Glimpse of the RAAF Meteorological Service
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Growing Up
Chapter 2: Port Moresby Before Pearl Harbour
Chapter 3: Port Moresby After Pearl Harbour
Chapter 4: Allied Air Force HQ and RAAF Command, Brisbane
Chapter 5: Japan Surrenders and We Are Demobilised
Visit to Japan
The RAAF Meteorological Service Returns to 'Civvy' Street
Some Thoughts on Tropical Meteorology
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: References
Appendix 2: Milestones
Appendix 3: Papers Published in Tropical Weather Research Bulletins
Appendix 4: Radiosonde Observations 1941–46
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
Some Thoughts on Tropical Meteorology
In Brisbane we had continued our routine of synoptic analysis and production of RAAF Tropical Weather Research Bulletins Nos 12, 13, 14 and 15. In off-duty hours I also worked on the preparation of a summary of some investigations in tropical meteorology which I hoped to submit to the University of Sydney department of geography as a DSc thesis. The manuscript of that abortive effort makes interesting reading.The thesis is dated August 1945, and has the title A study of horizontal convergence in low latitudes with a note on the effects of periodicity. A copy of correspondence with the University of Sydney department of geography indicates that my thesis was rejected in December 1946.
In retrospect, I believe that the ideas contained in the thesis were worth consideration but their examination required a more mature approach. Some aspects of the thesis give an interesting insight on the information available to me at that time. The University's decision to reject the thesis was wise and I am grateful for it.
My thesis illustrated the dilemma we had experienced in forecasting in the tropics and questioned the validity of the air-mass and frontal techniques. The difficulty was to find a more appropriate model of the tropical atmosphere on which to base forecasts.
The thesis began with a summary of early attempts at synoptic analysis, the investigation of the effect of upper winds in Australia and mentioned the work of Hunt, Kidson, Palmer, Quayle, Russell and Taylor.
People in Bright Sparcs - Hunt, Henry Ambrose ; Kidson, Edward; Quayle, Edwin Thomas; Russell, Henry Chamberlain; Taylor, Thomas Griffith
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© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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