Information on regional workshops

The Annual Bureau of Meteorology R&D workshop is on 8-11 November 2021. More details here: http://www.bom.gov.au/research/workshop/2021/

IMBeR West Pacific Symposium 2021 “Changing West Pacific Ocean: Science and Sustainability” is on 23-25 November 2021. Details here: https://imber.info/event/wps2021/

The International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography (ICSHMO) is on 8-12 February 2022 in Christchurch NZ and virtually. Details here: https://confer.eventsair.com/icshmo-2022/

Institutions/Projects in the region working on S2S

Forewarned is Forearmed (FWFA)

This national project will deliver direct value to farmers by providing forecasts of extremes and equipping them with the information and tools to be forewarned and prepared. The project outputs aim to decrease the impacts of extreme climate events on farm, and on business profit.

The Bureau, working with several research partners, will develop and deliver forecasts of the likelihood of climate extremes on multi-week and seasonal timescales — beyond the 7-day weather forecast. The products will be focused on heat, cold and rainfall extremes, for example, "What is the likelihood of having a decile 10 rainfall this spring?"; "What is the chance of having a heatwave in the week after next?"; "What is the chance that the upcoming month will be extremely hot?"; "What is the likelihood of having more heavy rainfall events than usual in the upcoming fortnight?". This will provide farmers with the first ever forecasts of climate extremes in the weeks to seasons ahead. More information: http://www.bom.gov.au/research/projects/FWFA/

Northern Australia Climate Program (NACP)

NACP will deliver innovative research, development and extension outcomes to improve the capacity of the red meat industry to manage drought and climate risk across northern Australia. Drought is one of the biggest challenges graziers face and has a significant impact on agricultural output, productivity and on-farm income. One of the three sub-projects is focused on improving the basic science and operational skill of seasonal, sub-seasonal (multi-week) and multi-year climate forecasting systems of direct relevance to the northern Australia red meat industry. More information: http://www.bom.gov.au/research/projects/NACP/

Seasonal prediction of marine heatwaves

This collaborative project between CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology seeks to develop an experimental seasonal marine heatwave (MHW) forecast product(s) for Australian waters, based on ACCESS-S, and conduct the underpinning research and verification required. These prototype MHW products would be based on ACCESS-S, supported by scientific publications and developed in collaboration with stakeholders. The expectation would be future inclusion into the existing operational seasonal ocean outlook service for Australia, expanding the current user base and adding value to the existing service. For more information, see here.

Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac)

The primary aim of COSPPac to enhance the capacity of Pacific Islands to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate variability and tidal events. We work with stakeholders in the Islands to build tools that can forecast and report on climate, tides and the ocean. Aa part of this project, multi-week tropical cyclone outlooks for the North and South Pacific, and multiweek rainfall, tmax and tmin outlooks (and verification) are regularly provided in National Meteorological Service bulletins for a large number of Pacific Island countries. Outlooks can be accessed here: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/pacific/outlooks/