12
BAMOS
Sep 2019
Congratulations to the award winners
During the conference, AMOS president Andrew Marshall
announced the AMOS awards and new AMOS Fellows.
Congratulations were given to Penny Whetton and Todd
Lane for their election as new AMOS Fellows in 2018. Michael
Pook was awarded the Gibbs Medal recognising his long and
distinguished service in operational forecasting. The inaugural
AMOS Science Outreach Award was given to Andrew King
for his mastery of science communication and outreach on
climate change and climate extremes. The Morton Medal
was awarded to Christian Jakob recognising his national
leadership in meteorology, particularly in regards to modelling
tropical convection. The Uwe Radok award went to Catherine
Vreugdenhil for her PhD thesis and Catherine presented a
lecture on “The effects of convection in geostrophic circulation:
insights into ocean heat transport and energy budget”.
The conference talks and posters were extremely high quality.
Awards were given to Jessie Gray (Central Queensland
University) for the best ECR poster, “An Analysis of Historical
Triggers of Landfalling Tropical Cyclones in NSW” and Chiara
Holgate (ANU) for the best ECR oral presentation “Australia's
rainfall recycling and evaporative origins during average,
drought and pluvial periods”.
Connecting with the Darwin community
One of the real strengths of the conference was being able to
connect conference delegates with the Darwin community and
culture through our outreach events and local activities. This
was no easy feat considering most of the organising committee
lived far from Darwin.
On the first day of proceedings we opened the conference
to Northern Territory secondary school students. We wanted
to offer an opportunity for students to meet scientists, ask
questions and learn about the diverse career paths available
in weather, climate and ocean science in Australia. With help
from Inspiring Australia NT, we arranged buses to transport
over 130 students to the Convention Centre for a “Meet the
Scientists” event. Thanks kindly to the Q&A panel participants:
Amelie Meyer (UTAS), Ben Arthur (CSIRO), Stephanie Downes
(NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment),
Johanna Speirs (Snowy Hydro Ltd), Adam Morgan (Bureau of
Meteorology), Max Gonzalez (Weatherzone) as well as Angela
Maharaj (UNSW) for moderating all the great questions.
Following the Q&A event, students joined other conference
attendees for the AMOS keynote speeches by Blair Trewin and
Joëlle Gergis.
Darwin locals and conference delegates were invited to an
AMOS‑sponsored free screening of “Inventing Tomorrow” at
the Deckchair Cinema—Darwin’s iconic outdoor cinema. Before
relaxing back to watch the film under the stars, Linden Ashcroft
MC’d a Q&A panel featuring Roger Dargaville, Veronica Tamsitt
and Angela Maharaj. The panel discussed hot topics such as
carbon emissions, climate tipping points, the importance of
oceans in the climate system and energy transitions in the
economy.
Jeanette Dargaville did an incredible job supporting the
Darwin community by sourcing sustainable products and
local suppliers for the conference. For example, our name tag
lanyards were made by Helping People Achieve and featured
indigenous art prints by Paperbark Woman. And the amazing
conference dinner was catered by the Karen Sheldon Group
that offers professional hospitality training to help address
indigenous economic disadvantage.
Panel participants respond to questions from Northern Territory school students in a "Meet the Scientists" Q&A session.
Source: Cara Penton, Inspired NT