ORCV Safety and Training

Tech Heads rejoice!

(There's lots of 'new's in the weather.)

We've had plenty of petrol head references here on the site, so it is with great pleasure that we look at some very cool new gear from the BoM.

Malcolm Riley, the Media and Community Relations Manager from the Bureau of Meteorology had this to say about some of the plethora of new items the BoM site. "A period of change began in the Bureau of Meteorology with the introduction of the Next Generation Forecasting system in Victoria in 2008. This system is not fully rolled out in Victoria to date, with the marine graphics pages still to come. There are also many other changes 'in the pipeline', like the introduction of the Next Generation Forecasting system to other States (NSW September '10), new radars and radar upgrades, release of Access forecast model and associated information, are just a few of the things we can look forward to."

"Apart from new 'things' (equipment and systems), the Bureau of Meteorology also maintains a research and training arm that continuously advances the Bureau's understanding of the weather and climate. One of their key roles is to design and change the systems that are used by the forecasters, so as to more accurately predict weather conditions."

"All I can say is, watch this space. To quote the Bureau's Director, it's all about More and Better", said Malcolm.

One of our resident tech heads, Neville 'Nifty' Rose, was also suitably impressed with the changes that appeared very recently at bom.gov.au. "I agree - noticed a change earlier this week. Some of the new charts are great!" These are two things that particularly got his attention:

• New style charts for Waves, Wind Speed & Direction, Temperature
• New PDF printable colour chart Mean Sea Level Pressure Chart (MSLP).

You will also want to note that there are new Ocean Warning Zones and a new model, called Access, that will be generating information. The other new item, especially important as boats go up and down the East Coast at this time of year, is that NSW will now look like the Victorian site, as of September. As mentioned, there are new chart styles and a new buoy way down in the Southern Ocean. We have put the BoM's August Newsletter up so everyone can download it, right HERE.

You can also read how the BoM describes their changes to the services they provide, HERE. The new maps, that really are something else, are available from HERE.

The main thing is that there many new things available on the site to make your understanding of current and predicted weather more vast and easier to comprehend. Best you spend time wandering through the pages and if you need assistance, let us know and we'll put you in touch with the correct persons at the BoM. If you see something that you think should be featured, then let us know and we'll run it. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the BoM for their help, information and assistance.

By John Curnow