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CHAP TER 2

PRE-WMO

Pre-IMO: 1853-1878

International co-operation in scientific meteorology was first realized at a meeting held in Brussels, Belgium, in 1853, when an effort was made to collect and analyze meteorological observations taken across national boundaries and from ships at sea. Additional conferences were held on international meteorological subjects during the following 25 years.

Many of the first problems had to do with the standardization of instruments, the methods and times for taking observations, and the coding and transmitting of data. It appears fair to assume that most of this effort must have had a practical application , i.e. the study of weather systems and their movement with the ultimate objective of foretelling the coming weather events, not only for the benefit of transportation of goods (by land and sea) but also for the benefit of agriculture and forestry.

The type of concern about meteorological matters and co-operation with agriculture and forestry is illustrated by correspondence between the Permanent Committee of the Meteorological Congress of Vienna and its Members. One such letter, written in May 1875 had to do with the acceptance by Members of a proposal for a uniform meteorological reporting form for Second Order weather stations, the availability of weather reports, and the subscription to Synchronous Charts. Both forestry and agriculture, it is worthy of note, were involved in these discussions. Among the recipients of the letter were the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture in Vienna and the Bavarian Royal Academy of Forestry in Aschaffenburg (IMO, 1876).

IMO formally established - 1878

The IMO was formally established in 1878 at a conference in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Its membership was composed of directors of Meteorological Services of countries and territories throughout the world, and, although they did not have the full official backing of governments, they nevertheless pursued ambitious programmes of perfecting and standardizing meteorological activi ties.

Although international meteorology appeared to be heading for success, internationalagrometeorology had a painfully slow start. The following brief history is condensed from the work of Cannegieter (1963).

Agrometeorology was discussed at the Second International Meteorological Congress at Rome i n 1879 and a programme for study was proposed as follows:

1. The influence of the meteorological elements upon vegetation. 2. The inverse influence of vegetation upon the meteorological

elements. 3. Agricultural warnings .

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Congress further proposed that the International Meteorological Committee convene a special International Conference before the next spring to take into consideration the development of agricultural and forest meteorology. Although the Committee approached the Directors of Meteorological Services with proposals for a conference and received back some suggestions, it appears that no further action was taken. The International Meteorological Conference at Munich in 1891 reproached the Committee for failing to take action on the matter and again asked them to appoint a Commission for the purpose of cons idering the proper method of extending meteorological observations and publications in the inter8sts of agriculture and to report on the matter at the next Congress.

Replies to a circular were received from 30 meteorologists in Europe, USA , Canada, India and Australia. These replies indicated that forecasts and notices to agriculturists .had been issued for many years allover the world.

No further mention of agricultural meteorology was made at Meteorological Conferences until the Committee Meeting at Rome in 1913.

Commission for Agricultural Meteorology ~stablished 1913

Action in Rome was spurred on by a memorandum written in 1912 to the International Meteorological Committee by Mr Louis Dop, Vice-president of the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. Mr Dop pointed out the importance of organizing the study of agricultural meteorology on a uniform and comprehensive plan in all countries. As a result the Committee instituted a Commission of Messrs Angot, Bornstein, Brounoff, Dop and Palazzo which met in Paris in 1912 and prepared a report for submission to the Committee at Rome in 1913 with broad proposals dealing with observations and their publication, weather forecasts and as well a proposal to nominate a permanent Commission on Agricultural Meteorology in the IMO.

The 10th .meeting of the International Meteorological Committee was held in Rome on April 7th, 1913. Item 3 of the agenda of that meet ing dealt with the Application of Meteorology to Agriculture as follows elMO, 1914 ) :

The President gave an account of proceedings which had taken place with reference to this question arising from a communication addressed to him by the Institut International d 'Agriculture (IIA). After obtaining information on the present position of agricultural meteorology in different countries, the officers of the Committee had formed a special Commission consisting of two of their own members, Messrs. Angot and Palazzo, together with Messrs. Bornstein, Brounow and Dop. This Commission had prepared a report which is printed in Appendix V. An exhaustive discussion took place, in which almost all those present took part, with reference especially to the proposal to form a separate permanent Commission for agricultural meteorology . Opinion was divided in this respect: on the one side it was held that such a Commission belonged to the sphere of the International Institute of AgriCUlture, in so far as the dependence of agriculture products upon weather was concerned, whereas the majority considered it better that the International Meteorological Committee should itself create a Commiss ion for Agricultural Meteorology. Upon taking a vote, 10 members voted that the Commission for Agricultural

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Meteorology should be established. Mr Angot was named as President and Messrs Bornstein, Brounow, Dop, Hergesell, Palazzo, Ryder, and Stupart, members of the Commission. Mr Chaves expressed the wish that as far as possible the member from Portugal at the International Agricultural Institute in Rome, should take part in the Commission .

The session closed at 13 h.

Signed) W.N. Shaw, President) Hellmann, Secretary )

The Commission for Agricultural Meteorology of the IMO is credited with holding eight sessions (Rubiato, 1953) although the records indicate that the first meeting of the official Commission was not until 1923. The 1914-1918 war had put a damper on an early meeting after the members were appointed in 1913 and there was a four year delay in holding the first meeting after the membership was reconstituted in 1919.

Meetings of the Commission

Important dates in the history of the Commission are:

1912 1913 1919 1923 1926 1929 1932 1935

1937

1947

Paris Rome Paris Utrecht Vienna Copenhagen Munich Danzig

Salzburg .

Toronto

conceived appointed reconstituted 1st meeting 2nd " 3rd " 4th " 5th "

6th "

7th "

Mr Angot (France) " Dr Wallen (Sweden) " " " Dr W. Schmidt (Austria) Dr Braak (The Netherlands Mr R. Feige (Palestine)

(President)

"

(Acting Pre­sident

The first meeting of the Commission in Utrecht considered the need for collaboration with the "other aforementioned Commission for Agricultural Meteorology related to the International Institute for Agriculture (IIA) at Rome" . This IIA Commission had already met and had passed some extensive resolutions in which the practical results of the application of meteorology to agriculture were summed up; all participating states were encouraged to undertake studies of meteorology for application to agriculture; and to undertake agronomic research concerning meteorological influences on agriculture.

The IMO Commission considered that the two Commissions, distinct by their origins, ought to assist each other and establish an understanding and intimate collaboration indispensable for the progress of the science. Other resolutions of the first meeting dealt with international obs e rvi ng networks and the preparation of a survey of instruments and observational methods used by members of the Commiss ion.

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The second meeting, held in Vienna in 1926, dealt mainly with the highly useful collaboration with the International Agricultural Institute, Rome and their continued readiness for further collaboration. Other resolutions were concerned with instruments and observations, the transmission of weather forecasts by wireless telegraphy, the establishment of a phenological observing network, and observations of special interest to agriculture .

The third meet ing, at Copenhagen in 1929, passed resolutions expressing satisfaction with mutual collaboration with the Agricultural Institute, Rome and its Commissions; encouraging collaboration of meteorologists with biologists and agronomists; stressing the need for special observations for agrometeorology; and emphasizing on the value of studies relating weather, climate and crops.

The venue for the fourth meeting, at Munich in 1932, was selected because of the work of Prof Schmauss and Dr Geiger in that area on microclimatology. Resolutions passed at the meeting were related to the importance of dew to agriculture; the measurement of dew by the Hiltner dew balance; and the occurrence and forecasting of night-time frosts.

Independence of IMO challenged - 1934

The existence of an independent international meteorological body also did not go unchallenged in international circles. At the Paris meeting on 7 December 1934, the Meteorological Sub-commission of the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN) considered a proposal from the Italian Ministry of Aeronautics to transform the Meteorological Sub-Commission and nine of the eleven Commissions of IMO into one organization of the lCAN to be named the Sub-commission for the Safety of Flight which indirectly posed a challenge to the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology.

The Italian Ministry gave full recognition to the co-operation between IMO and lCAN and lauded the role IMO played in air safety, the main reason for proposing that I MO should become part of lCAN.

The President of the International Meteorological Committee, E. Van Everdingen made a strong and successful rebuttal to the proposal of the Ital ian Ministry, point ing out that:

(a) even if all application of meteorology to air navigation was suppressed in IMO, all the Commissions of the Organization, particularly sea navigat ion, communications and traffic, and agriculture would depend on the Organization for data and information, climatology, and weather forecasts;

(b) the IMO was recognized as the supreme authority i n meteorological matters, both by the Conference for the Safety of Life at Sea of London, and by the International Telecommunication Conference of Madrid, which transferred to IMO the task of furnishing all information with regard to meteorological messages and emissions and the Organization comprised the meteorological network of all the world;

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(c) the Convention relat ing to the regulation of aerial navigation, of 1919, had been adhered to by some thirty States whereas the IMO comprised all the countries of the world including some 104 names representing 73 States while 42 Meteorological Services of countries contributed to the expenses of the Secretariat;

(d) the experience of more than half a century showed that the Organization knew how to adapt itself to changing circumstances;

(e) in lieu of a unification and simplification, as proposed, there would be complication, because two organizations would have to deal with the same matter from different points of view, thus giving rise to duplication, and serious inconveniences (ICAN, 1936)

Last three meetings of the Commission

The fifth meeting, at Zoppot-Danzig in 1935, prepared six resolutions but only one was passed by the Conference at Warsaw. It was concerned with the very little collaboration of scientists in the field of agrometeorology and the election for this purpose of a small sub-commission, the first to be so named.

The sixth meeting, at Salzburg in 1937, was the last before the Second World War. Considerable discussions in some detail took place and the result was the election of five sub-commission to further study the problems of: uniform observations of the air layer just above the seed bed; collaboration with the International Agricultural Institute; the capricious influence of climates; hail problems; and phenological observations. At this meeting there were 57 Member states in attendance.

The seventh and last meeting was held in Toronto from 11 to 23 August 1947. This was an important and comprehensive meeting in that nearly every conceivable topic of agrometeorology was on the agenda. Meteorology had developed phenomenally during the Second World War and research in agriculture increased its pace. The Commission had a ten-year backlog of business and technical advancement to catch up and they approached the agenda with gusto.

The meeting was not large; 14 Members, 4 representatives of Members, and 15 observers and guests were present for the 12 day meeting (IMO, 1949).

The agenda contained 16 items, supported by 44 documents on as many agrometeorological topics. It is interesting to note that 14 of these were prepared by Prof J.J. Burgos (Argentina). These 44 documents covered nearly every conceivable aspect of agrometeorology as it was perceived at that time.

The discussions lead to the formation of 18 resolutions and the establishment of four permanen t sub-commissions, i.e.:

1. Phenology. 2. Eco-meteorology. 3. Agricultural for ecasting. 4. Agrometeoro10gical bibliography and publications.

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Ten of these resolutions were adopted by the Conference of Directors which met in Washington, 22 September-II October 1947. These resolutions dealt with (IMO, 1948):

1. Phenological lists. 2. Phenological networks. 3. Statistical studies of weather and crops. 4. Establishment of agrometeorological networks. 5. Measurement of soil moisture. 6. Extended range and seasonal forecasts. 7. Meteorological stations not included in the

official climatological networks. 8. Courses in agricultural meteorology. 9. Soil formation, erosion, and conservation. 10. Collaboration between meteorology and agriculture.

Two resolutions which were noted by the Conference but not adopted are of interest.

One had to do with the establishment of an International Journal of Agricultural Meteorology, probably portending the establishment in March, 1964 of Elsevier's International Journal of Agricultural Meteorology.

The other resolution was with regard to the terms of reference of the Commission which were:

1. The task of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology was to work for progress in the application of meteorology to agriculture. The Commission should deal with questions regarding meteorological Observations, statistics, forecasts, education, and researches to be organized for the benefit of scientific and practical agriculture. For this purpose the Commission should:

a) Collaborate with representatives of agricultur.al science, education and administration;

b) Advise the Conference of Directors of the IMO on regulationsto be recommended for general or regional use in the field of agricultural meteorology;

c) Advise the Executive Council on the preparation of an international manual on agricultural meteorology;

d) Consult with the other technical commissions on questions falling within their field of work, notably the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation, the Climatological Commission, the Commission for Bibliography and Publications and the Commission for Synoptic Weather Information.

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2. The research referred to above should deal with the meteoro­logical aspects of problems such as:

(a) Plant breeding, diseases, acclimatization and crop production;

(b) Domestic animal breeding, diseases and acclimatization; (c) Insect pests; (d) Phenology; (e) Artificial influences on weather conditions; (f) Soil formation, erosion and conservation; (g) Conservation of vegetation cover.

These terms indicate the concerns of agrometeorology at that time are no less interesting than what is today.