DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7474858
title: Radar-derived storm characteristics and convective diagnostics associated with hourly maximum measured wind gusts around Australia

description: The data in this record describes various characteristics associated with hourly measured surface wind gusts across various locations in Australia, with these characteristics and data sources described below. This record provides all data used in the preparation of Brown et al. (2023a), except for lightning data that can be obtained from the World Wide Lightning Location Network archive <strong>Record contents</strong> <em>gust_observations.zip</em><br> Within this zip archive, a <em>.csv</em> file is provided for wind gust observations, along with associated storm statistics from radar, and convective diagnostics from a global reanalysis. These data are provided for each of the 20 radar domains listed in Brown et al. (2023a). The <em>.csv</em> files follow the structure: <em>gust_observations_x.csv, </em>where <em>x </em>is the identification number for each radar from the Australian Unified Radar Archive.<br> <em>station_details.csv</em><br> This file provides details on the automatic weather stations that measure the wind gusts, with station identifiers (column=Station_id) consistent between <em>station_details.csv </em>and<em> gust_observations_x.csv</em>.<br> <em>Table1.pdf</em> <br> Descriptions of convective diagnostics from reanalysis, that are provided in <em>gust_observations_x.csv</em>. This table has been extracted from the supplementary information of Brown et al. (2023a), and references in this table can be found therein.<br> <em>radar_details.pdf</em> <br> Taken from Table 1 from Brown et al. (2023a), showing the details of radars used here for storm statistics in <em>gust_observations_x.csv</em>.<br> <em>Fig1.jpeg</em><br> Taken from from Brown et al. (2023a), showing a map of the radar domains used here for storm statistics in <em>gust_observations_x.csv</em>. <strong>Wind gust data</strong> Measured wind gusts here represent a 3-second average wind speed, at a height of 10 m above ground level. We also provide some derived quantities from the gust data (see table below). Gust data is provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, from 204 automatic weather stations (<em>station_details.csv)</em>, chosen to be within 100 km of a weather radar with sufficient archived data. These data are originally provided by the Bureau of Meteorology at 1-minute frequency, representing a maximum over a 1-minute interval, but are resampled in this record to hourly frequency, for comparisons with other hourly data below (see Brown et al. (2023a) for details of this resampling). Note that any reuse of this data should properly acknowledge the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. <strong>Radar data</strong> Radar data is obtained by the Australian Unified Radar Archive (AURA), produced from operational weather radar within the Australian Bureau of Meteorology network. The level1b data used here is available from the AURA dataset on the Australian NCI under a CC4-BY-NC licence from https://dx.doi.org/10.25914/5f4c85732ee80. Various properties derived from radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity data is reported here in association with the wind gust observations. These properties are only reported if there is a storm object within 10 km and 10 minutes of the gust location (see Brown et al. (2023a) for storm object definition). Radar properties are described in the table below. <strong>Environmental data</strong> Various convective diagnostics are associated with wind gust observations, representing the convective environment and large-scale wind profile. These diagnostics are derived from a combination of pressure-level and surface-level ERA5 data (Hersbach et al. 2020), which is provided at hourly intervals on a 0.25-degree latitude-longitude grid, hosted on the Australian NCI (http:// dx.doi.org/10.25914/5fb115b82e2ba). Details on these convective diagnostics are provided in Brown et al. (2023a), and<strong> </strong>in <em>Table1.pdf</em> as provided in this record. <strong>Column descriptions</strong> The following table provides descriptions of columns of <em>gust_observations_x.csv</em> Column name Description dt_utc Time of the measured wind gust, from the automatic weather station data (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS UTC) Station_id Identification number of the weather station that measured the gust. See <em>station_details.csv </em>for details of each station Wind_gust_observed The measured wind gust speed (m/s) Peak_to_mean_wind_gust_ratio Ratio of the measured wind gust to the 4-hour mean at that station (with the window centred on the gust time) SCW Is the measured gust a severe convective wind event?<br> 0: Gust is either less than 25 m/s, does not have a storm object within 10 km, or has a peak-to-mean wind gust ratio less than 2.<br> 1: Gust is greater than 25 m/s, has a storm object within 10 km, and has a peak-to-mean wind gust ratio greater than 2. Radar_id Radar identification number (see <em>radar_details.pdf)</em> Storm_speed Translational speed of the parent storm object (m/s). Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Storm_angle Angle of parent storm object movement. In units of degrees from N. Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Parent_storm_class The type of parent storm associated with a gust. Only defined if Storm_in10km=1. Possible types are:<br> "Non-linear"<br> "Linear"<br> "Cellular"<br> "Cell cluster"<br> "Supercellular"<br> "Embedded supercell"<br> See Brown et al. (2023a) for classification details Storm_in10km Is there a radar-derived storm object within 10 km of the gust, observed no more than 10 minutes prior to the gust?<br> 0: No<br> 1: Yes<br> See Brown et al. (2023a) for a definition of "storm object" Major_axis_length The length of the major axis of an ellipse fitted to the parent storm object (km). Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Minor_axis_length The length of the minor axis of an ellipse fitted to the parent storm object (km). Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Local_reflectivity_maxima Number of local reflectivity maxima within the parent storm object. Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Maximum_storm_altitude The maximum height of the parent storm radar reflectivity object (km). Only defined if Storm_in10km=1 Azimuthal_shear Azimuthal shear of the parent storm object derived from radar data (s<sup>-1 </sup>x 1000). Only defined if Storm_in10km=1. See Brown et al (2023a) for a discussion of azimuthal shear and processing applied to this quantity here. ERA5_time Time of the ERA5 environmental data that is associated with the measured gust, corresponding to the closest previous hour (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS UTC). ERA5_latitude Location of closest ERA5 (land) grid point to measured gust, in degrees of latitude ERA5_longitude Location of closest ERA5 (land) grid point to measured gust, in degrees of longitude Environmental_cluster Event type, based on statistical clustering of environmental data (Brown et al. 2023b)<br> 0: Strong background wind cluster<br> 1: Steep lapse rate cluster<br> 2: High moisture cluster Umean06 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Umean01 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf U10 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf WindGust10 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf S06 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf EBWD Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Umeanwindinf Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SRHE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SRH06 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DMI Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf LR_subcloud Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf LR_freezing Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf LR03 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf LR13 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf WMSI Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf BDSD Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf ConvGust_wet Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf ConvGust_dry Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf GUSTEX Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DmgWind Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DmgWind_fixed Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DCAPE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf WMPI Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf WINDEX Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DowndraftTemp Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf ThetaeDiff Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf TEI Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf WNDG Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf DCP Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SCP Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SCP_fixed Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SHERB Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SHERBE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf SWEAT Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf MUCS6 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf MLCS6 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf EffCS6 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf T_Totals Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf K_Index Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Eff_CAPE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Eff_LCL Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf MLCAPE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf ML_LCL Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf MUCAPE Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf MU_LCL Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Qmean01 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf Qmean06 Convective diagnostic derived from ERA5 data. See Table1.pdf <strong>References</strong> Brown, A., Dowdy, A., Lane, T. P., & Hitchcock, S. (2023b). Types of Severe Convective Wind Events in Eastern Australia. <em>Monthly Weather Review</em>, <em>151</em>(2), 419–448. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-22-0096.1 Brown, A., A. Dowdy, T. P. Lane, & Hitchcock, S. (2023a). Long-term observational characteristics of different severe convective wind types around Australia. <em>Wea. Forecasting</em>, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-23-0069.1, in press. Hersbach, H., Bell, B., Berrisford, P., Hirahara, S., Horányi, A., Muñoz‐Sabater, J., et al. (2020). The ERA5 Global Reanalysis. <em>Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society</em>, qj.3803. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3803