18
BAMOS
Dec 2017
Conference report
The Third Australian Wind-Waves
Symposium
Ryan Lowe 1 , Diana Greenslade 2 , Mark Hemer 3 , Alex Babanin 4 , Jeff Hansen 1 , Scott Draper 1 , Hugh Wolgamot 1
1
2
The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA
Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, VIC
3
4
The inaugural Australian Wind Waves Symposium occurred in
May 2010 at the Gold Coast, Queensland with the objective “to
develop an awareness of related research amongst Australian
waves scientists, to unite waves research across sites and
organisations, to discuss future directions and current gaps
in Australian waves research, and to provide a forum for the
development of possible collaborative activities” (Greenslade
et al., 2010; Day et al., 2010). This was followed by a Second
Symposium held in Melbourne in June 2013 (Greenslade et al.,
2013).
Over the period since the Second Symposium was held in 2013,
a number of significant developments relevant to Australia’s
wave community have occurred. Perhaps most notably has
been the establishment of the Australia Forum for Operational
Oceanography (FOO) in 2015, which is designed to bring
together Australia’s Government agencies, Research and
Development and service providers, and marine industries
to identify key priority areas in operational oceanography
to meet challenges faced by Australia’s marine community.
Surface waves were identified as one of two priority areas for
FOO to focus its efforts, following the first FOO meeting in July
Participants at the Third Australian Wind-waves Symposium.
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Hobart, TAS
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC
2015. In response, a Surface Waves Working Group (SWWG)
has been established, with members from all four FOO pillars
represented, to encourage cross-sectoral dialogue and resolve
associated challenges to be addressed by the Australian marine
community. With this recognition of the need for further wave
information, the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)
has also engaged more strongly in monitoring waves, with a new
waves satellite remote sensing sub-facility of IMOS established
in 2017 to deliver national wind-wave datasets for use by the
broader community. With these developments, along with a
growth in the Australian wind-waves community and emerging
fields including, for example, some notable renewable wave
energy projects, it was deemed timely for the community to
come together for the Third Symposium.
The Third Symposium was held over two and a half days (24–26
October) in 2017 at the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre
at the University of Western Australia campus in Perth. The
symposium was attended by over 60 waves researchers and
end users from across universities, the Bureau of Meteorology,
CSIRO, State government agencies, and industry, including a
few participants from New Zealand. The Symposium included