Improved weather radar - Australian roll-out

by Al Constable on 6 May 2007 Weather radar images are increasing in usefulness for the marine community, with the spread of Telstra's Next G facility and other mobile broadband facilities allowing boaters to look at the latest BOM radar data on the water.

The Bureau of Meteorology's websites are being further improved with people now able to select additional map and topographical backgrounds in South East Queensland and in Adelaide, as part of a national upgrade.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage Greg Hunt, said overlays of roads, railways, rivers, lakes, catchment areas and weather forecast districts could now be switched on or off with a simple click of a button.

'The improved imagery is now available from Brisbane's new high-tech Doppler radar at Mt Stapylton and Buckland Park on the northern outskirts of Adelaide,' Mr Hunt said.

'The new look features enable people accessing the web pages to gain a better understanding of the rainfall patterns in relation to local features. The measures are also expected to offer benefits to the community through improved water management and flood warnings.'

'The Brisbane radar, located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, is the primary weather watch radar for the southeast corner of Queensland. It has an excellent view to the north as far as Tin Can Bay, and southward to Evans Head (NSW), and provides coverage of the inland areas of Stanthorpe, Karara, Dalby and Kingaroy, plus Casino and Tenterfield in northern NSW.

'The Adelaide radar is ideally positioned to monitor weather across Adelaide and the Mt Lofty Ranges and has an excellent view of the Mid North, Yorke Peninsula and Murray regions,' Mr Hunt said.

These two Doppler radar facilities enable forecasters to 'see' the wind flow and the rainfall intensity associated with weather systems. This information can provide valuable clues about the potential severity of thunderstorms and other hazardous weather.

In 2003 the Commonwealth Government allocated over $62 million to allow the Bureau to modernise its radar network and supplement its Severe Weather Warning capabilities in key locations around the country.

As part of the five-year project, it is replacing 15 obsolete radars in the network and implement an enhanced Doppler radar capability in six locations.

These Doppler radars will allow for the replacement of a further five radars in the network.

The new Doppler radars will have a capability beyond existing Doppler radars within the Bureau's network. The improvements will allow for an enhanced service delivery in terms of content, effectiveness and geographic coverage.

Over the five years of the project, several of the Bureau's current radars will be replaced and in some cases, new Doppler radars will be purchased. The time line of commissioned radars has been included below along with a list of areas being considered for a radar upgrade/replacement/relocation as part of the RNDSUP.

Installation Name	Commissioning Date	Radar type
Williamtown	June 2003	Replacement/Relocation
Learmonth	September 2003	Replacement
Mt Gambier	March 2004	Replacement
Gladstone	December 2004	Replacement
Port Hedland	March 2005	Replacement
Adelaide (Buckland Park)	October 2005	New High Resolution Doppler
Tennant Creek	October 2005	Replacement
Mackay	April 2006	Replacement
Brisbane (Mt Stapylton)	August 2006	New High Resolution Doppler
Charleville/Warrego	October 2006	Replacement/Relocation
Melbourne (Laverton)	April 2007	New High Resolution Doppler
Perth (Serpentine)	2007	Replacement
Gympie (Mt Kanigan)	2007	Replacement
Yarrawonga (upgrade)	2007	New High Resolution Doppler
Darwin Airport	2007/08	Replacement
Tamworth Area	2007/08	New High Resolution Doppler
Broome	2007/08	Replacement
East Sale Area	2007/08	Replacement
Carnarvon	2007/08	Replacement
Sydney (Terrey Hills)	2008	New High Resolution Doppler
Townsville (Mt Stuart)	2008	Replacement

To see the latest upgrades on the Bureau's weather radar network, go to: www.bom.gov.au/weather/radar/. Go to 'Brisbane'or ‘Adelaide’ and click on 'Loops'.