WMO Bulletin, Volume XVI, No. 2: April 1969
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WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION APRIL 1969 VOL. XVIII No. 2 THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United N ations. WMO was created: to faci litate international co-operation in the establi shment of networks or sta tions and centres to provide meteorological services and observations, to promote· the establishment a nd maintenance of systems for the rapid exchange of meteorological information, to promote standardization of meteorological observations and ensure the uniform publication of observations and statistics, to further the application of meteorology to aviation, shipping, water problems, agriculture and other human activities, to encourage research a nd training in meteorology. T he World Meteorological Co ngress is the supreme body of the Organization. lt brings together the delegates or a ll Members once every fo ur years to determine general policies for the fulfilment or the purposes of the Organization. ' The Executive Committee is composed of 24 directors of national Meteorological Services serving in an individual capacity; it meets at least once a year to supervise the programmes a pproved by Congress. Six Regional Associations are each composed of Members whose task is to co-ordinate meteorological activities within their respective regions. Eight Technical Commissions composed of experts designated by Members, are responsible for studying the special technical branches relating to meteorological observation, analysis, forecasting, research and the applications of meteorology. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President: A. NYBERG (Sweden) First Vice-President: W. J . GIBBS (Australia) Second Vice-President: E. K. FEDOROV (U .S.S.R.) Third Vice-President: N. A . AKINGBEHIN (Nigeria) Regional Association presidents Africa (1): M . SECK (Senegal) ( acting) North and Central America (IV): Asia (II): M . H. GANJI (Iran) J. R . H. NoBLE (Canada) South America (Ill): South-West Pacific (V) : A. GARciA S. (Ecuador) K . RAJ END RAM (Si ngapore) (acting) Europe (V I): M. PEROVIC (Yugoslavia) Elected members F. A. A. A cQUAA H (Ghana) R . VEN ERAND O PEREIRA (Brazil) (acting) H. B . ANDRADA (Argentina) RAMANISARIVO (Madagascar) M. AYADI (Tunisia) Y. SHIBATA (Japan) L. DE AZCA RRAGA (Spain) E. SOssENBERGER (Fed . Rep. of Germany) J. BESSEMOULIN (France) M. F. TAHA (United Arab Republic) B. J. MASON (U.K.) J. VAN MIEGHEM (Belgi um) L. S. MATHUR (India) R. M . WHITE (U .S.A.) TECHNICAL COMMISSION PRESIDENTS Aeronautical Meteorology: Hydrometeorology: E. G . Porov N . A. LlEURANCE 1nstruments and Methods of Observation: Agricultural Meteorology: L. P. SMITH V. D . ROCK NEY (acting) Atmospheric Sciences: Maritime Meteorology: S. L. TIERNEY J. S. SAWYER (acting) Synoptic Meteorology: N. G. LEONOV Climatology: C. C. BOUGHNER (acting) The Secretariat of the Organization is located at 41, Avenue Giuseppe-Motta, Geneva, Switzerland W 0 R LD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION SECRETARY-GENERAL: D. A. DAVIES DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: J. R. RIVET lW~~ ~~[[~[~~ APRIL 1969 EDITOR: 0. M. ASH FORD VOL. XVIII No . 2 THE PICTURE ON THE COVER TABLE OF CONTENTS Page This issue of the WMO Bulletin con Exceptional weather events in 1968 . 72 tains the second annual report on the weath Use of environmental isotopes in hydrology er of the preceding year (see p. 72), with -Results from WMO/IAEA network .... 81 special attention to events which resulted in A comparison of the accuracy of objective loss of life or had substantial economic analyses . .. 86 consequences. Meteorological Services arc Aviation weather service and requirements helping to reduce such losses by issuing -1970-1980.......... ......... .... .... 91 timely warnings, as mentioned in relation to Air pollutants and agriculture . 94 the passage of a typhoon in Hong Kong in Radiation, including satellite techniques - August 1968. WM 0 is engaged in various Symposium in Bergen, August 1968 . 97 activities aimed at providing better protec Reducing typhoon damage in South-east tion from weather hazards. For example Asia- Inaugural session of the Typhoon , Committee.... ... the recently created Typhoon Committee (see . ... .. .. ........ .. 100 p. 100) is developing a plan of action Applications of meteorological satellite data to -Regional training seminar in Melbourne 102 minimize typh oon damage, while training seminar Commission for Hydrometeorology - Third s such as those held in Kuala Lum session, Geneva, 1968.. ........ ... .. .. 103 pur (seep. 114) and Melbourne (seep. 102) Technical co-operation . • . help to spread knowledge about modern . 106 International techniques of observing and forecasting Hydrological Decade . 11 3 dangerous weather conditions. Although we Forecasting of heavy rains and floods - ~ Seminar in Kuala Lumpur, November 1968 cannot as yet prevent natural weather 114 A ctivities of haza rds, there is much that can be done to the technical commissions.... 114 avoid the man-made hazard of atmospheric Collaboration with other international organi- zations . .. 117 pollution ; some aspects of this question are discussed on p. 94. Activities of the regional associations..... 123 News and notes . 125 The photograph on the cover (Brisbane News from the WMO Secretariat . 125 Courier Mail) shows di sastrous flooding of Reviews . 134 the Richmond River, New South Wales, Calendar of co ming events................ 142 Australia. Members of WMO.......... ........ .... .. 143 The purpose of the WMO Bullet in is to provide a summary of the work of the World Meteorological Organization and of developments in international meteorology of interest to Members of the Organization and others concerned with the application of meteorology to human activity. The WMO Bulletin is published quarterly in four separate editions: English, French, Spanish and Russ ian. The price is 1 Swiss franc per copy, including postage. Annual subscriptions (4 Swiss francs) and all other correspondence about the Bulletin should be addressed to the Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization, Case postale No. I, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. · Permission to publish extracts from the WMO Bulletin is granted, provided the customary acknowledgement is made. Signed contributions do not n ecessarily represent th e v iews of the Organization.. 71 EXCEPTIONAL WEATHER EVENTS IN 1968 The survey of weather conditions in 1967, prepared by Mr. N. Rosenan (WMO Bulletin, Vol. XVII, No. 2, pp. 50-62), was greatly appreciated as an interesting attempt to carry out a most difficult task. The purpose was to combine a survey of the extent to which the over-all atmospheric circulation conditions had deviated from normal with a report on unusual weather events which had resulted from these deviations. In view of the difficulties in making such a report complete, it was decided to narrow the scope of the 1968 report to include only catastrophic events and exceptional weather conditions which resulted in heavy losses of human life or had substantial economic consequences. Members of WMO were requested to report such events only, and the following article is a summary of the information received. As an introduction, a short survey is given of the most important meteorological peculiarities of the year 1968; for this, as for 1967, use has been made of the summary of the world meteorological conditions made by Professor Scherhag (1968).* Characteristic features of world weather in 1968 A fundamental characteristic of the world pressure pattern in 1968, particularly during the latter part, was the predominance of positive pressure anomalies over the Arctic Sea and surrounding area of north-western Europe, Greenland, and northern Asia. This was a reversal of the conditions during 1967 and a return to the pattern of 1965 and 1966. These positive anomalies extended over the areas of the semi permanent low-pressure systems over Iceland and the Aleutians, while during most of the same period there were negative anomalies over the areas of the subtropical high-pressure cells. This resulted in pressure gradients between the centres of action about 20 per cent lower than normal and a slowing down in the general circulation of the atmosphere over the northern hemisphere. The mean pressure pattern for the year showed a typical picture of a low-index circulation with the semi-permanent low split into two cells and all centres of action displaced somewhat south of the normal position. Tropical areas also showed negative pressure a nomalies. No assessment about pressure can be made for the southern hemisphere. Not surprisingly, this low-index circuLation pattern resulted in temperatures being considerably lower than normal during 1968 in large parts of the northern hemisphere. In the middle of the cold pole, centred on Franz-Joseph Land, Scherhag calculated the mean temperature for the year to have been nearly TC lower than the 1931-1960 normal. Below-normal temperatures extended over J.arge areas of northern Asia, and northern and north-western Europe. The cold area extended also over the northern Atlantic and Greenland; even as fiar south as the Azores, both air and water temperature for the year were considerably below normal. Over most of North America, mean temperatures for 1968 were below normal. The only areas in the nor.thern hemisphere with considerably above norma:! mean temperatures were found in the southern parts of Siberia across the U.S.S.R. to central Europe and in parts of Canada. In the tropics, temperature was also in general lower than normal, except in the Pacific. * See reference