BAMOS
Sep 2019
Engaging speakers, hot topics and a diverse
science program
The conference brought together premier Australian and
international scientists and showcased scientific advancements
in topics that present critical challenges to the nation such
as climate change, heatwaves, drought, bushfires and
tropical cyclones. The scientific program boasted almost 300
presentations and 70 posters within 30 sessions, under the
seven broad themes of oceans, atmosphere, climate variability
& change, extreme events, impacts & risks, data services &
outreach, and tropical meteorology & oceanography.
The annual invited RH Clarke Lecture was presented by Christian
Jakob of Monash University who discussed the importance of
tropical convection in modifying large‑scale environments as
well as the critical role of the Darwin observatory in improving
weather and climate models.
Back‑to‑back keynote speeches from Blair Trewin (Bureau of
Meteorology) and Joëlle Gergis (ANU) provided an overview of
the current and future state of the climate. Blair reviewed global
climate in 2018 including temperature records, sea ice trends,
and major climatic events. Joëlle’s speech followed with a review
of climate projections and policy challenges. Joëlle presented
climate projections for Darwin involving a sobering increase in
hot extremes for the city, accompanied by significant saltwater
intrusion associated with sea level rise.
AMOS’s commitment to help promote and facilitate trust,
respect and positive relationships between the wider Australian
community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
was evident in the conference program. Rosemary Hill from
CSIRO presented an engaging plenary on “connecting scientific
and Indigenous knowledge systems for climate change”.
Furthermore, a special session on Indigenous weather and
climate allowed the opportunity to learn about the work
from Traditional Owners in understanding and adapting to a
changing climate.
The importance of tropical meteorology and oceanography was
stressed by our international plenary speakers. Karumuri Ashok
from the University of Hyderabad (India) discussed the linkages
between the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian
monsoon. Peter Webster of the Georgia Institute of Technology,
USA, highlighted the mutual dependencies between the tropics
and extratropics. Gemma Narisma from the Manila Observatory,
Philippines discussed climate modelling for southeast Asia and
how it’s essential to move towards impact‐relevant research to
aid climate adaptation in regions both highly populated and
highly vulnerable.
Bushfire dynamics were highlighted by Jason Sharples (UNSW)
in an invited keynote. Jason presented on the progress in
understanding and modelling bushfires 10 years on since the
devastating “Black Saturday" fires in 2009.
The conference also hosted a diverse array of well‑attended
workshops. Topics included:
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programming (Software Carpentry),
weather forecasting in the tropics,
data access and analysis using the National Computing
Infrastructure (NCI) and Integrated Marine Observing System
(IMOS) data,
communicating weather and climate,
research on the RV Investigator,
delivering high‑impact science for decision making, and
equity and diversity.
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