Meetings of the IMO Technical Commissions in Toronto (continued)

Figure 16 Petterssen and Palmen at CAe Toronto, 1947.

Figure 17 McTaggart-Cowan, Pone, Van Meighem and Gibbs at CAe Toronto, 1947.

For lunch CAe delegates often repaired to a nearby street cafe where I had the opportunity to talk to these eminent people on matters meteorological. I was surprised by their eagerness to discuss scientific aspects with a tyro such as myself. Petterssen was especially good company and we had many discussions on the nature of fronts. I remember that the weather in Toronto was surprisingly hot and humid for one who thought that a city at about 44°N would never be warm and humid.

I also attended the meetings of CIMO which was a very important Commission because of its responsibility for comparison of instruments and standardising methods of observation.

Sometimes Warren and I attended the same meeting although it is interesting to note that I appear in the group photographs of CAe and CSWI while Warren appears only in that for CAeM. I imagine he had another commitment when the CSWI photo was taken for he played a prominent part in the CSWI discussions.

Figure 14 Members of IMO Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM), University of Toronto 1947. Front row, left to right, Banerji, Rivet, Warren, Little, Nagle, unknown, Berry, Starbuck, unknown. Viaut and Petterssen are immediately behind Little and Nagle, with Barnett immediately behind them.

Figure 15 Members of IMO Aerology Commission (CAe), University of Toronto 1947. Front row, left to right, Bleeker, Sutcliffe, Palmen, unknown, Petterssen, Sellick, and Gibbs on extreme right. Nyberg third from left in middle row, Wexler third from left back row.

Warren was often at loggerheads with E. Gold, the President of CSWI, who was somewhat aloof, with a 'rule Britannia' attitude. They clashed on the question of the code for the transmission of surface weather observations which Gold felt should meet the special needs for navigation of shipping in the North Sea and the English Channel while Warren believed a code for international use should not be tailored to the special needs of a particular location.

The CSWI meeting was attended by about 60 delegates and included Gold, Bergeron, Lugeon, Viaut, Bleeker, Petterssen, Angstrom, Mme Gudmundson, Van Meighem, Keranen and de Sousa from Europe, Tannehill, Orville, Hagen, Cartwright and Berry from the US, McTaggart-Cowan from Canada, Grinstead, Mackey and Starbuck from British overseas territories, Barnett from New Zealand, Banerji from India, Gidami and Tana from Egypt, Berlage from the Netherlands East Indies, Bunnag from Siam (Thailand) and del Rosario from the Philippines. The large number attending this session indicated the feeling of urgency in securing agreement on schedules for the exchange of weather information.

Bureau of Meteorology