Data

Datasets are available for SEACI-wide station data of daily values of rainfall, temperature, humidity (dew-point temperature) and pan-evaporation. The datasets combine stations of the highest possible quality with additional stations when necessary to enhance spatial coverage. Data is provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (see copyright information below for terms of data usage).

More information about the preparation of the datasets is available in:

Project 1.1.1 Final Report: Document changes in South-Eastern Australian rainfall, temperature, surface humidity and pan-evaporation (Timbal and Murphy) | Download PDF 389 KB

Datasets can be downloaded by clicking on the thumbnails below, then clicking on station names or markers on the map that opens in a new window. Note that data files will also open in a new window.

Please note that the copyright for any data supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology is held in the Commonwealth and the user shall give acknowledgement of the source in reference to the data. Apart from dealings under the Copyright Act 1968, the user shall not reproduce (electronically or otherwise), modify or supply (by sale or otherwise) these data without written permission from the supplier. Enquiries should be made in the first instance to webclim@bom.gov.au

Rainfall

Each file contains daily rainfall from 1948 to 2006, in mm/day (missing data are set as -999.9). A total of 585 rainfall stations have been chosen. 95 stations are from the High Quality (HQ) rainfall network (Lavery et al. 1997), updated in 2006, with some observations dating back to the late 19th century. Additional stations with less than 5% of missing data (and less than 3% since 1996) were chosen to provide a higher density network. In addition, data approaching these standards were extracted to fill spatial gaps in the coverage. Amongst these stations some have been flagged as potentially problematic due to poor observing practices.

More details: Appendix 1 in Project 1.1.1 Final Report | Download PDF 389 KB

Reference: Lavery B, Joung G and Nicholls N. 1997. An extended high-quality historical rainfall dataset for Australia. Australian Meteorological Magazine, 46: 27-38.

Temperature
(T min)

Each file contains daily minimum temperature from 1948 to 2006, in degrees Celsius (missing data are set as -999.9). Most stations are part of the daily High Quality (HQ) temperatures network (Trewin 2001) with few observations dating back from the beginning of the 20th century and most starting in the 1950s. 23 stations were added to the 62 HQ stations. Some of these additional locations are the merging of neighbouring sites and hence will have homogenisation issues. Others might have additional problems (site exposure or urban contamination).

More details: Appendix 2 in Project 1.1.1 Final Report | Download PDF 389 KB

Reference: Trewin BC. 2001. Extreme temperature events in Australia. PhD Thesis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Temperature
(T max)

Each file contains daily maximum temperature from 1948 to 2006, in degrees Celsius (missing data are set as -999.9). Most stations are part of the daily High Quality (HQ) temperatures network (Trewin 2001) with few observations dating back from the beginning of the 20th century and most starting in the 1950s. 23 stations were added to the 62 HQ stations. Some of these additional locations are the merging of neighbouring sites and hence will have homogenisation issues. Others might have additional problems (site exposure or urban contamination).

More details: Appendix 2 in Project 1.1.1 Final Report | Download PDF 389 KB

Reference: Trewin BC. 2001. Extreme temperature events in Australia. PhD Thesis, School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Dew-point temperature
(dt min)

Each file contains daily minimum dew-point temperature from 1957 to 2003, in degrees Celsius (missing data are set to -999.0). High Quality (HQ) dew point stations (Lucas et al. 2004) are only available from 1957, therefore it was not possible to add additional stations and only 13 stations across the SEACI domain are available. At each location, daily maximum and daily minimum dew point temperatures are available.

More details: Appendix 3 in Project 1.1.1 Final Report | Download PDF 389 KB

Reference: Lucas C, Trewin B and Nicholls N. 2004. Development of an historical humidity database for Australia. Abstracts for 16th Australia New Zealand Climate Forum, Lorne, 8-10 November 2004, p 59.

Dew-point temperature
(dt max)

Each file contains daily maximum dew-point temperature from 1957 to 2003, in degrees Celsius (missing data are set to -999.0). High Quality (HQ) dew point stations (Lucas et al., 2004) are only available from 1957, therefore it was not possible to add additional stations and only 13 stations across the SEACI domain are available. At each location, daily maximum and daily minimum dew point temperatures are available.

Pan-evaporation

Each file contains daily total pan-evaporation from 1975 to 2005, in mm/day (missing data are set to -999.9). Pan-evaporation High Quality (HQ) stations have been recently assembled across Australia (Jovanovic et al. 2008) from 1975. 19 stations are scattered across the SEACI domain. The Bureau pan-evaporation HQ dataset is a monthly dataset; we extend the quality control to daily values for the SEACI region, using monthly corrections for non-homogeneities at stations which required such correction.

More details: Appendix 4 in Project 1.1.1 Final Report | Download PDF 389 KB

Reference: Jovanovic B, Jones DA and Collins D. 2008. A High Quality Monthly Pan Evaporation Dataset for Australia. Climatic Change, 87(3-4): 517-535. Available online.