Mean Annual Climate Data of Australia 1981 to 2012

## **Abstract** 

The dataset was derived by the Bioregional Assessment Programme. This dataset was derived from multiple datasets provided by the Bureau of Meteorology. You can find a link to the parent datasets in the Lineage Field in this metadata statement. The History Field in this metadata statement describes how this dataset was derived.



This dataset includes the following parameters for the whole of Australia:

1) Mean annual BAWAP (Bureau of Meteorology Australian Water Availability Project) rainfall of year 1981 - 2013

2) Mean annual penman PET (potential evapotranspiration) of year 1981 - 2013

3) Mean annual runoff using the 'Budyko-framework' implementation of Choudhury

## **Purpose** 

Provide long term (last 30 years) average annual grids of rainfall, penman PET and runoff for whole Australia.

## **Dataset History** 

The mean annual rainfall data is created from monthly BAWAP grids (Dataset ID: 7aaf0621-a0e5-4b01-9333-53ebcb1f1c14) which is created from daily BILO rainfall.  



Jones, D. A., W. Wang and R. Fawcett (2009). "High-quality spatial climate data-sets for Australia." Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal 58(4): 233-248.



The Mean annual penman PET is created by Randall Donohue, as per the Donohue et al (2010) paper using the fully physically based Penman formulation of potential evapotranspiration, except that daily wind speed grids used here were generated with a spline (i.e., ANUSPLIN) as per McVicar et al (2008), not the TIN as per Donohue et al (2010).  For comprehensive details regarding the generation of some of these datasets (i.e., net radiation, Rn) see the details provided in Donohue et al (2009).

Donohue, R.J., McVicar, T.R. and Roderick, M.L. (2010) Assessing the ability of potential evaporation formulations to capture the dynamics in evaporative demand within a changing climate. Journal of Hydrology. 386(1-4), 186-197. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.03.020

Donohue, R.J., McVicar, T.R. and Roderick, M.L., (2009) Generating Australian potential evaporation data suitable for assessing the dynamics in evaporative demand within a changing climate. CSIRO: Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, pp 43. http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/waterforahealthycountry/2009/wfhc-evaporative-demand-dynamics.pdf

McVicar, T.R., Van Niel, T.G., Li, L.T., Roderick, M.L., Rayner, D.P., Ricciardulli, L. and Donohue, R.J. (2008) Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975-2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near-surface reanalysis output. Geophysical Research Letters. 35, L20403, doi:10.1029/2008GL035627





The Mean annual runoff was created by Randall Donohue, as per the Donohue et al (2010) paper. The data represent the runoff expected from the steady-state 'Budyko curve' longterm mean annual water-energy limit approach using BAWAP precipitation and the Penman potential ET described above.

Choudhury BJ (1999) Evaluation of an empirical equation for annual evaporation using field observations and results from a biophysical model. Journal of Hydrology 216, 99-110.

Donohue, R.J., McVicar, T.R. and Roderick, M.L. (2010) Assessing the ability of potential evaporation formulations to capture the dynamics in evaporative demand within a changing climate. Journal of Hydrology. 386(1-4), 186-197. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.03.020

Donohue, R.J., McVicar, T.R. and Roderick, M.L., (2009) Generating Australian potential evaporation data suitable for assessing the dynamics in evaporative demand within a changing climate. CSIRO: Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, pp 43. http://www.clw.csiro.au/publications/waterforahealthycountry/2009/wfhc-evaporative-demand-dynamics.pdf

McVicar, T.R., Van Niel, T.G., Li, L.T., Roderick, M.L., Rayner, D.P., Ricciardulli, L. and Donohue, R.J. (2008) Wind speed climatology and trends for Australia, 1975-2006: Capturing the stilling phenomenon and comparison with near-surface reanalysis output. Geophysical Research Letters. 35, L20403, doi:10.1029/2008GL035627

## **Dataset Citation** 

Bioregional Assessment Programme (2014) Mean Annual Climate Data of Australia 1981 to 2012. Bioregional Assessment Derived Dataset. Viewed 13 March 2019, http://data.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/dataset/02418c67-f8bb-48a8-88a3-2a5c6b485f78.

## **Dataset Ancestors** 

* **Derived From** [BILO Gridded Climate Data: Daily Climate Data for each year from 1900 to 2012](https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/7aaf0621-a0e5-4b01-9333-53ebcb1f1c14)



Tags: Australia, CLIMATE-AND-WEATHER, Central West subregion, Clarence-Moreton bioregion, Galilee subregion, Gloucester subregion, Gwydir subregion, Hunter subregion, Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion, Namoi subregion, Sydney Basin bioregion, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, planningCadastre
Organization: Bioregional Assessment Program