History of POAMA

The Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere Programme was a major international effort by the World Climate Research Program during the decade 1985-95 to develop new approaches to predicting the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. One of the most promising approaches to come out of the Programme was numerical modeling of the coupled dynamics of the ocean and the atmosphere. Since Australia is strongly affected by ENSO, it seemed natural for the Bureau of Meteorology Research Center and CSIRO Marine Research (formerly the Division of Oceanography) to team up to adapt this new technology to the specific needs of Australia. Early on we recognized that while ENSO is a phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean, the new approach is an effective way to also take the impact of other oceans on Australia into account.

Ocean data is essential to make the new technology work. The partnership began by jointly developing observing systems on a regional scale in the surrounding oceans, and integrated our contribution with international observational activities to achieve global coverage. Ultimately the partnership was formalized in the Joint Australian Facility for Ocean Observing Systems (JAFOOS).

Development of a prototype coupled model began in about 1995. In 1996 the Climate Variability in Agriculture Program (formerly the National Climate Variability Program) provided enhanced funding to develop an ocean model that represents important regional features such as Indonesian through-flow and intense tidal mixing in the seas north of Australia. In 1999, CVAP, BMRC and CSIRO jointly undertook the development of a coupled model that would run operationally at the Bureau of Meteorology and provide predictions to the Seasonal Climate Outlook.

 

For further information: email the POAMA group

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