BAMOS Flashback
Terry Hart AMOS History Special Interest Group
BAMOS July 2021
19
Honours bestowed and a crucial observing system commences
The BAMOS issue of June 2002 covered two of the AMOS Awards for 2001 / 2 and also noted a milestone for another distinguished scientist .
The 2001 Priestley Medal , given for excellence in research by young scientists , was awarded to Dr Peter Rayner of CSIRO Atmospheric Research . The report noted that Peter Rayner had made major contributions in the field of global carbon cycle modelling , a scientific field having major impacts both in understanding of the environment and in terms of policy , nationally and internationally . Peter has continued his distinguished career and currently holds an Australian Professorial Fellowship at the University of Melbourne .
In a personal note , the Editor ( Andrew Watkins ) noted that Peter “ is also an accomplished musician ( his keen ear picked at least one major mechanical with my car ), computer programmer , world traveler , rock climber , cross country skier and ( even more impressive on the meteorological geek scale ) NCAR graphics wiz . It ’ s enough to make you ( often at his own peril !) forget his blindness .”
Life membership for Bruce Morton
Professor Bruce Morton was awarded life membership of AMOS in recognition of his long and energetic service to both the Australian Branch of the Royal Meteorological Society ( RMSAB ). Bruce , a Mathematics Professor at Monash University , joined a group led by Arch Dyer from CSIRO to establish the Royal Meteorological Society , Australian Branch ( RMSAB ) in 1973 . Bruce was President of the Society from 1975 till 1977 and continued to be an enthusiastic member of the Society and its successor ( AMOS ) formed in 1987 . He had an infectious enthusiasm and was a dynamic speaker . He believed that the meteorological community should have a strong voice , and through his commitment to both the RMSAB and AMOS made a significant contribution toward that goal . Bruce passed away in 2012 .
The third item honouring a distinguished scientist was an article noting the retirement of Professor Garth Paltridge as Director of the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean ( Antarctic CRC ) and the University of Tasmania ' s Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies ( IASOS ). After a career as an atmospheric scientist in CSIRO ' s Division of Atmospheric Research , Garth became the first director of IASOS in 1990 and was appointed the first Director for the Antarctic CRC at its formation in 1991 . The article noted that “ the work of the Antarctic CRC in organising and funding research cruises to the region as well as developing a strong numerical modelling capability has clarified the role of the Antarctic as an indicator of global climate change and a key contributor to long-term changes in the ocean and atmosphere ”.
Garth had broad-ranging interests during his career . With Dr Martin Platt he wrote a major text-book on atmospheric radiation . More controversially , in 1975 he proposed that the earth / atmosphere climate system is constrained by a maximum entropy production principle , an idea he revisited after his retirement . His papers used this bold but disputed concept to explore whether processes such as cloud feedback and the response to increased greenhouse gas concentrations could be explained at a fundamental level .
Ocean observation network expanded
The June 2002 issue of BAMOS also contained a detailed report on an innovative ocean observation network that was only just beginning but which is now a crucial part of the Global Climate Observing System .
Argo is an international program using a fleet of robotic instruments that drift with the ocean currents and move up and down between the surface and a mid-water level . Each instrument ( float ) spends almost all its life below the surface . The floats play an analogous role to weather balloons , drifting with the currents at depths of 2 km and surfacing every ten days to report ocean conditions via satellite .
In 2002 the program was in its fourth year , with 446 operational floats at the time of writing . The target was to have 3,000 freefloating deployed in all oceans with freely available data reported in real-time through the WMO Global Telecommunication System . The figure below shows that that goal has now been achieved with 3907 operational floats at 1 June 2021 .
The Argo floats have provided a comprehensive measurement of ocean temperature , and salinity to a depth of 2000 metres , and the changes that have occurred since the program ’ s inception .
The article shows a photo of Dr Steve Rintoul with one of the Australian release Argo floats . Steve was the winner of the 1999 Priestley Medal and has continued as a key leader in oceanographic observation research with CSIRO .