KEY POINTS:
Powerful computers, satellite technology and a sophisticated network of radar stations have refined weather forecasting in the past century.
But as Australia's Bureau of Meteorology marked its 100th anniversary yesterday, its acting director, Dr Neville Smith, says the scientific basics used a century ago remain its backbone today.
"The mean temperature and rainfall data that we gathered 100 years ago is what we use to determine the effects of climate change today," Dr Smith said.
"It's an amazing story that we set out an operating network and standards of accuracy that mean data collected 100 years ago is still useful today."
Although a central national weather agency was conceived in the lead-up to Federation on January 1, 1901, the Bureau of Meteorology did not consolidate colonial weather observations until exactly seven years later.
It lagged behind New Zealand, where the observation and study of weather started as early as the 1840s.
The New Zealand weather forecasting service began in 1861, when a spate of shipwrecks prompted the Government to start a storm warning service.
In Australia, the meteorology bureau's staff have quietly predicted and observed the extremes of Australia's climate.
Its brief now extends beyond weather, climate and hydrology observation and forecasting, acting as the national warning service for natural hazards such as severe weather, flood, fire and tsunami.
Since January last year, it has collected and published data to assist national water management.
Communications have improved markedly in the past century. Remote data that could have taken days or weeks to be sent to the bureau for analysis can now be examined instantly, Dr Smith said.
The Bureau of Meteorology is regarded as a leader that "punches above its weight" within the UN World Meteorological Organisation.
Dr Smith said he expected the bureau to take on a larger role in monitoring climate change and could begin assessing changes in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
Its day-to-day weather forecasting would become even more sophisticated and could include forecasts for individual suburbs in the next 10 to 50 years, as computers become more powerful.
- AAP
