BAMOS Dec 2017
17
The Annual General Meeting of the Tasmania Regional Centre was held at CSIRO on 8th December . The meeting commenced with an invited talk by Dr Heidi Auman ( IMAS ) who gave a fascinating description of the appalling impact of marine plastics on seabirds . Heidi ( opposite ) has studied human impacts on seabirds for most of the past twenty-five years . A pioneer on the research of plastics ingestion , she lived on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 1993 – 2000 , studying the effects of marine debris and contaminants on Laysan albatross . Heidi demonstrated that our ecological footprint has reached the farthest corners of the earth , with disturbing consequences .
The office bearers of the 2018 AMOS Tasmania Regional Centre were elected at the brief AGM . They are Helen Phillips ( Chair ), Simon Alexander ( Vice-Chair ), Damien Irving ( Secretary ), Andrew Klekociuk ( Treasurer ), Wilma Huneke ( Student Representative ), and General Members Kathryn Allen , Zanna Chase , Neil Holbrook , Craig Macaulay ( Media , Ex-officio ), Steven
Phipps , Mike Pook , Irina Sakova and Carly Tozer . We farewelled Andrew Marshall , Pearse Buchanan , Stephanie Downes , John Church and Pete Strutton . We would like to extend our sincere thanks to them for their efforts on behalf of AMOS , their good humour and collegiality .
Tasmania Centre plans for 2018 include ( i ) a public lecture and forum in conjunction with National Science Week ( August ) at the University of Tasmania on the theme “ Advances in Technology ”, exploring new possibilities in marine and Antarctic research that are becoming possible with new technological capability ; ( ii ) a continuation of our early-career researcher forum in association with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science ; and ( iii ) the award of the 2017 AMOS Regional Award for Academic Achievement at the third year undergraduate or Honours level ( UTas ).
ACT Centre in 2017
Jeff Kingwell , ACT Centre Chair
The highlight for our Centre in 2017 was hosting the very successful AMOS Annual Conference . This was held in conjunction with the Meteorological Society of New Zealand Annual Conference and the Australia and New Zealand Climate Forum , at the Australian National University , Canberra , 6 – 10 February . Despite heatwave conditions for part of the time , with the maximum temperature reaching 41 º C on the final day , the conference was attended by around 450 delegates .
Special thanks are due to Clem Davis , the Conference Convenor ; Jeanette Dargaville , AMOS National Executive Officer ; and John Taylor , Chair of the Scientific Committee , who did outstanding jobs in making the Conference such a success .
In March we held a Student Meeting , to thank undergraduates those who helped with the Conference , and also for more experienced members to answer questions about careers in meteorology and related fields . The 2016 student prizes were also acknowledged . 2016 student prizes were awarded to Zac Hatfield-Dodds , Timothy Hume and Fangqin Chen .
On 19 and 20 August the Centre assisted the Scouting movement by giving presentations on “ Wild Weather ” to scouts aged from six to over 15 , at the camping centre on Cottermouth . Thanks to Clem Davis for not only organising but also carrying out these presentations .
I would very much like to thank the 2017 Committee — Clem Davis , James Goldie , Bob Cechet and Jay Larson — for their support in what for me ( and others ) has personally been a very difficult year .
I also thank the Australian National University and the Fenner School for the use of conference and meeting facilities during the year .