Bureau of Meteorology Site Numbers
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| Each site in the Bureau of Meteorology national climate archive
is assigned a site number. This is the primary means of identification in
the archive. The numbering system is based on the system of rainfall districts
which covers only mainland Australia, the island State of Tasmania and the
two Bass Strait islands of King and Flinders Is. Sites outside these geographical
areas are classified as either "Islands" (both in the Pacific and in the
Indian Oceans, and including the Papua New Guinea and Solomon Island sites),
or as "Antarctic" sites which are mostly on the Antarctic continent but
also include islands such as Heard Island and Macquarie Island. These sites
have numbers which label them as outside the district system. |
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Site Number
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| Each site has a unique number, although numbers have occasionally
been changed, for example when a rainfall district boundary has been changed).
The site numbering system is not related to the international system used
by the world meteorological community (the station "WMO Number"),
in which for example Darwin Airport is (at present) 94120. Under this system
Australia is only assigned several hundred site numbers, whereas we hold
data for about 20 000 sites in our archive. |
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The site number consists (at present) of 6 digits. The first 3 numbers gives
a rough indication of who is responsible for the site and indicates the
district or other area in which it is located. There are 99 numbered rainfall
districts, some of which have been split into smaller segments. All districts
are located within continental Australia, Tasmania and the two Bass Strait
islands King and Flinders Is. The districts are linked to the Australian
State where the site is located. Sites outside these geographical areas
have either 2 or 3 as the first digit of their site number. Sites run by
another organisation, which are listed in the Bureau's catalogue of sites
are given a number beginning with 5. The archive holds data for very few
of these external sites. |
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| For example Darwin Airport (014015):
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- is owned or run by the Bureau, and is located either in mainland Australia
or in Tasmania, King or Flinders Islands (the first digit of the site
number is not 2, 3 or 5)
- is in district 14 which is in the Northern
Territory.
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| The leading zero or zeros are often omitted in use; thus
Bureau site 051002 in district 51 may be referred
to as 51002. A non-Bureau
site in district 51 would be 551002. Another
example is Cocos Island (200284) in the Indian
Ocean. This site is located outside the rainfall district system and is
classified as an "Island" site (the first digits are 200).
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| The following table lists the various districts, the sites
contained within them, applicable time zones and the relevant administrative
region (State) or organisation |
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| State, area or ownership |
Abbreviation |
Local Standard Time Zone |
Districts |
Site numbers |
| Western Australia |
WA |
WST
0900 = 0100Z |
1 - 13 |
001000 - 013999 |
| Northern Territory |
NT |
CST
0900 = 2330Z |
14 - 15 |
014000 - 015999 |
| South Australia |
SA |
CST |
16 - 26 |
016000 - 026999 |
| Queensland |
QLD |
EST
0900 = 2300Z |
27 - 45 |
027000 - 045999 |
| New South Wales (including the Australian
Capital Territory) |
NSW (ACT) |
EST |
46 - 75 |
046000 - 075999 |
| Victoria |
VIC |
EST |
76 - 90 |
076000 - 090999 |
| Tasmania |
TAS |
EST |
91 - 99 |
091000 - 099999 |
| Islands |
ISL |
-- |
200 |
200000 - 200999 |
| Antarctica |
ANT |
-- |
300 |
300000 - 300999 |
| Non Bureau sites |
-- |
-- |
501 - 599 |
501000 - 599999 |
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| The rainfall districts have been defined, with very few changes,
since the early 1930's. They have no relationship with, for example, census
districts, postal districts, water catchments or shire boundaries. They
also differ from the Bureau forecast districts, which serve a different
purpose and which can change with time to suit for example differing population
levels, or service requirements. |
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