Bureau of Meteorology (Australia)

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.

Services and structure

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.

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.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology 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. 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.

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 neighboring islands and in Antarctica. There is also a network of some 500 paid co-operative observers and approximately 6,000 voluntary rainfall observers.

Management

The Director of Meteorology in the Bureau of Meteorology is Dr Geoff Love. Deputy Directors are Dr Rob Vertessy (Water Division), Mr Gary Foley (Services), and Dr Neville Smith (Research and Systems). The Bureau's Advisory Board is chaired by Mr Barry Grear AO.

Former Directors

Former Directors of the Bureau of Meteorology are:

Director	Years
Henry Ambrose Hunt	1908-1931
William S Watt	1931-1940
H. Norman Warren	1940-1950
Edward W Timcke	1950-1955
Leonard J Dwyer	1955-1962
William J Gibbs	1962-1978
John Zillman	1978-2003

See also

• The Weather Company, another Australian weather service provider

References

External links

• Bureau of Meteorology main page
• National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre
• Federation and Meteorology: the history of meteorology in Australia