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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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International Symposium on Antarctic Meteorology (continued)

Another major problem facing Little America's Weather Central was the paucity of data over the Southern Ocean. This is emphasised in the papers by Gray and Astapenko and again in the record of discussions at the symposium. Page 98 of the paper by Taljaard and Van Loon displays a map of the southern hemisphere poleward of latitude 20°S which graphically demonstrates the difficulties associated with hemispheric analysis of the southern hemisphere before the advent of meteorological satellites in the 1960s provided some information in these data sparse areas.

The initiative of the US in maintaining a Weather Central deserves due acknowledgement, as does the contributions of Argentina in seconding Arrivz, Australia in attaching Keith Morley, France in providing Jean Alt, South Africa in seconding Van Loon, USSR in allocating Atapenko and New Zealand and others providing staff to work at Little America with Tom Gray and his team at Weather Central.

The initiative and energy of the Bureau in staging the symposium on Antarctic meteorology made a substantial contribution to the success of the IGY. While many other disciplines regarded the IGY as a period for collection of data for later research the meteorologists had an operational task of providing forecasts in the Antarctic and the forecasters took the opportunity to conduct research in their off-duty time. Thus the preliminary results of their research were available for presentation at the symposium. We in Australia had been actively engaged in research into Southern Ocean meteorology since the establishment of the Australian bases at Heard and Macquarie islands in 1948 and were well prepared to make significant contributions.

The question of territorial rights of various nations to their sovereignty over assorted slices of the Antarctic continent undoubtedly contributed to the operation of bases on the continent after the IGY. The signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1960 postponed the resolution of the question of national sovereignty in the Antarctic. An important argument for the maintenance of the Antarctic bases was the initiative of the WMO World Weather Watch in response to the UN General Assembly request for peaceful uses of meteorology in outer space. This was an important non-territorial consideration for the operation of the bases after the IGY.


People in Bright Sparcs - Dwyer, Leonard Joseph

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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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