| Bureau of Meteorology | |
|---|---|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1 January 1908 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Australia |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Annual budget | A$296.306 million (2009–10) |
| Ministers responsible | Tony Burke, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water |
| Agency executives | Mr Barry Grear AO, Chair, Bureau of Meteorology Advisory Board Dr Greg Ayers, Director of Meteorology |
| Parent agency | Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities |
| Website | |
| www.bom.gov.au | |
The Bureau of Meteorology is an Executive Agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together the state meteorological services that existed before then. The states officially transferred their weather recording responsibilities to the Bureau of Meteorology on 1 January 1908.[1][2]
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The Bureau of Meteorology is the main provider of weather forecasts, warnings and observations to the Australian public. The Bureau distributes weather images via radiofax and is responsible for issuing flood alerts in Australia.
The Bureau's head office is in Melbourne Docklands, which includes the Bureau's Research Centre, the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, the National Climate Centre, as well as the Hydrology and Satellite sections.[3]
Regional offices are located in each state and territory capital. Each regional office includes a Regional Forecasting Centre and a Flood Warning Centre, and the Perth, Darwin and Brisbane offices also house Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres. The Adelaide office incorporates the National Tidal Centre, while the Darwin office the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre and Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (Analysis).
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issues Tropical Cyclone Advices[4] and developed the Standard Emergency Warning Signal used for warnings. The Bureau is responsible for tropical cyclone naming for storms in waters surrounding Australia. Three lists of names used to be maintained, one for each of the western, northern and eastern Australian regions.[5] However as of the start of the 2008–09 Tropical Cyclone Year these lists have been rolled into one main national list of tropical cyclone names.[5]
The regional offices are supported by the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre (NMOC) which is also located at the head office in Melbourne Docklands.
The Bureau maintains a network of field offices across the continent, on neighbouring islands and in Antarctica. There is also a network of some 500 paid co-operative observers and approximately 6,000 voluntary rainfall observers.
The Director of Meteorology in the Bureau of Meteorology is Dr Greg Ayers. Deputy Directors are Dr Rob Vertessy (Climate and Water Division), Dr Ray Canterford (Services), Dr Neville Smith (Research and Systems) and Alan Vallance (Corporate).
Former Directors of the Bureau of Meteorology are:
| Director | Years |
|---|---|
| Henry Ambrose Hunt | 1908–31 |
| William S Watt | 1931–40 |
| H. Norman Warren | 1940–50 |
| Edward W Timcke | 1950–55 |
| Leonard J Dwyer | 1955–62 |
| William J Gibbs | 1962–78 |
| John Zillman | 1978–2003 |
| Geoff Love | 2003–08 |
| Neville Smith (Acting Director) | 2008–09 |
| Greg Ayers | 2009– |
In Head Office an NEC SX-6 Supercomputer provides the framework for weather modelling and simulation,[6] whilst other UNIX servers support the Computer Message Switching System and Real-Time Data Base. The Australian Integrated Forecast System affords the main computing infrastructure in the Regional offices. Numerical Weather Prediction is performed using the Unified Model software.