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Table of Contents

Memories of the Bureau, 1946 to 1962

Foreword

Terminology

Prologue

Preface

Chapter 1: The Warren Years, 1946 to 1950

Chapter 2: International Meteorology
Meetings of the IMO Technical Commissions in Toronto
The IMO Conference of Directors, Washington DC
The US Weather Bureau
Meeting of IMO Regional Association for the South-west Pacific
Meetings of the IMO International Meteorological Committee

Chapter 3: The Timcke Years, 1950 to 1955

Chapter 4: A Year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chapter 5: The Dwyer Years, 1955 to 1962

Chapter 6: A Springboard for the Future

Appendix 1: References

Appendix 2: Reports, Papers, Manuscripts

Appendix 3: Milestones

Appendix 4: Acknowledgements

Appendix 5: Summary by H. N. Warren of the Operation of the Meteorological Section of Allied Air Headquarters, Brisbane, 1942–45

Endnotes

Index
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Meetings of the IMO International Meteorological Committee

Daniel (1973, p29) mentions that in the period from the conclusion of the Washington Conference of Directors in October 1947 until the last meeting of the Conference of Directors in Paris on 15 March 1951 "the IMC (International Meteorological Committee) was active in the implementation of the resolutions and recommendations of the Washington conference, particularly (those of) the Technical Commissions". Thus the IMC had a role similar to that of the WMO Executive Committee when it was created in 1951, and was involved in securing the recognition of the newly formed United Nations Organization (UN) as the parent body of the WMO.

Warren was a member of the IMC and although Davies (1990) and Daniel (1973) give no details of the meetings of that committee between 1948 and 1951 there is no doubt that it met on a number of occasions to attend to the many arrangements for the transition from IMO to WMO. The meeting place was in Lausanne where the IMO Secretariat had been established in 1938 with Dr G. (Gus) Swoboda in charge, with the assistance of a very small staff.

Warren made a number of overseas visits during this period, presumably to attend the meetings of IMC. His state of health had deteriorated in the post-war period as evidenced by a number of references on file to his absence at home, particularly in the early months of 1950. Following the signing of the WMO Convention in October 1947 by the directors of the meteorological services of 31 nations it was necessary to have the governments of all nations wishing to be members of WMO to formally ratify their agreement to the Convention. In accordance with Article 35 of the Convention, 30 days after the receipt of the thirtieth ratification the Convention came into force on 23 March 1950, a date now celebrated each year by members of WMO as World Meteorological Day.

In 1950 Warren was in Lausanne attending a meeting of the IMC which by that time had 25 members. It was in that picturesque Swiss city on the shores of Lac Leman that he suffered a severe heart attack. Medical science and technology was less developed than it is today but his condition was quickly stabilised in the local hospital. He was ordered complete rest and medical opinion suggested that it would be unwise for him to return to Australia by air.


People in Bright Sparcs - Warren, Herbert Norman

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Gibbs, W. J. 1999 'A Very Special Family: Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1946 to 1962', Metarch Papers, No. 13 May 1999, Bureau of Meteorology

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