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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
A Period of Consolidation
Aviation Services
Services for the General Public
Rockets and Atomic Weapons
Instruments and Observations
Climate and Statistics
International Activities
Training
Publications
Research
Central Analysis and Development
CSIRO
The Universities
The Meteorology Act
Achievements of the Timcke Years

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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Instruments and Observations (continued)

In the Timcke years another radiosonde station was brought into operation at Cocos Island in October 1952. Four were relocated, Pearce to Perth Airport in June 1952, Hobart Regional Office to the airport at Cambridge in 1953, Rathmines to Williamtown in January 1954 and Parafield to Adelaide Airport in June 1954. By the time of Timcke's retirement the Bureau had 19 radiosonde stations. A 1990 report of the Bureau's National Climate Centre also indicates that at that time radiosonde observations were being made by the French at Amsterdam Island in the South Indian Ocean and by the RAN at its station at Nowra, NSW.

However the major improvement in the observational network in the Timcke era was the installation of radio/radar wind-finding stations. Chapter 1 describes how Warren had sought to improve the network of upper wind observations by acquiring a number of ex-Royal Navy 10 cm radar sets for conversion to wind-finding. Cornish (1996) and Brann (1986) have stated that gun-laying military radars had been used experimentally for this purpose during the war but I have been unable to locate any record of the results of observations made using this equipment.

The difficulty in overcoming selection of sites, construction of buildings and modification of the equipment was explained in Chapter 1. Despite the best efforts of Bill Brann, Max Cassidy and DCA staff the only 277 wind-finding radar operational at the time of Warren's death was the prototype at Bowes Avenue.

The need for accurate and comprehensive observations of upper winds was made urgent by an increasing volume and complexity of civil aircraft operations, by the operation of the LRWE rocket range at Woomera and by the program of the AWRE for testing of atomic weapons in Australia. As mentioned in Chapter 1 Bill Brann was lucky to secure the services of radar engineer Geoff Goodman to assist in the installation program of DCA engineers.

The first routine post-war use of upper air wind-finding by electronic means did not use the 277 radars but employed radio direction-finding equipment which tracked the transmissions from radiosondes. These Metox sets were installed in Cocos Island, Darwin and Port Hedland in 1952 but they had limited range and accuracy and were difficult to manage. I recall that another post-war system used optical pilot balloon theodolites to track radiosondes to find upper winds. This 'sowind' system, which needed clear skies and balloon height information from the results of the radiosonde calculations, was adjudged not worthwhile.

Wind-finding using 277 radar became operational at Alice Springs in August 1953, Cloncurry in August 1952, Hobart Airport in February 1954, Lord Howe Island in November 1954, Melbourne (Laverton) in July 1953, and at Newcastle (Williamtown) in December 1953. A wind-finding Metox was installed at Norfolk Island in February 1955. Thus there were 10 Bureau electronic wind-finding stations in operation by early 1955.


Organisations in Australian Science at Work - National Climate Centre

People in Bright Sparcs - Brann, Harold Walter Allen Neale (Bill); Cornish, Allan William; Timcke, Edward Waldemar; Warren, Herbert Norman

Previous Page Bureau of Meteorology Next Page

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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