4
BAMOS
Mar 2019
President’s report
Andrew Marshall, March 2019
Welcome to the first issue of BAMOS for 2019, and a (belated)
Happy New Year to all! It’s been a busy start to the year for AMOS
and we’ve hit the ground running, beginning with our Fire
Weather Forecasting Workshop at the University of Melbourne
on Tuesday 5 February. This was followed by our Annual General
Meeting (see my annual report for 2018), and Public Lecture
titled “A decade on: lessons from Black Saturday”. These events
brought together research and emergency service staff from
across Australia to recognise the 10-year anniversary of the
devastating 2009 Victorian bushfires, and to communicate the
research around fire weather and behaviour that has changed
the way we understand and respond to catastrophic fire events.
The day’s events came together thanks to all the speakers and
the many volunteers who worked hard behind the scenes:
Mika Peace, Paul Fox-Hughes, Andrew Dowdy and Beth
Ebert organised the science programmes; Elisabeth Vogel
documented the day’s talks and discussions; Tim Morrow video
recorded both the workshop and public lecture; and Jeanette
Dargaville, Melissa Lyne, Angela Maharaj, Sonya Fiddes, Mitchell
Black, Thomas Cavanagh and Todd Lane organised event
logistics to ensure the day ran smoothly.
Three new AMOS Councillors were elected at the AGM—
congratulations and welcome to Sonya Fiddes (Secretary),
Beth Ebert (Awards Chair) and Veronica Tamsitt (Education
and Outreach Chair). Also, to Christian Jakob (Ordinary Council
Member), Jochen Kämpf (South Australia Centre Chair), and
Carly Tozer and Kathryn Allen (Tasmania Centre Co-Chairs), all of
whom have joined Council in the last few months. I look forward
to working with you in the year ahead!
I wish to thank outgoing Councillors Neville Nicholls (Awards),
Stephanie Downes (Education and Outreach), Helen Phillips
(Tasmania), Murray Hamilton (South Australia), and Roger
Dargaville (Ordinary Council Member) for volunteering so
much of their time and energy to AMOS over the years. A
special mention also goes to Mervyn Lynch, whose long-term
commitment to the Awards Committee included Chair of the
selection committee for the Meyers and Priestley medals.
It’s been a busy summer for our operational forecasters, climate
services and emergency personnel in responding to extreme
weather conditions around the country, and my thoughts are
with those affected by the events. These included widespread
heatwaves in December and January, with January 2019
ranking as the hottest month on record, and summer 2018–19
as the hottest season on record, for Australia. During this time,
the release of the State of the Climate 2018 by the Bureau of
Meteorology and CSIRO reported an increase in the frequency
of extreme heat events. Significant fires occurred in eastern
Queensland during late November and early December,
southern Tasmania and eastern Victoria during January and
February, and northeast New South Wales and southwest
Western Australia during February. Meanwhile up north, an
active monsoon trough and a slow-moving low pressure system
brought extreme rainfall to tropical Queensland during late
January and early February which led to flooding and damage
in and around Townsville. Once again, resources and personnel
have come together from around Australia and New Zealand to
provide help and ensure the highest level of protection for our
communities.
On Monday 11 February, AMOS celebrated its female science
leaders in a series of Twitter posts for International Day of
Women and Girls in Science 2019. These featured summaries
of achievements, photos from childhood, and advice they
would give to their younger selves. And at the time of writing
this column, International Women’s Day is only a few days away
with the theme #BalanceforBetter. Celebrated around the world
and in our workplaces on Friday 8 March, this year’s campaign is
aimed at raising awareness against gender bias. I’m privileged to
have been invited onto the panel at the Bureau of Meteorology’s
event to discuss ways we can take action for gender equality in
the workplace and in our lives. For AMOS, these international
celebrations serve to highlight the achievements of our female
colleagues, and to spark conversations for the next generation
of girls and young women considering a career in STEM.
One of the leading initiatives in our country for increasing the
public visibility of women in our sciences is the Superstars
of STEM program run by Science and Technology Australia.
This two-year program aims to smash society’s gender
assumptions about scientists and to support women in STEM
to become highly visible public role models. This year’s selected
participants include AMOS member (and former BAMOS Editor)
Linden Ashcroft—announced just days before the December
2018 issue of BAMOS went to print. Congratulations Linden on
your selection as a Superstar of STEM for 2019–2020!
Finally, I wish to extend my congratulations to two Fellows of
AMOS who received prestigious awards in January. UNSW
Professor John Church was awarded the BBVA Foundation
Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change—the first
Australian to have won the award—alongside Dr Anny Cazenave
(France) and Prof. Jonathan Gregory (UK). The award recognises
“outstanding contributions to detecting, understanding and
projecting the response of global and regional sea level to
anthropogenic climate change”. Then, ARC Centre of Excellence
for Climate Extremes Director Andy Pitman was awarded an
Order of Australia “for distinguished service to science as a
leading researcher, particularly of climate systems and the
environment”. That’s an impressive start to the year at UNSW:
two richly deserved awards to Professors at the Climate Change
Research Centre in the first few weeks of 2019. And they say
things happen in threes…
I look forward to seeing you at AMOS-ICTMO2019 in June!