The Australian Community Climate and Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS) weather models have been developed and tested by staff from the Bureau's Research and Research to Operations Branches and are based on the UK Meteorological Office's Unified Model. ACCESS output is available in map form or as gridded data products. ACCESS output is available in map form or as gridded data products.
| Model | ACCESS-G (deterministic) and GE (ensemble) |
|---|---|
| Version | APS3 |
| Domain | Global |
| Resolution | Approximately 12.5 km (G) and 33 km (GE) |
| Time Step and Duration | 6 hourly to 240 hours (10 days) |
| Model Run Times and Typical Availability Times |
00Z run available 0645Z
12Z run available 1845Z |
| Views |
Global
Southern Hemisphere Australia Indian Ocean Pacific Ocean |
| Available Elements | Mean sea level pressure (MSLP) & rainfall
Surface winds MSLP & thickness Wind speed and direction at 10m, 850hPa, 700hPa, 500hPa, 200hPa, and gradient Geopotential height at 850hPa, 700hPa, 500hPa, and 200hPa Temperature at 2m screen, 850hPa, 700hPa, 500hPa, 200hPa 2m screen dew point Relative humidity at 2m screen, 850hPa, 700hPa, 500hPa, and 200hPa Other fields available as gridded data |
| Model | ACCESS-C (deterministic) and CE (ensemble) |
|---|---|
| Version | APS3 |
| Domain |
City Region: Victoria/Tasmania New South Wales Queensland South Australia Western Australia Northern Territory North Queensland |
| Resolution | Approximately 1.5 km (C) and 2.2 km (CE) |
| Time Step and Duration |
3 hourly to 36 hours (forecast)
1 hourly to 42 hours (analysis) |
| Model Run Times and Typical Availability Times |
00Z run available 0325Z
06Z run available 0935Z 12Z run available 1525Z 18Z run available 2125Z N.B. All runs available one hour earlier during the daylight saving period. |
| Views | Not applicable |
| Available Elements | Available as gridded data only. |
| Model | ACCESS-TC |
|---|---|
| Version | APS3 |
| Domain | Relocatable 33°x33° grid domain |
| Resolution | 0.036° (~4km) |
| Time Step and Duration | 1 hourly to 72 hours (3 days) |
| Model Run Times and Typical Availability Times | Run on demand |
| Views | Not applicable |
| Available Elements | Available as gridded data only |
Upper air charts are generally labelled with the pressure level in hectopascals (hPa), e.g. 500 hPa. The pressure decreases as altitude increases. For instance, the 250 hPa level is higher than the 500 hPa level. For some fields there are also charts representing the atmosphere 2 metres and 10 metres above the ground, and at the "gradient" level which lies about 1000 metres above the earth's surface and is the level most representative of the air flow in the lower atmosphere immediately above the layer affected by surface friction. This level is free of local wind and topographic effects (such as sea breezes, downslope winds etc).
Some charts show geopotential height, which approximates the actual height of a pressure surface above mean sea-level. Therefore, geopotential height contours on a particular map, e.g. 850 hPa, represent the height of that pressure surface.
Charts showing precipitation represent the amount of rainfall in millimetres which is forecast to fall at the ground over the preceding 3 or 6 hours. The period is shown in the chart heading as "3 hrly" or "6 hrly".
For more details about ACCESS see the Analysis and Prediction Operations Bulletins.
Users interested in accessing raw data via FTP should refer to the ACCESS NWP Data Documentation.