The Antarctic and Southern Ocean (continued)

Observations from the Antarctic and Southern Ocean during the IGY and thereafter revealed an amazing complexity of atmospheric behaviour including the disappearance of the Antarctic tropopause, the katabatic wind, the baroclinicity in the ocean in the vicinity of Heard Island (the ocean convergence), the influence of pack ice and the generation and track of Southern Ocean cyclones.

The fifth assembly of CSAGI in Moscow in July/August 1958 had discussed continuation of the IGY program of observations and research after the IGY, collection and publication of data and other procedural matters. The Australian delegation was Professor Bullen, Fred Jacka of ANARE and myself. Other delegates included Panzarini from Argentina, Van Meighem from Belgium, Van Rooy from South Africa, Robin from the UK, Wexler and Cartwright from the US, Somov and Krischak from USSR and Ashford representing WMO. We used the opportunity to extend invitations to attend the symposium on Antarctic meteorology in Melbourne in February 1959 for which Len Dwyer had secured Government approval. The Argentineans advertised a similar symposium proposed for Buenos Aires later in that year.

The US delegation suggested that a Weather Central for the Antarctic should be located outside Antarctica as the International Antarctic Weather Central located at the US base at Little America was not likely to continue operation after the conclusion of the IGY in December 1958. The Australian delegation indicated that it may be possible to locate an Antarctic Weather Central in Melbourne.

My report on the CSAGI assembly included notes on visits to The Institute of Physics of the Atmosphere and the headquarters of the USSR Hydrometeorological Service. It indicated that the USSR Institute of Physics was engaged in an examination of numerical weather forecasting techniques while the analysis centre in the headquarters of the Hydrometeorological Service employed similar techniques of synoptic analysis and forecasting to those we used in Melbourne but made a synoptic analysis of the whole of the Earth and produced long-range as well as short-range forecasts.

Annals of the IGY Vol XI titled 'Fifth Meeting of CSAGI' published in 1961 by Pergamon Press, London, includes copies of papers delivered by W. J. Gibbs, H. Wexler and O. G. Krichak dealing with Antarctic and Southern Ocean meteorology. The list of contents also includes the titles of 11 papers on numerical forecasting by authors from the US, UK, USSR, Germany and Sweden.

Bureau of Meteorology