At a meeting of some 33 Canadian members of the RMS in February 1940, a petition was drawn up requesting the Royal Meteorological Society to recognize a Canadian Branch of the Society.  The formal announcement of the foundation of the Canadian Branch was made at a joint meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society and the American Meteorological Society (AMS).  The Executive of the day kept no records during the war but it continued in existence.  By the end of the war, membership had doubled from 60 members in 1942 to 110 by 1947; by 1949 the number had grown to 200 Canadian Branch members; by then it was well positioned for an even greater expansion in membership and activities in the post-war years.

In 1953 the Toronto Meteorological Conference was organized by the Branch which is now considered as the turning point for the organization.  It was well-attended and brought together outstanding personalities from the Royal Meteorological and American Meteorological Societies and such figures as J. Bjerknes and H.U. Sverdrup from Norway.  In the same year a Montreal Centre was organized and took on the responsibilities of providing the Branch Executive.  The Montreal Centre inaugurated the annual meteorological congresses and over the next six years congresses were held every spring usually in conjunction with the Royal Society of Canada and the other Learned Societies.

The Montreal Centre also launched the forerunner of the journal "Atmosphere".  Initially it was called the Bulletin of Canadian Meteorology with the expectation of carrying popular scientific papers and other subjects.  The first issue of  "Atmosphere" appeared in March 1963.

As interest grew in the meteorological sciences, Branch Centres were established in Winnipeg and Toronto. Later, centres were set up in Vancouver (British Columbia Centre), Halifax and Alberta (Edmonton) all in 1965; an Ottawa Centre was established the following year.

The idea of separating from the Royal Meteorological Society and establishing an independent Society had been talked about during the 1950s.  Both sides complained about the other and finally the question was discussed at the 1964 and 1965 Congresses.  The formal decision was taken at the seventh and last Congress of the Canadian Branch in 1966 at the University of Sherbrooke in the presence and with the full concurrence of the president of the Royal Meteorological Society, who the Canadian members had invited to participate in this historic meeting. The Canadian Meteorological Society came into being on January 1, 1967 and the first Congress under the name of the new Society was held at Carleton University in June of that year.

Oceanographers on the other hand had no formal affiliation with a society in Canada.  It was not until the late 1950s that a major expansion took place in ocean sciences, not only by the federal government but also by newly-created teaching and research centres of several universities.  Oceanographers were keenly aware of the need to create a forum for the presentation of Canadian oceanographic papers.  Initially the gap was filled by the Canadian Committee on Oceanography which organized scientific sessions with its annual meetings.  However, it did not follow through with a long-term symposium structure.

As Canada became involved in global meteorological and oceanographic programs and experiments, the scientists involved found themselves working on and concerned about similar atmospheric and oceanic modelling problems.  The advantages of bringing the two scientific communities together were obvious to some. As a consequence, talks were held in 1974 with members of the CMS Scientific Committee to consider the idea of expanding the role and membership of the Society.

Subsequently, the President of CMS invited oceanographers to join the Society and organize an oceanographic program for the 9th Congress.  The theme of the Congress was "The Role of the Pacific Ocean in the Climate of North America."  Oceanographers became part of the Society in 1977 at which time the name of the Canadian Meteorological Society was changed to the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and that of the journal, Atmosphere, to the journal Atmosphere-Ocean.  It was also agreed that oceanographers could be eligible for the President's Prize and graduate student prizes.  The Rube Hornstein medal and the Dr. Andrew Thomson awards remained exclusively meteorological.  The J.P. Tully medal in oceanography was introduced by the Society in 1983.

Amendments were made to the constitution to reflect the combined interests of meteorologists and oceanographers which paved the way for the Society to become incorporated as a non-profit organization under the Canada Business Corporation Act on August 28, 1984.

From the very beginning, members of the Society shared the responsibilities of serving in various executive capacities including the organization of Congresses, editorship of Atmosphere-Ocean, and the Newsletter (now the CMOS Bulletin SCMO).  The Society is served by a Council, an Executive, a Scientific Committee, an Accreditation Committee, a Broadcaster Endorsement Committee (presently made up of council members), a Nominating Committee, a Prizes and Awards Committee and an Education Committee for Meteorology. Membership is now about 800 spread across Canada with members being associated either with a Centre or Chapter ("Chapters" were eliminated at the 2004 AGM).

The Business Affairs of the Society have been handled for some years by the Canadian Association of Physicists located in Ottawa.  The Society appointed its first Executive Director in 1983, a position which is still retained by the Society.  CMOS finally started to administer its own affairs in 2003.

The CMOS logo was originally a snowflake in respect to the name of the Canadian Meteorological Society.  The present logo symbolizes its meteorological background with diagonal lines depicting rain, and blue waves representing the ocean interests of the Society.

Note

The above history of CMOS is based on a series of articles written by Morley K. Thomas, published in the February, April, October and December 1994 issues of the CMOS Bulletin SCMO.  The section covering the role played by the oceanographers in joining the Society was published by Dr. Cedric Mann in the February 1995 issue of the CMOS Bulletin SCMO.

Neil J. Campbell
Executive Director
October 1997
 

Homepage URL: http://www.cmos.ca/historycmos.html