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Federation and MeteorologyBureau of Meteorology
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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

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
Leonard Joseph Dwyer—A Complex Character
Reorganising the Bureau
Public Weather Services
Forecasts for the General Public
Importance of Radio Stations
The Advent of Television
Automatic Telephone Forecast Service
Beacons
Wording and Verification of Forecasts
Warnings
Services for Aviation
Atomic Weapons Tests
Atomic Weapons Tests—Mosaic G1 and G2
Atomic Weapons Tests—Buffalo 1, 2, 3 and 4
Atomic Weapons Tests—Operations Antler, 2 and 3
Atomic Weapons Tests—Minor Trials
Instruments and Observations
Radiosondes
Radar/Radio Winds and Radar Weather Watch
Automatic Weather Stations
Sferics
Meteorological Satellites
Telecommunications
Tropical Cyclones
Bureau Conference on Tropical Cyclones
International Symposium on Tropical Cyclones, Brisbane
Hydrometeorology
Design of Water Storages, Etc
Flood Forecasting
Cloud Seeding
Reduction of Evaporation
Rain Seminar
Cloud Physics
Fire Weather
Research and Special Investigations
International Activities
The International Geophysical Year
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean
International Symposium on Antarctic Meteorology
International Antarctic Analysis Centre
ADP, EDP and Computers
Training
Publications
Management Conference
Services Conference
CSIRO and the Universities
Achievements of the Dwyer Years

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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Atomic Weapons Tests—Buffalo 1, 2, 3 and 4 (continued)

After the Buffalo tests the AWTSC was reconstituted with E. W. Titterton as Chairman and L. J. Dwyer and D. J. Stevens (head of ARL) as members. This smaller committee was more effective and contained a nice balance between Ernest Titterton, somewhat inclined to favour his British origins, Len Dwyer, a forthright, down-to-earth Australian meteorologist and Don Stevens, an expert in the effects of radiation on the human body.

In May 1957 a National Radiation Advisory Council (NRAC) was also formed with Sir Macfarlane Burnet as chairman and with Prof L. H. Martin and W. A. S. Butement as members with the general responsibility of examining the effect of all types of nuclear radiation on the Australian community. The AWTSC submitted proposed acceptable dose levels to the NRAC for their consideration. I recall that much later, when I had succeeded Len Dwyer as a member of the AWTSC, Ernest Titterton still believed that low levels of nuclear radiation were not harmful to humans.

With a new AWTSC and improved facilities at Maralinga for meteorological support for weapons tests there were three further explosions of atomic weapons in 1957. Antler 1, having a yield of 0.93 kilotons was exploded on the top of a 100 foot tower on 14 September. Antler 2 with a yield of 6 kilotons was exploded on the top of another 100 foot tower on 25 September. Antler 3 with a yield of 26.6 kilotons was exploded on 9 October when hanging from a balloon at a height of 1000 feet. Local fallout was much less in the case of Antler 3 than in the other two Antler tests. The Antler series were the last of the atomic bombs to be exploded in Australia.


People in Bright Sparcs - Butement, William Alan Stewart; Dwyer, Leonard Joseph; Phillpot, Henry Robert

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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

© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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