route across the north Atlantic was not regarded as safe during winter, so we first went to Shannon Airport in Ireland by British Empire Airways, then changed to a Pan. Am. flying boat for a week-long jaunt: Shannon–Lisbon– Dakar (Senegal)–Natal–Belem (both in Brazil)–Trinidad– Puerto Rico–Bermuda–New York. After a short stay in the USA, it was time to go home. No air transport was available, so I returned as a passenger on a cargo ship (I think it was the Port Sydney) from New York to Melbourne via Panama. There were about half a dozen passengers. We were in a convoy as far as Panama, but very much on our own from Panama to Melbourne. It was an uneventful trip, but spoilt for me by a nagging appendix (I remember the Captain walking past me with a book under his arm entitled “Emergency Surgery for Ship’s Officers,” or some such title!). It was a long trip, 22 December 1943 – 13 February 1944, with no stops or even sight of land after leaving Panama. I have always thought this overseas trip was disappointing, in that it did not produce any obvious useful result. Our Division was also involved with de-gaussing ships that came into Sydney Harbour. (This was aimed at making ships less vulnerable to magnetic mines. The name comes from “gauss,” which is a unit of measurement of the strength of a magnetic field). A de-gaussing range, consisting of loops of cable, had been laid out on the bottom of the harbour in a position where all but the largest vessels could steam in both directions over the coils. Any magnetic field associated with the ship would induce voltages in the coils, and these could be recorded by flux meters connected to the coils. We had the job of making the fluxmeters and setting up these instruments in a hut. The records were delivered to our laboratory and analysed to get recommendations for the currents to be set in each ship’s de-gaussing coils on different headings. I was involved in another de-gaussing project. The Queen class vessels were too large to steam over the range so they had to be checked, when not under way, by getting a diver to take a flux meter down under the keel. I had the job of making a suitable flux meter (to a basic design we had obtained from overseas), and arranging leads from it to come through a porthole not far above water level. The flux meter worked, but we could not get useful readings due to the extremely difficult water conditions the diver had to work in.
Electrical properties of chemical compounds During the war, a small group led by a chemist (Dr R. J. Meakins) was set up in our Division to look into problems of “tropic-proofing” electrical equipment that might be used in the tropics. After the war, the group continued for some time, with their main interest being the relation between chemical and electrical properties of chemical compounds. I joined this group at least part-time.
I was never at home with this work, as I did not know enough chemistry. Most of the time was spent on making and purifying certain chemical compounds, and then measuring their electrical properties over a wide range of frequencies. I came in on the measurements, especially at very low frequencies. My main achievement was in finding a way to infer the “loss factor” at these low frequencies from measurement of the absorption current following application of a steady voltage to the sample being tested. In this way, the range of frequencies could be extended down to about 0.0005 cycles per second (one cycle every thirty minutes).
An ocean voyage In August 1945 I was asked by the Chief of the Division to visit an English Aircraft Carrier (HMS Indomitable), which was visiting Sydney and had reported trouble with a radar set. This set was of the latest (US) design. It contained a small electric motor, which had burnt out several times due to overheating, thereby putting the whole set out of action and increasing greatly the risk if enemy aeroplanes attacked. I visited the ship several times and worked hard to find the reason for the overheating, but without success. I was then invited to go with them on a voyage to Jervis Bay, where the ship was to do stability tests for a few days, and I would have more time to find the problem. This suited me very well—but the extra tests still did not solve the problem. I got up early one morning to have yet another go at the problem. When I got to the radar set, which was near midships and well below deck (for safety reasons), I found the small motor was very hot to touch. This had not happened during any of my previous tests. I called the technician who had been helping me and asked if anything was different. He thought for a moment and then said, “Yes! The set is now in standby mode,” whereas in previous test it had been in full operational mode. A small amount of further testing revealed that in standby mode the small motor had current in its field coils, but not in its armature, so it was not rotating and subsequently the tiny fan on its shaft that kept it cool was not working. He changed the set to normal mode, the motor came to life and cooled down as we watched. The atomic bombs were dropped while we were at sea and the Pacific war ended, so all my head scratching ended up in vain. To make some recompense, I had my 28th birthday at sea.
A start on oceanography About 1952, David Rochford, senior chemist at the CSIRO Division of Fisheries in Cronulla, came to the Standards Laboratory to see if anyone might be interested in designing and making an electronic device to measure salinity and temperature in the ocean. He had recently been overseas and said there was interest in developing such equipment in the USA. He had approached the Radiophysics Laboratory next door, but they had declined. I was interested and soon became almost obsessed with the challenges of this new design. The first sea trials of the Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 100
prototype were on the ship Derwent Hunter on 29 April 1955. These trials were successful, but we were soon in trouble due to corrosion. The electronics were housed in a steel oxygen cylinder, which had been cut in two in the workshop and fitted with flanges, threaded collars and O-rings. We hoped the assembly would respond to careful cleaning and lubrication and remain watertight under the pressure of 1000 m of water, but this was not to be. No useful results were obtained until we produced a new model with stainless steel casing. This initial work on the Salinity, Temperature, Depth Recorder (STDR) was done in the Electrotechnology Division of CSIRO. I was still the head of a small group who calibrated certain electrical instruments used in the industry. I had one or two laboratory assistants, one of whom, Neil Brown, helped me with the STDR. He developed an interest in it, transferred to the Division of Fisheries before I did, and later moved permanently to the USA where he became an expert in further development, manufacture and sale of STDRs (later called TCDs, since they measured electrical conductivity rather than salinity). I gave a later model of the STDR a good test in May and June 1964 on the English research vessel Discovery in the Indian Ocean. We joined the ship in Cochin, near the southern tip of India and began work near the coast of Oman. The STDR was lowered to 1500 m at each station (there were 38 stations). The results of the study were subsequently published (Hamon, 1967). It was a very pleasant cruise. We had a few days in the Seychelle Islands, and left the ship in Mauritius to fly back to Sydney. Sadly, the STDR was lost overboard due to the carelessness of the winch operator! Neil Brown and I designed other instruments at this time. One was a portable battery-operated bridge for measuring salinity and temperature in estuaries. This was made commercially in Sydney for many years and was popular with teachers in the training of students interested in the biology of estuaries. Another was an “inductive salinometer,” which was designed and made by Neil when I was in England in 1958. It was also made in Sydney and exported. It was the favoured instrument for high-accuracy measurements of salinity for many years.
Commonwealth Conference on Oceanography, 1954 The Executive of CSIRO decided that I should represent Australia at this conference in London, late in 1954. This was a strange decision, as I was still in the Standards Laboratory and colleagues at Cronulla thought that someone from their division should be the representative. The Executive had its way and I attended the conference. I also visited a number of marine laboratories in England, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I came back via the USA and visited Woods Hole and Scripps Oceanographic Institutions for the first time. I was able to talk about the STDR I had been working on (although it had not been tested) and found a lot of interest in it and it ultimately became a normal part of the equipment on oceanographic research vessels.
Transfer to CSIRO Division of Fisheries I transferred to the CSIRO Division of Fisheries at Cronulla in February 1957. It was a big step to take, and an unusual one. I had no training in physical oceanography and there were no courses I could attend at local universities (and none in Australia). Dr George Humphrey, who was Chief of Division at the time, recommended me for a UNESCO Fellowship in Marine Science, with the result that I spent February– November 1958 in England at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO). This was not a teaching institute and they had no special plans for me. I remember my first day there. I was taken to a rather large room, shown a table and chair and provided with pen and paper, then left to myself! But I soon got to know people and ask questions. My main contacts at NIO were Roland Cox (chemistry and salinity measurement), M.J. Tucker (time series) and (most memorable) John Swallow. John was a big man with a quiet voice and a great capacity for work, especially at sea. I had the privilege of seeing him in action on the British research vessel Discovery in the North Atlantic. His speciality was the measurement of deep ocean currents using “Neutrally Buoyant Floats,” which he invented. On this cruise I was given the job of measuring the salinity of samples using a temperature-controlled oil designed by Roland Cox. The oil bath had about twelve glass tubes for the water samples, whose electrical resistances were measured after they reached thermal equilibrium with the oil. Things went well for a few days, then the results went “haywire”. It took a few days to find out that one of the tubes cracked, letting sea water into the oil. Did we have spare oil? Well not in the scientific laboratory, but the chef was persuaded to give us some cooking oil, after which all was well for the rest of the cruise (I had earned my keep on that cruise!). On my return to Cronulla I had some difficulty getting started on a main research project. I remember considering the modelling of ocean currents by a graphical method, but found this would have required a knowledge of boundary conditions, and there was no way of getting such data. The division at Cronulla had been making measurements of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nitrates and phosphates at fixed depths using “reversing thermometers” and “water bottles” lowered from ships. These measurements were used to characterise the hydrological properties of water bodies. Temperature and salinity could be used to calculate water density and this in turn could be used to calculate currents normal to the line joining any two-station positions. This calculation of currents had not been done before I arrived. I tried it using existing data and found enough to justify a short technical paper entitled “Structure of the East Australian Current,” which was published in 1961. In a search for other sources of data I became interested in what might be done with tide records. These had been collected for some decades at about fifty Australian stations, but had not been used for research purposes. Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 101
Typical tide records consist of plots of water height against time, on large sheets of paper (one sheet per day). The water height at any time is due mainly to tides, which can be calculated, but weather over large areas can also affect the recorded heights. My early work on this showed evidence of a strange type of wave at several stations on the NSW coast. We named it a “Continental Shelf Wave”. It was of small amplitude (approximately 5–10 cm) so it was not important for shipping. Its most interesting properties were a very low frequency (the wave crests at any place replaced themselves in a few weeks rather than hours) and its crests and troughs were at right angles to the coast, moving parallel to the coast towards the north off the NSW coast. Later work showed similar waves off the coast of Western Australia, but there they travel south! I remember being very puzzled about these waves and I could not find anything like them in the literature (even after getting some papers translated). At this time an oceanographer from the USA, Alan Robinson, visited the Division at Cronulla for a few weeks. He worked out a theory and published a short paper about it (Robinson, 1964). This showed that the waves need an area of sloping, relatively shallow water. It also explained the apparent difference in direction of propagation between WA and NSW as being due to the Earth’s rotation. (It is perhaps clearer to say that the waves travel so that the coast is on the left of their direction of motion in the Southern Hemisphere, but on the right in the Northern Hemisphere). Although I am still credited with finding these waves, I found out recently that observations of water movement between islands in the Outer Hebrides, which were made a very long time ago, could be explained by this theory. The early observations were published by Moray (1665). (This appears to be the correct article from the date given by Bruce—Ed.) More work on these strange waves has been done since I retired. They are now called “Coastally Trapped Waves” (CTW), and have been found to originate in the Great Australian Bight, travel through the Bass Strait and then move up the east coast to the Great Barrier Reef.
Time series and Professor E.J. Hannan A time series is any set of observations at regular intervals of time. I was interested in time series of height of water, atmospheric pressure, wind strength and direction, and wanted to see if these were related to one another. I had been introduced to some techniques for doing this while in England in 1958, but sought more help after my return. I was advised to contact Professor Ted Hannan in the Australian National University in Canberra. This led to an extraordinary collaboration, which lasted several years. I think of Prof. Hannan as a genius. He was a mathematician and most of his time series work had been applied to economic data. He had no training in physics, not even at school level. I was the first physicist to seek his help with geophysical data, which would differ from economic data by being more “stationary”—at least over several years. Despite our different backgrounds we got along well together. We wrote several papers together, and
they embarrass me to this day as Ted insisted on putting my name before his. He invited me to Canberra for three months in 1973. I had a room near his and I have a vivid memory of one contact with him in working hours. It was morning and Ted came into my room, went straight for the blackboard and filled it rapidly with his most recent work. I lost track very early, but I looked carefully at the final result, which was in the form of an expression with algebraic symbols in the numerator and denominator. I noticed the symbol “f ” for frequency was in the denominator. This implied that the value of the expression would become very large at very low frequencies, and I felt that this was unlikely to be true. I drew Ted’s attention to it and he then went back to his room to re-work the problem.
The Ship’s Drift Project One large and unusual project I was responsible for was getting data on the East Australian Current from the drift of commercial ships navigating between Sydney and Brisbane. Ships heading south kept east of the edge of the continental shelf to get an advantage from the East Australian Current, and conversely were nearer the coast on their northward runs to dodge the current. It is probably the only area in the world where such a study could be done. We ran for two years, May 1971 to April 1973. Thirty-eight ships cooperated in the project, with 916 voyages. Murray Greig had the job of visiting the ships, explaining what we wanted, bringing the data back and helping with its processing. Stuart Godfrey did the mathematics. The main results can be found in Hamon et al. (1975).
GEK and Neutrally Buoyant Floats These two techniques were imports—GEK (pronounced “jeek”) from the USA and the floats from England. GEK was a scheme for measuring ship’s drift and consisted of two electrodes spaced about 100 m apart, towed behind the vessel. Leads from the electrodes were connected to a chart recorder on board. If there is a surface current with a component at right angles to the ship’s track, a voltage will be induced in the lead between the two electrodes. The voltage is due to the lead cutting the vertical component of the Earth’s magnetic field. The record of this can be used to correct the ship’s heading. We used this many times in the early cruises, since the vessels (especially Derwent Hunter) were slow and satellite navigation was decades ahead. GEK was not popular with the crew (mainly due to the risk of the cable fouling the propeller). Neutrally Buoyant Floats were used to measure currents at depths up to a few thousand metres. The floats were made up of metal tubes or glass hemispheres. They contained a battery and electronics to generate sound pulses. The density was adjusted to be only slightly greater than that of the surface water, causing them to sink. They drifted with the current at a depth where the density within the floats was equal to the density of the water outside, and were tracked by navigating the parent vessel in response to the pulses of sound. Two or more floats, adjusted to sink Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 102
to different depths, could be tracked at the same time, but it was a difficult, tiresome job and expensive in terms of the ship’s time. We used the floats on four cruises. One was due east from Sydney in water more than 2000 m deep, and was in response to a request from the Department of Science and the Environment. Another was used on the French ship Coriolis near the Equator to the north of New Caledonia in 1973.
Retirement I retired in August 1979—a few years earlier than usual. I wanted to avoid the re-location of the CSIRO Division from Cronulla to Hobart, which was scheduled for 1980. I became an Honorary Associate in the Marine Studies Centre at Sydney University and gave a series of lectures on physical oceanography. I also published a few papers, mostly on tides and mean sea levels. The most interesting research in my view is Hamon (1985), which was in response to a letter from Sir George Deacon (NIO, England) drawing my attention to tide observations and a mean sea level benchmark made at Port Arthur, Tasmania between 1839-43. We found the benchmark on the Isle of the Dead, but could not find the tide observations. My work on this has been followed up recently, due to increased interest in mean sea levels the world over. The original observations have been found—in the archives in the Royal Society in England! In January 1986 I took on the menial task of reading the Sydney (Fort Denison) tide gauge records at hourly intervals from 1914 to 1940 (nearly a quarter of a million readings!). This was done at home using a very early home computer. The readings were recorded on discs and posted to Flinders University, South Australia, where they were added to their data bank. I wrote a technical report on this and sent the discs to Flinders, who published it.
Conclusion I have enjoyed my working life. I enjoyed the freedom to choose projects. There were difficulties; the main one in the earlier years was very poor sea-going facilities. The first ship I had to work on was Derwent Hunter, a two-masted wooden schooner, 22 m long, acquired by CSIRO in 1950. Later we had the use of several Navy Vessels (Diamantina, Gascoyne and Kimbla). A vessel, R. V. Franklin, specially designed for research work at sea, and built in Cairns, was not commissioned until April 1985.
References Hamon, B.V., 1954, A 1-100 Ω build up resistor for the calibration of standard resistors. Journal of Scientific Instruments, 31, 450–453. Hamon, B.V., 1967, Medium-scale temperature and salinity structure in upper 1500 m in Indian Ocean. Deep Sea Research, 14(2), 169–&. Hamon, B.V., Godfrey, J.S. and Greig, M.A., 1975, Relation between mean sea level, current and wind stress on the
east coast of Australia. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 26(3), 389–403. Hamon, B.V., 1985, Early mean sea levels and tides in Tasmania, Search, 16, 9–12, 274–277. Moray, R., 1665, A relation of some extraordinary tydes in the West-Isles of Scotland, as it was communicated by Sr Robert Moray. Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society, 1, 53–55.
Robinson, A.R., 1964, Continental shelf waves + response of sea level to weather systems. Journal of Geophysical Research, 69(2), 367–&. Wright, J.F.H., 1988, Measurement in Australia 1938-1988. CSIRO, Division of Applied Physics. 134pp.
Meet a Member
Anthony Nolan Where does this find you? Working on a system of systems approach to modelling weather complexity patterns using a hierarchical approach of a distance preserving digital fingerprinting technique combined with peer relativity transformations. For example: For each time indexed observation, I calculate a unique number (Digital Fingerprint (DFP)) which represents a series of values across a number of variables like wind, rain, sunshine, evaporation, humidity, air pressure, etc. for a 30 plus locations. Because the DFP preserves distance and observations are relative to each other, I run analytical processes over all locations, using modelling and pattern detection to locate specific variations within and between variables. This allows me to examine different conditions across Australia which affect rainfall in Sydney. What do you do? I work as an Intelligence Officer within the Australian Government, undertaking profiling work using a mixture of intelligence and mathematics to identify non-compliant behaviour. I have developed two mathematical processes. One is a transformation, which reshapes data into bins/classes/ clusters, but retains a relative distance between values. The other is a fingerprinting method, which preserves distance and produces a unique value to represent a sequence of values, for over 100 observations, either within or between variables. So for instance, I can do a 3-D scatter plot, and it represents 21 variables, rather than the basic three variables (I can also identify complex clusters). When these two techniques are combined together I am able to make a systems of systems approach to model complex patterns, and capture the cause and effect/interactions through a child/parent hierarchy. I am now trying to model a number of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s weather stations, to see if their patterns can be used to predict weather in Sydney. Why did you get into it? I was a victim of crime, and I wanted to protect other people and to make the world a better place.
Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 103
AMOS member Anthony Nolan. Image: Mat Jewell (Mat Jewell Photography). What is the best thing about what you do? I get to play with lots of data, find lots of patterns, and explore how different people make decisions and react to different stimuli. What did you want to be when you were 10? A scientist, to explore the universe. How do you relax? I like to listen to music while being creative, either in writing fiction, composing music, sketching a drawing or puzzling out a problem that interests me. What is your favourite holiday destination? The Kiama little blow hole, where I can watch the sea pound the rocks, the ocean change and feel the wind in my face.
Snapshot
Many Paths 1 December 2012 John Allen
Lightning strikes to the west of Melbourne, with six separate cloud-ground leaders stretching down to discharge. The storm was associated with a line of thunderstorms that formed along a trough system to the west of Melbourne, a number of which were severe. The same system produced
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extreme wind damage through Elmhurst and Ballarat in western Victoria, and reportedly giant hail. If you have an image of the weather near you to share, send it to duncan.ackerley@monash.edu, or post it on the AMOS Facebook page. — Ed.
Charts from the Past with Blair Trewin
21 October 1995 The spring of 1995 saw one of the most unusual lowelevation snow events in recorded Australian history, not only with respect to the time of year and location, but also in terms of the synoptic situation which generated it. During 19 October hot weather extended across much of south-eastern Australia, ahead of an approaching cold front. Temperatures exceeded 35 °C over a wide area of South Australia, western New South Wales and northern Victoria, with 36.5 °C as far south as Mildura, and 32.6 °C in Melbourne. As the front passed, a slow-moving trough formed over inland eastern Australia, placing areas south of the trough in a south-easterly flow with a strong upper-level cold pool developing on the west side of the trough over South Australia and a very strong high pressure system developing south of Western Australia. Albany’s peak pressure of 1039.2 hPa was a site record at the time, later broken in 2008. This situation persisted as a low formed on the trough over southern inland Queensland on the 21st. The low then moved south and deepened to be over western Victoria on the 22nd, before turning east and moving off the Gippsland coast on the 23rd. Cold, wet conditions covered much of South Australia on the 20th. Woomera had an October record low maximum of 11.6 °C (after 38.2 °C the previous day; the drop of 26.6 °C from one day to the next fell just short of an Australian record), and widespread rain fell in the outback with a peak of 51.2 mm near Blinman. The most significant part of the event, however, occurred the next day as the cold pool intensified over eastern
South Australia. Snow fell to as low as 300 m—an almost unprecedented event at any time of year—in the Flinders Ranges, with falls reported at Wilpena, Quorn, Peterborough, Orroroo and Jamestown. At Yongala, the daytime maximum was just 4 °C and the 3 p.m. temperature 2.6 °C, the lowest on record for any time of year, although the 24-hour maximum was 8.2 °C (still an October record) after overnight warming. The most extraordinary maximum temperature of the event, though, was further east in Broken Hill—a reading of 6.1 °C which is unmatched in any month since 1901, and 4.9 °C lower than any other October maximum in more than 110 years of data. Snow also fell above 700 m in eastern Victoria and far southeast New South Wales. Eastern South Australia also saw heavy precipitation on this day, with daily falls including 94.6 mm at Morgan and 71.6 mm at Hallett. By the next day the extreme cold had eased slightly (although Mount Lofty had its coldest day of the event, a South Australian October record of 5.5 °C), and the focus of the rain had moved to southern Victoria as the low tracked eastwards. The heaviest falls were observed in western and central Gippsland. Madalya, in the eastern Strzelecki Ranges, received 155 mm on the 23rd, and many locations had two-day falls in excess of 100 millimetres. This caused minor to moderate flooding in the Thomson and other rivers in the region (a prelude to much more significant flooding two weeks later). The deep southeast flow also pushed cool air well into northern Australia, with late-season record lows narrowly missed at sites including Halls Creek (15.0 °C on the 24th) and Alice Springs (4.3 °C on the 22nd).
Synoptic chart for 0000 UTC (1000 AEST), 21 October 1995
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Calendar
2013
17–21 AMS, 17th Conference on the Middle Atmosphere, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
February
24–28 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 10th annual meeting, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia.
11–13 19th Annual AMOS Conference, “Sense and sensitivity: Understanding our changing climate”, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
March
24–28 Chapman Conference: Crossing the Boundaries in Planetary Atmospheres: From Earth to Exoplanets, Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
11–15 Sun2climate School: Impact of Solar Variability on Climate. Thessaloniki, Greece.
24–28 19th International Conference on Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols Fort Collins, CO, USA
April
26–28 Second Conference on Weather Warnings and Communication, Nashville, TN, USA
7–12 EGU General Assembly 2013, Vienna, Austria. 8–10 First International Conference on Remote Sensing and Geoinformation of Environment, Coral Beach Hotel, Paphos, Cyprus.
July 5–6 Measurement Problems in Ice Clouds Workshop, Zurich, Switzerland.
14–19 Coastal Processes and Environments Under SeaLevel Rise and Changing Climate: Science to Inform Management, Galveston, Texas, USA.
8–12 Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly (DACA-13) Air, Ice and Process Interactions. Davos, Switzerland.
15–19 4th WGNE Workshop on Systematic Errors in Weather and Climate Models, Met Office, Exeter, UK.
September
29–2 May 12th Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography, Seattle, WA, USA.
June 8–13 Chapman Conference: Communicating Climate Science: A Historic Look to the Future, Snow Mountain Ranch, Grandby, Colorado, USA. 17–21 AMS, 19th Conference on Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
16–20 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference & 19th American Meteorological Society AMS Satellite Meteorology, Oceanography, and Climatology Conference, Vienna, Austria. 36th Conference on Radar Meteorology, Breckenridge, CO, USA.
October 8–11 Greenhouse 2013, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, SA. 15–17 10th Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Bowling Green, KY, USA.
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal
Articles — Vol 62 No. 3, September 2012 Fromm et al. Pyrocumulonimbus Pair in Wollemi and Blue Mountains National Parks, 22 November 2006. Peace et al. Meteorological dynamics in a re environment; a case study of the Layman prescribed burn in Western Australia.. Badlan et al. Mesoscale modelling of two ‘drying events’: governing processes and implications for fire danger. S Sharples et al. Extreme drying events in the Australian high-country and their implications for bushfire risk management.
Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 106
Jones et al. Quantitative Bushfire Risk Assessment Framework for Severe and Extreme Fires. Regular features: Cottrill. Seasonal climate summary Southern Hemisphere (Spring 2011): La Niña Returns
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.
2.
Articles should have a line spacing of 1.5 or more using a font size of 12. Articles should preferably be written using Times New Roman or Arial.
3.
t
Doswell III, C., 2001. Chapter 1: Severe convective storms – An Overview. Severe convective storms, Meteorological Monographs, American Meteorological Society, Boston, USA, 1-26. t
t
4. Conclusions 4.
An abstract is not required; however, should the author(s) wish to produce one it should not be more than 150 words in length.
5.
Acknowledgements to be included after the final work section and before the references.
6.
References should follow these example formats:
t
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. t
Books:
Holton, J.R., 2004, An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. Academic Press, New York. 535 pp.
Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Vol.25 page 107
Web sites:
Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2012, Bushfire history - Major bushfires in Victoria, www.dse. vic.gov.au/fire-and-other-emergencies/major-bushfiresin-victoria/ 7.
We recommend that the author(s) make at least two suggestions for referees to undertake the peer-review.
8.
Once peer-review has been completed, a final version of the document should be sent to the editor either in Word format or as plain text. The document should also include figure and table captions and the references but no figures. Figure files should be sent separately (they may be in any format and the editor will confer with the author(s) on the resolution and formatting).
9.
Galley-proofs will be sent to the author(s) for final checking before publication.
1. Introduction 3. Results
Theses:
Trewin, B., 2001, Extreme temperature events in Australia. PhD Thesis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Articles should be split into sections, with the heading for each section numbered consecutively and using a font size of 14. For example (these are title examples, headings are made at the authors’ discretion): 2. Method
Book chapter:
BAMOS also accepts a wide range of non-peer-reviewed work, for example news items, charts from the past, conference reports, book reviews, biographical articles and meet a member. AMOS members are therefore encouraged to submit articles that would be of general interest to the AMOS community without necessarily requiring peer review. File formats should follow those given above; a word or plain text document should be submitted (which includes any figure captions and tables) along with any figure files given separately. All articles should be either posted or emailed to the editor with any questions on the formatting also directed to the editor (see the inside back cover of this issue for contact details).
2012 AMOS Council Executive
President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Past President
Blair Trewin Todd Lane Damien Irving Ian Watterson Neville Nicholls
Ordinary Members John Allen Andrew Klekociuk Robin Roberston Sandra Schuster Richard Wardle Perry Wiles
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AMOS Administrative Officer
Jeanette Dargaville GPO Box 1289, Melbourne VIC 3001 (attn: AMOS admin officer) Phone 0404 471 143 E-mail: admin_officer@amos.org.au
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Sub-Committee Convenors Public Relations Awards 2013 Conference Education Membership
Centre Chairs NSW Hobart Melbourne ACT Perth Darwin Brisbane Adelaide
Vacant Mark Williams Vaughan Barras Phillip Riley Michael Hewson
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Fiona Johnson Kelvin Michael Andrew Ballinger Clem Davis Merv Lynch Hakeem Shaik Hamish McGowan Alex Evans
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Representatives AMOJ Science & Technology Australia
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AMOS is represented on the relevant Australian Academy of Science committees..
2012 Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society ISSN 1035-6576
Editor
Duncan Ackerley Monash Weather and Climate School of Mathematical Sciences Monash University VIC 3800 Phone: 03-9902 4900 Fax: 03-9005 4403 Email:duncan.ackerley@monash.edu
Editor-in-chief
Stewart Allen Email: Stewart.Allen@bom.gov.au
Assistant Editors Diana Greenslade Blair Trewin Linden Ashcroft
Regional Sub-editors
Michael Hewson (Brisbane) Caecilia Ewenz (Adelaide) Nicholas Tyrrell and Luke Hande (Melbourne) Fiona Johnson (NSW) Clem Davis (ACT)
Contributors Blair Trewin
Advertising Manager Please contact the Admin. Officer.
Publisher
AMOS, GPO Box 1289, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia
Contributed articles, news, announcements and correspondence for the Bulletin should be sent to the editor no later than 25 January 2013. They will be reviewed and the galley proofs returned to the author if requested. An ASCII version of the text is required via e-mail or digital media to minimise typographic errors. The Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society is produced and distributed with the assistance of CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and the Bureau of Meteorology. AMOS Website: www.amos.org.au