AES / MSC "Mugs" from Zephyr - 1985 / 1989

Ken Wu and Brian Sheppard have developed a new present weather instrument which they called POSS (Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System) for integration into the automatic weather observation network. They are continuing to work on POSS, trying to improve it so that it can possibly identify drizzle and snow showers as well as rain, hail and snow. Ken Wu  joined AES in 1973, after working for two years for Litton Systems Limited. (1985)	Roy Lee on the occasion of his retirement, 3 January 1985.  Roy was serving as Director of Human Resources when he retired.  Before that he was Director of Finance and Administration.  (1985)	Mike Laws is an AES volunteer severe weather watcher. He has developed into an advanced amateur meteorologist with his own weather station on the roof of his apartment building in Dollard des Ormeaux, near Montreal. His equipment includes teletype, barograph, anemometer, windvane and temperature sensor.  His observing site was set up with a clear view of 80 km in all directions. Connections to teletype and weatherfax circuits from Environment Canada and the U.S. Weather Bureau are included in the setup.  (1985)
Zephyr sent an interviewer to learn something about the work of an instrument calibration technician. Here's how Nellie Rochacewich of AES Downsview answered the questions. Read the complete interview here. During the interview, Nellie revealed that she has also written or co-authored detailed test reports such as the Evaluation of the Aero Mechanism Altimeter Setting Indicator and The Evaluation of the OTA Tokyo Aneroid Barometer. The drawings were all done by Nellie herself who, before assurning her present occupation, was a blueprint draughts-person. (1985)	Tsoi-Ching Yip has been at work on the TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS ) processor at the Aerospace Meteorology Section, AES Downsview. She is responsible for software programs used for obtaining special upper air weather data from six daily orbits of the polar orbiting satellite 870 km above.  (1985) TIROS-N equipment used by Tsoi Yip	Walter Wiliiams, Central Registry Clerk, AES Atlantic Regional office, is with his "Sneaker Cake". The cake was presented by staff to Walter before he departed to run in the Boston Marathon. Walter has been running marathons for the past four years, and Boston will be his tenth complete marathon. He trains by running 70 rniles (115 km) per week, weightlifting and some track work. Beverley, Walter's wife, will also compete in the Boston Marathon. They are members of the East Coast Athletic Club and the NS Track & Field Association. Walter has the distinction of being the first AES employee to run in the Boston Marathon. (1985)
John McBride, always a strong swimmer, a keen sailor and a skilled diver, for the past dozen years has been an avid underwater hockey player. Starting with a Toronto team, he rose to become organizer of an Ontario association; took part in national and international tournaments as player, organizer, referee, rule maker and games commissioner. In 1986, as manager of the men's team in Adelaide, Australia, he shared the victory when Canada won the world cup in underwater hockey. For the complete Zephyr article on Underwater Hockey and other exploits of John McBride please click here.  (1986)	Gordon Shimizu has been appointed director general, Central Services Directorate, AES, Downsview. Since 1982 he has occupied the position of Director General, Policy, Planning and Assessment Directorate, AES, Hull, Quebec and before that he held the post of Director, Program Development and Evaluation Branch since 1977.   Mr. Shimizu spent the first 12 years of his career in Montreal in a variety of positions in operational meteorology - in forecast offices and the Canadian Meteorological Centre.  (1986)	Amir Shabbar, of the Climate Monitoring Division (Canadian Climate Centre) gives a weekly climate briefing at AES Downsview.  (1986)
André Robert, former director of the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) in Dorval, Quebec, and now a senior research scientist at the Numerical Prediction Research Division, has received the highest award in Canadian meteorology, the 1985 Patterson Medal.  (1986)	Carol Dale, is seen carrying out hourly observations at the Hope, BC weather office. Dale works a six-day schedule of three morning shifts. three afternoon shifts, before taking three days off. Women met techs are as rare as snow in April. During the intensive five-month training program in Ontario, Dale was told only two per cent of met techs were women. "It's a super job for women. It's not really that physically demanding and it's interesting," she said. (1986)	Julie Young, an experienced office composing equipment operator has been on permanent AES staff for about a year and worked on a contract basis for about three years before that. Julie operates the supervisory terminal of the AES 7300 system which is in the forefront of word processing technology. The AES 7300 is a clustered system, that enables several offices in the AES Headquarters building to share one Central Processing Unit (CPU). (1986)
Gloria Korson who works for Procedures and Standards division of Weather Services Directorate, always makes sure that Halloween's the most festive date on her calendar. It's the day she dons her multicolored clown outfit. In the past two years she wore it at the office. One of the places where Gloria's appearances are eagerly anticipated is the Sunburst Day Care Centre at AES, Downsview. (1986)	Tony Hilton checks out the Vaisala radiosonde system at AES Downsview Headquarters.  Two new systems are being tested - one produced by the Vaisala Company of Finland and the other by Beukers, now being produced in Philadelphia.  (1986)	High above the trees, Dr. Harold Neumann checks a monitoring instrument, recording levels of ozone and sulphur dioxide, at Camp Borden, Ontario.  (1986)
John M. Cook, inventor of the Micropower Sunshine Sensor Complete details are at this link. (1987)	Pyrheliometer data is monitored and analysed by David Barton.  David has a degree in computer science. He has worked on atmospheric radiation measurement and analysis for several years. In addition to his monitoring work, David has worked on development of the Sun Tracker and its selection for manufacturing.  (1987) See complete story and related information on a Sun Tracker (pyrheliometer) on the Downsview Roof.	Bob Wilson is a 20-year veteran of AES. He served as an upper air technician in the Arctic for four years, then four more years on the BC Coast weather ship Quadra. He also worked in Africa on the GATE (Garp Atlantic Tropical Experiment) project. Bob then took education leave for a two-year electronic engineering technology course at Fanshawe College, London, working during the summer in Downsview in the Technology Support Division. The following summer he worked on the snow-height sensor and other instruments.  (1987)
Research scientist Dr. Neil Trivett has been running (or jogging) since 1978. One of the impressive things about Neil 's running is that he does it in all weathers. At Downsview, he runs in snow, hail, fog, thunderstorms and blistering heat. Over the past two years Neil has been spending two or three months of the year at Alert, the world's most northerly weather station. His task has been to set up an air chemistry monitoring laboratory less than 700 kilometres from the North Pole. He pursues his running at Alert in comparative ease. "As long as the temperature stays above minus 35 degrees C. I'm ready to run."  (1987)	Ann Gunther is a personnel officer and is Head, Personnel Operations, Unit II, Human Resources Branch. As part of her job Ann does everything from staffing positions to participating in studies on equal pay for work of equal value. Nevertheless, it is the need to be an instant problem solver or the ability to survive unexpected management crises that stands out in her mind as being most typical of the job.  (1987).	Brian O'Donnell has been appointed director of AES Pacific Region. He replaces Dr. Kirk Dawson.  Since October 1985 Mr. O'Donnell has served as director Policy Branch, Corporate Planning Group, DOE (Ottawa) where among other things he provided corporate support for the minister's cabinet activities, and was involved in the management of departmental priority issues. For five years, beginning September 1980, Mr. O'Donnell was senior policy advisor, AES, Policy and Planning Directorate.  (1987)
Pierre Martel has been appointed the new director general of Policy, Planning and Assessment, replacing Gordon Shimizu, now director general, Central Services Directorate, Downsview. Mr. Martel takes on the number one policy job at AES after some 15 years' experience in Cabinet affairs, public administration, economic analysis, and human resources policy work with the Privy Council, the Treasury Board, the Ministry of State for Science and Technology and with Environment Canada. He served with DOE in Ottawa from 1972-1974 as a policy analyst for the Planning and Finance Service where he advised science managers on implementation of government science policy.  (1987)	Annette Solimene works as a Secretary 3 or "Sky Three" for Central Services Directorate located at AES Headquarters in Downsview. If you ask me to describe a routine day in my working life, I can state quite definitely, there is no such thing. The directorate consists of four dissimilar branches: Training, Ice, Computing and Telecommunications Services and Data Acquisition; all located on ditterent floors of the Downsview building. Since I must be in constant touch with the branch secretaries, you can be sure that I spend much of my time in the elevators or in the endless corridors or dashing down to the mail room or Central Registry in the basement. (1987) Click here to see complete story about Annette	Doug Russell has been appointed special advisor, Private Sector Meteorology. Mr. Russell was previously head of the AES Policy and Planning Section of Weather Services Directorate (Downsview). In 1982 Mr Russell began a three-year assignment in Ottawa in the AES Policy, Planning and Assessment Directorate. Joining Weather Services Directorate in 1985. Doug's recent work has been connected with the AES level of service, strategic planning and initiatives for the development of a plan to stimulate the growth of private sector meteorology in Canada. (1987)
Terry Forget of Human Resources Planning, Downsview is first to sign for Cooks travellers' cheques prior to making a trip to Ottawa as Lesa Springer of AES Finance looks on. Says Terry, "It's good to know I can get instant replacements if I lose my cheques". (1987)	Dr. Ian Rutherford, director general Weather Services, has been elected a councilor of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Dr. Rutherford's election to the Society serving atmospheric and related oceanic and Hydrological sciences in the United States since 1919, is for a three-year term. The 14-person council which is open to candidates from North America, is the governing body of AMS. (1987)	Starting January 1, 1987, the town of Frobisher Bay, NWT was renamed Iqaluit and this has been adopted as the official name of the weather office.  Wayne Davidson, former OIC at Resolute says the name Iqaluit Is very old. It Is an Inuit word meaning "many fishes" - so designated because this part of Baffin Island has been a native fishing ground for possibly a thousand years. (1987)
Yvonne White, who works as Personnel Services supervisor at the AES Atlantic Region office in Bedford, NS, sang her first song in public at the age of four. As an adult she has pursued music and administrative work as parallel careers. Of course she devotes the majority of her time to AES. But she finds the many occasions when she sings at churches, schools, concert halls, musical theatres, on radio and on television a great emotional release. Now she has been given a most exciting opportunity - a part in the Olympic Arts Festival production of Porgy and Bess playing at Calgary's Jubilee Auditorium February 10-15, 1988.  (1987)	Phil Aber photographed during an interview by Zephyr editor Gordon Black.  An article titled A Day in the life of a Regional Director appeared in the February / March 1988 Zephyr. (1988)	The career of Brenda Smith proves that there is more than one way to reach the atmosphere. Her "formal" training in meteorology was a one-week course for non-meteorologists which she took after joining AES in 1985. She learned about weather the hard way, photographing fog, ice pellets or severe thunderstorms with a video camera, while flying through them in a light plane.  It was all part of the job she held for a decade in the Television Services Unit of  DOT.  During 1987 she coordinated AES's successful new training on-the-job project for native recruits across Canada.  (1988)
This old French clock is so accurate, Central Services Directorate employee Bill Kiely (Audio Visual coordinator) is able to set his watch by it. In the days when the Meteorological Service was located on Bloor Street West, Toronto, near the University, it was used as the official time-piece of Canada's Weather Service. As one of the earliest pieces of equipment, it was in use during the entire period at the building, from 1907 to 1971.  (1988) Note: Bill Kiely has taken many of the photos published in Zephyr, including several of these "mugs".	With 46 years service Ken Styles is believed, next to Dr. Warren Godson, to have the longest career record of all AES employees. Mr. Styles is currently head of the Meteorological Section at the Defence Research Establishment Suffield, Alta (DRES).  (1988)	Mark Donaghue, Meteorological Technician, raises the black "heat" flag at the Sudbury Junior Games in July 1988.  The heat stress factor was communicated to athletes, coaches, spectators and medical staff by means of flags with colors identifying the current stress factor.  The black flag meant a very difficult day on the track with humidex or heat stress values well into the forties. (1988)
Question:  Why is this employee smiling?  Answer: she has recently lost 40 pounds during a 10-week Weight Watchers course held at AES Downsview headquarters. Secretary Cathy Hayes was just one of 22 Weight Watchers attending the course and, according to the organizer, public health nurse Olga Leskiw, the entire class lost a total of 298 pounds.  Cathy says she feels great and has the incentive to continue losing weight at group sessions. (1988)	Dr. Alex Chisholm, has been appointed to the position of director general, Atmospheric Research Directorate, AES, announced by Dr. G.A. Sainte-Marie, deputy minister of Environment Canada.  Dr. Chisholm was previously director of Atmospheric Processes Research Branch since January 1979. (1988)	Henry Hengeveld, who for the past six years has been Advisor Carbon Dioxide Related Matters, at AES Downsview, bandies about one or two invented words "atmosographer", "atmosphile". But he soon laughs them off. "By profession I'm a climatologist . . . my specialty is CO2 and the greenhouse effect", he explains.  (1988) See complete story in May / June 1988 Zephyr
Phil Chadwick (aka Phil the Forecaster, of the Ontario Weather Centre) with two of his recent skyscapes. Rideau Deprimation (closest to him) is one of his favorites. The other one, Stratocumulus looks northwest from Schomberg ON at sunset, demonstrating that even the humblest of cloud types can be spectacular. (1989) Read Painting and Weather - a perfect blend tor this Meteorologist from Christmas 1989 Zephyr	Dr. Neil Trivett, atmospheric research scientist, based at AES Downsview, has been working for the past nine months in West Germany, carrying out greenhouse gas research in collaboration with German environmental and university authorities. (1989)	Anyone who takes the AES Management Orientation Program (MOP) must be extremely quick on the uptake. Becky (Rebecca) Milo, who is now nearing the end of her round of management assignments, warns that the first few days in a new Directorate or Regional Office are the worst. "You are thrown into it cold and you could be unfamiliar with both the work and the policies of your new environment. You may not know many people and may hesitate to ask naive questions, so it's easy to make mistakes". MOP programs have been in operation since 1972. Their object is to identify, train and develop personnel with potential for management, especially senior management positions.  (1989)
Earl Zilke and much-travelled teddy bear Ralph, both going into retirement. Officer in Charge of the Prince George BC weather office, Earl retired after 35 years of service. (1989)	178 AES Downsview employees attended a glaucoma screening clinic held in the Headquarters building October 3-5, 1989.  Volunteers from North York's York Finch Hospital carried out the screenings.  In the picture, Deedee Davies of Central Services Directorate is being screened by a volunteer.  (1989)	Jean Degaust, who works in the AES Intergovernmental Affairs Office, Downsview, displays a WMO World Weather Watch. A watch that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the World Meteorological Organization's World Weather Watch - a program that coordinates vital meteorological observations from around the globe. Naturally, this Swiss-made timepiece is called a World Weather Watch!  It was specially designed for WMO. (1989)
Eric Stanzeleit, OIC, of the Brandon, Manitoba Weather Office frequently receives complimentary letters from residents in surrounding communities. Widely known in Southern Manitoba as "Mr. Weatherman", Eric lectures to groups at Brandon University, student pilots and businessmen. His one-man weather office received a remarkable 150,000 calls in 1988.  (1989)	John Green, long time Met Tech at Gander NL, died in March 1989. John's passing was reported in the September / October 1989 edition of Zephyr. The above photo was intended for a planned In Memoriam item but neither photo nor In Memoriam was published other than the reporting of his passing. (1989)	Twice daily on work days at Whitehorse, Bob van Dijken carefully launches the mandatory AES aerological balloon with its all-important weather sonde. He then checks the station's ADRES computer to ensure that the incoming meteorological data Is being properly recorded and transmitted to regional, national and international weather centres. Bob has been doing this work at Whitehorse, Yukon for seven years. This AES upper air technician is also president of the Yukon Conservation Society and one of the most active environmentalists in the Territory. (1989)
Wayne Evans in the lab.  This photo was marked for Zephyr but the one to the right was eventually published.  (1989)	Wayne Evans has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. The Society's roster of new Fellows describes Dr. Evans as Canada's pre-eminent authority on global ozone, adding that his work on its photochemistry has earned him world-wide recognition. The Society also praises him for carrying out the very first measurements of the Earth's greenhouse radiation.  (1989)