CSIRO Division of Meteorological Physics (1954 - 1971)

Summary

In 1954 The Meteorological Physics Research Station gained Divisional status, becoming the Division of Meteorological Physics, at a new location is Aspendale, Victoria. The Division was replaced by the Division of Atmospheric Physics in 1971.

Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page36-37:
"C.S.I.R.O.'s Division of Meteorological Physics is almost unique in that it is purely a research unit divorced from the obligation of providing weather forecasts.

The need for a meteorological research group was foreseen by the present Chairman, Dr. F. W. G. White, and his colleagues on the C.S.I.R. Executive Committee during the last years of the Second World War. In 1946 Dr. C. H. B. Priestley, a scientist from the British Meteorological Office, was brought out to Australia to establish C.S.I.R.'s Meteorological Physics Section."

Primary field of research: "Micro-meteorology, the study of the atmospheric layer within JOO metres of the earth's surface, was chosen as the major field of research. This, the lowest atmospheric layer, is of great importance since it is here that the atmosphere derives its energy through heat exchange and evaporation from the ground, and it is here that the atmosphere dissipates its energy through friction between the ground and the air. As Australia is an island, set in an ocean hemisphere, the processes of air mass modification which take place at surface level occur strongly, and are of governing importance in controlling our weather. It is in this near-surface zone, too, that plants and animals live, and micro-meteorological knowledge is important in a primary producing country like Australia. The importance of this work has gradually been realized by other Australians, within and without C.S.I.R.O., working in such disciplines as plant physiology, plant pathology and ecology."

"The Division's second important field of research is dynamic meteorology, the attempt to understand in physical terms the behaviour of weather systems. This work is aimed at a better understanding of the problems facing the weather forecaster, and at solving such questions as "Why do droughts occur?", and "Js our weather changing?". Much has already been learnt about the "cool changes" which characterize climate in south-eastern Australia, and which have now been found to constitute a multiplicity of discontinuities in wind direction, temperature and squall lines.

Apart from its major research interests, the Division is the Australian centre for ozone research, and is also equipped for the calibration of air flow meters. In the future, it is hoped to extend the micro-meteorology work to the air masses over the sea, and to develop weather buoys to provide information from the ocean wastes."

From National Archives of Australia CA 3391 entry:
"The Section was accorded Divisional status on 19 August 1954 to become the Division of Meteorological Physics. The Division was re-named the Division of Atmospheric Physics in July 1971.

The Division is primarily concerned with the physical and chemical atmospheric processes that underlie and control the weather and climate, and are responsible for monitoring the distribution of airborne material, including gases - particularly those substances affecting our environment. Research is also conducted into aspects of the oceans that affect the atmosphere. Methods of investigation used include field work, laboratory and numerical models, and analyses of globally derived data. It has an extensive network of monitoring stations around the continent and is concerned with the development of numerical and laboratory models that simulate atmospheric behaviour and application of these models to improving the accuracy and time-scale of weather predictions.

The Division also has a group of officers located at the Commonwealth Meteorology Research Centre at 380 Russell Street, Melbourne. The Centre is operated jointly by the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology and the Division.

C.H.B. Priestley was Officer-in-Charge, Meteorological Physics Research Section from 1946 to 1954, Chief, Division of Meteorological Physics from 1954 to 1971 and Chief, Division of Atmospheric Physics, from 1971 to 1973. From 1973 Gilbert Brian Tucker has been Chief of the Division."

Related entries

Timeline

 1946 - 1954 CSIR/O Meteorol Meteorological Physics Research Section
       1954 - 1971 CSIRO Division of Meteorological Physics
             1971 - 1988 CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics
                   1988 - 2005 CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research
                         2005 - 2014 CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Published resources

Books

• CSIRO, CSIRO research for Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Canberra: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, 1962), 64 pp, https://www.eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS15940.pdf. Details
• Schedvin, C.B; Trace, K., Historical Directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1926-1976 (Canberra: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/csiro_historical_directory_1926_1976.pdf. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476671. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 3391; CSIRO, Meteorological Physics Research Section/ (from 1954) Division of Meteorological Physics/ (from 1971) Division of Atmospheric Physics. Registration of entity: 2 October 1987', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%203391. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_c.html. Details
• Garratt, J. R.; Webb, E. K.; and Mccarthy, S., 'Charles Henry Brian Priestley. 8 July 1915 - 18 May 1998', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 57 (2011), 349-78, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2011.0015. Details
• Garratt, J. R.; Webb, E. K.; and Mccarthy, S., 'Charles Henry Brian Priestley 1915-1998', Historical Records of Australian Science, 22 (1) (2011), 126-51, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR11001. Details