Help for the Water Resources Station Catalogue (WRSC) is divided into help for the input search screens and help for interpreting information provided on the output results screens.
The Water Resources Station Catalogue (WRSC) is a compilation of the water quantity monitoring stations, rainfall observing stations and evaporation observing stations operated by the State and Territory Water Agencies, regional water authorities, major urban water authorities and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Details of the stations and data available for these stations may be found by using the search options described below. The observed data are not available from this web site and must be obtained from the agency operating the station. Agency contact details are provided.
This catalogue has been compiled by the Bureau of Meteorology with the assistance of the agencies/organizations/authorities operating the hydrological monitoring networks. This web based catalogue continues and combines the series of paper based catalogues: Stream Gauging Information Australia originally published by the Australian Water Resources Council and national rainfall station and evaporation station catalogues occasionally published by the Bureau of Meteorology.
At its simplest level, use of the catalogue requires 3 or 4 steps as follows:
The input screen consists of three separate panels. The first defines the type of stations to be searched for, the second defines the area of interest for the search and the third defines station specific criteria to refine the search. Links on the title bars of the panels provide access to help, enable the panel to be cleared, allow a new search to be undertaken (clear all panels) or optional additional station specific search criteria to be displayed. The function of each of these options should be clear from the text used.
Considerable flexibility is available to define the geographic area of interest for the search. The four options available allow the area of interest to range from the whole country through nationally defined river basins to user defined areas. The options available to define the area of interest are listed on the right hand side of the panel and are described below. The default option displayed is drainage division and/or river basin.
The 245 major river basins in Australia have been grouped into 12 largely homogeneous drainage divisions based on the major topographic features of the country. The drainage divisions are often represented on maps and in publications by the Roman Numerals I to XII. For gauging stations in divisions I to IX the first digit of the AWRC station number often identifies the drainage division. For stations within divisions X, XI and XII, the first two digits identify the drainage division by 00, 01 and 02 respectively. A link to a map showing the national drainage divisions and river basin boundaries is provided at the top of the input search screen.
The names of the drainage divisions are displayed in the left hand scroll box on the input screen. A drainage division may be selected to define the area for the station search by scrolling to display the desired division and clicking the name. Multiple drainage divisions may be selected by using the standard Windows conventions of Shift left mouse click and Ctrl left mouse click. Additional entries included in the scroll box are All divisions and No division assigned. The All divisions entry is equivalent to selecting all of the drainage divisions. The No division assigned entry allows stations that cannot be assigned to a drainage division to be searched. Stations without a drainage division include rainfall stations on off-shore islands and reefs, evaporation stations on off-shore islands and any station to which the operating agency has not assigned a drainage division and which does not have latitude and longitude attributes to enable the correct drainage division to be identified. If no entry in the scroll box is selected then All divisions is assumed.
The names of the 245 river basins are displayed, with the basin number, in the right hand scroll box on the input screen. When drainage divisions are selected, only the river basins within those drainage divisions are displayed in the right hand scroll box. A river basin may be selected by scrolling to display the desired basin and clicking the name. Multiple river basins may be selected by using the standard Windows conventions of Shift left mouse click and Ctrl left mouse click. Selecting a specific river basin or multiple basins limits the station search to only the selected basin(s) within the drainage division(s). Additional entries included in the scroll box are All basins and No basin assigned. The All basins entry is equivalent to selecting all of the river basins displayed in the scroll box. The No basin assigned entry allows stations that cannot be assigned to a river basin to be searched. Stations without a river basin include rainfall stations on off-shore islands and reefs, evaporation stations on off-shore islands and any station to which the operating agency has not assigned a river basin and which does not have latitude and longitude attributes to enable the correct river basin to be identified. If no entry in the scroll box is selected then All basins is assumed.
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. Stations outside this geographical area are identified with either 2 or 3 as the leading digit in the station number used by the Bureau of Meteorology. A more detailed description of the Bureau of Meteorology numbering system is provided in the section about interpreting search results. The rainfall districts have been defined, with very few changes, since the early 1930's and 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. A link to a map showing the rainfall district boundaries is provided at the top of the input search screen.
The names of the 99 rainfall districts are displayed in the scroll box. A rainfall district may be selected by scrolling to display the desired district and clicking the name. Multiple districts may be selected by using the standard Windows conventions of Shift left mouse click and Ctrl left mouse click. Selecting a specific rainfall district or multiple districts limits the station search to only the selected district(s). Additional entries included in the scroll box are All districts and No district assigned. The All districts entry is equivalent to selecting all of the rrainfall districts displayed in the scroll box. The No district assigned entry allows stations that cannot be assigned to a rainfall districts to be searched. Stations without a rainfall district include rainfall stations on off-shore islands and reefs, evaporation stations on off-shore islands and any station to which the operating agency has not assigned a rainfall district and which does not have latitude and longitude attributes to enable the correct rainfall district to be identified. If no entry in the scroll box is selected then All districts is assumed.
This option does not define a specific area but allows the closest stations to a point, of the station type(s) selected, to be found. The number of stations to be returned and the latitude and longitude of the point of interest are the input parameters required. The maximum number of stations able to be returned and the latitude and longitude bounds for the point of interest are detailed in the descriptive text on the panel of the input screen.
To assist with the selection of a suitable latitude and longitude, a 'place name search' link has been provided at the top of the search input web page. This links to a web page where a place name may be entered and the location details are returned.
This option allows up to 3 rectangles and 3 circles to be used to define an area or areas of interest. Each rectangle or circle is specified separately. However, there is complete freedom to overlap the individual rectangles and circles to define a more complex shaped area within which the station search is to be conducted. The rectangles are specified by the latitude and longitude coordinates of the top left and bottom right corners. The circles are specified by the latitude and longitude of their centre and their radius in kilometres. As a guide to selecting circle radii, one degree of latitude is approximately 110 km.
The default input screen displays a panel for the entry of details for a single rectangle and a single circle. The descriptive text at the top of the panel gives the allowable bounds of all latitude and longitude values. An additional rectangle or circle (up to a maximum of 3 of each) is obtained by clicking the link add another at the upper right hand side of the panel displaying the lowest rectangle or circle entry panel displayed. By clicking the link titled clear on the upper right of each rectangle and circle entry panel displayed, that particular rectangle or circle is removed from the search criteria. Clicking the link labelled clear at the top of the area of interest panel returns the panel to its default state displaying a single rectangle and a single circle.
Searches may be carried out on any combination of stations in the catalogue: river, rainfall and evaporation. The station types to be used are selected by clicking the selection boxes.
The following station specific search criteria are available to more tightly specify the station search. By default two criteria station name and river name are displayed on the input screen. These are considered to be the criteria that will be more commonly used. The other criteria available may be displayed by clicking on the link show additional search criteria at the top right hand side of the search criteria entry panel.
This is the name or number given to the station by the operating authority. Note that either the name or number for the station can be entered but NOT both. Entry of both is likely to result in a nil search result. A more detailed description of station numbering conventions is provided in the sections dealing with interpreting search results below.
As a result of the variations in and lengths of station names and numbers, searches will be more effective by using wildcards in the text or digits entered. It is recommended that all names entered include the wildcard symbol (* or %) at the end as some stations have additional words, abbreviations or symbols following the name. Using wild card symbols at both the beginning and end of names and numbers allows a fragment of a name or to be used in the search.
As far as possible, this is the stream name given by the appropriate Geographic Names Board. For stations on natural lakes, the name of the lake is used. For lakes and reservoirs that are regulated by structures, the name used refers to the stream into which the lake or reservoir discharges. A list of abbreviations sometimes used in river names is given in the table.
Rivers may be identified by entering the start of the river name followed by the wildcard symbol (*). It is recommended that the wildcard symbol always be added at the end of the name to be searched for as the word River, Creek etc. or their abbreviations may sometimes also be included. Using wild card symbols at both the beginning and end of names and numbers allows a fragment of a name or to be used in the search.
Note that the river name is not relevant to rainfall and evaporation stations and, if included as a criterion for a search on rainfall and evaporation stations, it is not used when testing selection criteria against attributes for these station types.
The additional criteria available may be displayed by clicking on the link show additional search criteria at the top right hand side of the search criteria entry panel. The additional search criteria may be hidden by clicking on the link hide additional search criteria. Note that if the additional criteria have been displayed, some values entered and then the criteria have been hidden, the additional criteria ARE NOT included in the search. The additional criteria must be displayed and have values entered to be included in the search.
Entry of a minimum and maximum elevation value in metres will result in stations within this range being matched against the other search criteria.
Entering just a minimum value will select all stations with an elevation equal to or greater than the minimum. Similarly, entering just a maximum value will select all stations with an elevation equal to or less than the maximum.
Caution:
Some stations do not have elavation attributes available. Consequently, the search results will only be a subset of possible stations and so should be used with caution.
Also, elevation information has not been provided for many river stations. As elevation is not considered particularly relevant for river stations, if it is included as a criterion for a search that includes river stations, it is not used when testing selection criteria against attributes for this station type.
Entry of a minimum and maximum value for years of record will result in stations within this range being matched against the other search criteria. The values to be entered are number of years NOT start and end year of record. The search is carried out using the date opened and date closed attributes for each station.
Entering just a minimum value will select all stations with a period of record equal to or greater than the minimum. Similarly entering just a maximum value will select all stations with a period of record equal to or less than the maximum.
Note that some stations do not have opened and closed date attributes available. Consequently, the search results will only be a subset of possible stations and so should be used with caution.
The station status criterion enables the search to be restricted to stations that are no longer operational (closed) or stations that are still operational (open). By default all stations are included in the search, signified by a blank entry for the search criterion. The desired selection is chosen from a drop down list.
The rainfall and evaporation stations included in the catalogue have been classified according to the type of data available from the archive(s). For many stations multiple data types are available resulting in a number of entries in the catalogue for the same station number. The definitions for the classifications are as follows.
Entry of a minimum and maximum value for catchment area in square kilometres results in river stations within this range being matched against the other search criteria.
Entering just a minimum value will select all stations with a catchment area equal to or greater than the minimum. Similarly, entering just a maximum value will select all stations with a catchment area equal to or less than the maximum.
Note that catchment area is not relevant to rainfall and evaporation stations and, if included as a criterion for a search on rainfall and evaporation stations, it is not used when testing selection criteria against attributes for these station types.
Caution:
A small number of river stations do not have a catchment area attribute and so will not be considered by any search that includes the catchment area criterion.
The water quality data available search criterion may be set to Yes to identify those stations in the area of interest at which water quality information are collected. If the criterion is set to No then only stations at which water quality data are NOT collected are considered in the search. By default all stations are included in the search, signified by a blank entry for the search criterion. The desired selection is chosen from a drop down list.
Note that availability of water quality is not relevant to rainfall and evaporation stations and, if included as a criterion for a search on rainfall and evaporation stations, it is not used when testing selection criteria against attributes for these station types.
Caution:
Unfortunately most river stations do not have a value for water quality available assigned. Therefore, the search results obtained from using this criterion must be treated with caution.
The owner search criterion enables all stations associated with a particular organization to be selected. Note that this will include stations where the organization is identified as providing the station metadata and also stations where the organization is identified as the source for the observed data but the station metadata may have been provided by yet another organization. The drop down list displays the names of all organizations referred to in the catalogue. There are however a number of subtleties to be aware of and these are described in the section on owner in the interpretation of search results.
The number of stations to be displayed per page may be set using this option. Available settings are shown in the drop down list. When a page length setting is made it remains in force unless explicitly changed for the duration of the session even if different areas of interest and differnt search criteria are selected or the search criteria values are modified.
A number of the search fields provide a pattern matching capability. The wildcard characters used in pattern matching and examples of their use follow.
The search results screen is divided into 3 panels containing the following information:
The top panel of the results screen displays a plain language description of the SQL search used to select the displayed stations. This description can be used to determine whether the "system" has interpreted the entered search criteria in the way that was expected. Also displayed in this panel are any warnings if search limits, such as total number of stations, have been exceeded and the selected display page size.
The following sections describe each of the station attributes returned in the search results. Note that there are a number of attributes that apply only to river stations. These are described after the attributes that apply to all station types.
The majority of river, rainfall and evaporation stations in Australia are identified using one of two different national numbering systems. The Bureau of Meteorology uses its own national numbering system based on Rainfall Districts and most of the water agencies identify stations using the national AWRC numbering system based on agreed Drainage Divisions and River Basins. Each of these systems is described below. A small number of organizations providing station information for the catalogue use a unique internal numbering system. It is usually easy to detect stations numbered using these organization specific systems as the station number is quite different from the systems described below.
Bureau of Meteorology Numbering System
The Bureau number consists of 6 digits. The first digit gives a rough indication of who is responsible for the site or the area in which it is located and digits 2 and 3 identify the district. 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. Sites outside these geographical areas have either 2 (islands) or 3 (Antarctica) as the first digit of their site number and 00 as the secon and third digits.
Sites owned and/or operated by another organization, but from which data are obtained and used by the Bureau are assigned a number beginning with 5. Responsibility for archiving data from these 5 series sites usually resides with the owner/operator and so the Bureau entry for these sites is not included in Water Resources Station Catalogue. It is assumed that details for these sites have been provided by the organization operating the site. However, for some 5 series sites, the Bureau has the most complete data. These sites are generally operated specifically for the flood warning service, and where possible they are identified and included in Water Resources Station Catalogue classified as type 'operational'. Note that the owner/operator agency may use a different number to identify the site resulting in two numbers for the site in Water Resources Station Catalogue.
For example Darwin Airport (014015): 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.
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. If a number operated by the Bureau of Meteorology is only 5 digits long, then it is safe to assume it should have a leading zero.
Another example is Cocos Island (200284) in the Indian Ocean. This site is located outside the rainfall district system and is an "Island" site (the first digits are 200).
AWRC Numbering System
The national river station numbering system was introduced by the Australian Water Resources Council (AWRC) in the 1960s. During the 1990s and, partially as a consequence of the upheaval in the water industry caused by the COAG water reform process, adherence to the numbering system has declined. Stations in Division III Tasmania are now identified according to a local numbering system. The major agencies in the other States and Territories still use the AWRC system however the practices of the smaller water agencies and other organizations operating rainfall monitoring stations in these States and Territories are unknown.
Rainfall stations operated by the water agencies are usually located at river level monitoring stations. Consequently, the AWRC number of the river station is used to identify the rainfall station.
The following is a description of the national numbering system as defined by the AWRC
The national station numbering system allocates a six or seven digit number to each station. For stations within drainage divisions I to IX, the first digit describes the drainage division and the second and third digits identify the river basin within the division.
Example:
For stations within divisions X, XI and XII, the first two digits identify the drainage division by 00, 01 and 02 respectively, with the third digit identifying the river basin.
Example:
The last three or four digits identify the stations within the river basin. In the case of a system based on seven digits, the last four can be used by each State and Territory for its preferred method of classification within the following criteria:
Other criteria to be satisfied by both systems are:
To be eligible for inclusion into the national gauging station numbering system, a station must meet the following criteria:
While still adhering to the AWRC numbering system, some water agencies add alpha characters to the end of the station number if the station has moved a short distance. Hydrologically the station is considered to be the same site however the alpha code shows that the site has moved. Also some water agencies include letters such as R and AW at the start of the number to distinguish between station types such as surface water, groundwater stations or rainfall.
A code to identify the station type. Codes used are as follows:
As far as possible, this is the stream name given by the appropriate Geographic Names Board. For stations on natural lakes, the name of the lake is used. For lakes and reservoirs that are regulated by structures, the name used refers to the stream into which the lake or reservoir discharges. A list of abbreviations sometimes used in river names is given in the table.
River station details are presented in alphabetical order of river name.
This is the name given to the station by the operating authority and is usually a local name describing the location of the station. A list of abbreviations sometimes used in station names is given in the table.
The location of each station is provided in decimal degrees for both the latitude and longitude. The method of determining station location over the years has varied between organizations and a single reference standard or map projection should not be assumed. However, it is expected that as the catalogue is updated over time that the station locations will increasingly conform to the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA) standard.
Note that while latitude values are displayed as positive numbers followed by the letter S to identify the southern hemisphere, latitude values in station data saved to file and in the downloadable complete data base are shown as negative numbers to identify the southern hemisphere.
This is the distance in kilometres between the input location for point A and the station for stations selected for the area of interest option closest stations to a point.
The catchment area is only relevant to river stations and is shown in square kilometres, to 0.1 of a square kilometre, where possible. In some cases, catchment areas of stations below major dams exclude the catchment area of the dam itself. A blank field is used to show that the catchment area is either unknown or has not been provided with the station details.
The observation interval is only relevant to rainfall and evaporation stations. The observation interval is a classification of these stations according to the type of data available from the archive(s). For many stations multiple data types are available resulting in a number of entries in the catalogue for the same station number. The definitions for the classifications are as follows.
The commencment date (station opened) and cessation date (station closed) for data from a station are shown where possible. If the station is still operating the closure date will be blank. Where no dates are shown, it will be necessary to contact the operating agency for details of the period of record available.
The station details for Bureau of Meteorology stations have been assembled from the equipment history at each site. Consequently, if a type of equipment was removed for a period greater than 1 month and then reinstalled, there will be two entries for that observation interval for the station, giving two separate periods of record. Please note that these periods of record are treated separately when checking against any record length search criterion entered. Also note that the period of digitised record available from the Bureau's computerised archive may be less than the period of record shown. Access to any non-digitised records should be discussed when data are being requested.
For some stations the opened and/or closed dates are only shown as 4 digit year values. In these cases the the actual day and/or month are unknown. Also, where a date was found to be set to 01 January of a year it was reset to just the year value. This convention was adopted as there were a large number of instances of this date (mainly for Bureau of Meteorology stations) and it was considered extremely unlikely that a station would be either installed or commence or cease observations on the first day of the year which is usually a holiday. The date of 01 January is considered to be most likely a result of automatic seeding of data bases or an artefact of a computer processing program.
The elevation of the station in metres. The elevation values will have been determined by organizations using a range of techniques. Consequently the accuracy of the elevation values will be variable.
The owner of the station shown is actually the name of the organization that provided the station information for the catalogue. For the vast majority of stations this will be the actual owner of the station and the organization from which the data should be obtained. There are however a number of subtleties to be aware of as follows.
If the cursor is placed over the owner code, the expanded name of the owner agency is displayed. Alternatively, by clicking on the owner code the display is transferred to the third panel of the results screen which displays the expanded name for the owner code. Clicking on the owner organization name produces a new window in which the contact details for the organization are displayed. Also displayed in this window is the URL for any web page from which the organization makes data available.
The 245 major river basins in Australia have been grouped into 12 largely homogeneous drainage divisions based on the major topographic features of the country. The drainage divisions are often represented on maps and in publications by the Roman Numerals I to XII. For gauging stations in divisions I to IX the first digit of the AWRC station number identifies the drainage division. For stations within divisions X, XI and XII, the first two digits identify the drainage division by 00, 01 and 02 respectively. The names of the drainage divisions are given in the following table. If the cursor is placed over the Drainage Division number, the name of the Drainage Division is displayed.
|
Division Number |
Division Name |
|
I |
North-east Coast |
|
II |
South-east Coast |
|
III |
Tasmania |
|
IV |
Murray-Darling basin |
|
V |
South Australian Gulf |
|
VI |
South-west Coast |
|
VII |
Indian Ocean |
|
VIII |
Timor Sea |
|
IX |
Gulf of Capentaria |
|
X |
Lake Eyre |
|
XI |
Bulloo-Bancania |
|
XII |
Western Plateau |
The river systems in Australia have been classified into 245 major river basins. The river basin number is the first three digits of the AWRC station numbering system. For drainage division I to IX the second and third digits identify the basin within the drainage division. For drainage divisions X, XI and XII the third digit identifies the basin within the division by 00, 01 and 02 respectively. If the cursor is placed over the river basin number number, the name of the river basin is displayed. Click here for a map showing all river basins.
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. The districts are linked to the Australian State where the site is located. Stations outside this geographical area are identified with either 200 or 300 as the leading 3 digits in the station number. Refer to the description of the Bureau of Meteorology numbering system for further details.
The rainfall districts have been defined, with very few changes, since the early 1930's and 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. If the cursor is placed over the rainfall district number, the name of the rainfall district is displayed.
A map showing all rainfall districts is available here .
As a result of the way the Water Resources Station Catalogue has evolved, river stations have additional attributes compared with rainfall and evaporation stations. However, the provision of this attribute information by orgaization providing station information is optional. Consequently it is missing for many of the stations in the catalogue.
The name of the organization from which the time series data for the station can be obtained. The contact details for the organization are available using the link agency contact details at the top of each page of the catalogue.
The name of the organization from which the water quality data for the station can be obtained. The contact details for the organization are available using the link agency contact details at the top of each page of the catalogue.
This is the maximum stage in metres observed at the station.
This is the maximum stage at which flow gauging measurements have been taken. River data is usually provided as discharge values. This value, with the maximum observed stage, allows users of discharge data for the station to gain a better understanding of the reliability of the discharge data. As a general rule, the lower the maximum gauged stage is relative to the maximum observed stage, the lower the reliability of the disgarge data for the station.
This value is the percentage of the total period of observation that is missing from the archived record.
This is the national mapping reference. Across most of Australia, the location of a station on a 1:100 000 National Topographic Map Series Sheet, can be provided in a ten digit format. The first four digits identify the required map sheet and the last six digits provide the grid reference. The national mapping reference is not in common use and consequently has not been provided for all stations by the operating organizations.
Example
This is a Yes/No indicator to show whether water quality data are available. A blank does not necessarily mean that water quality data are not available. It simply means that advice about the availability of water quality data has not been provided.
This is a Yes/No indicator to show whether the river flow upstream of the staion is regulated or not. A blank does not necessarily mean that river is not regulated. It simply means that advice about the level of regulation has not been provided. Regulation is most commonly caused by the construction of water storages and weirs and/or the diversion of flow for water supply or irrigation. The organization owning the station is responsible for defining what is meant by regulation.
The year in which regulation of the river flow above the station commenced, if known.
|
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS |
|||
| Abbreviation | Name | Abbreviation | Name |
| ANABR | Anabranch | PLNS | Plains |
| BRK | Brook | PLTN | Plantations |
| BW | Backwater | PO | Post Office | CHNL | Channel | PS | Pumping station |
| CK | Creek | PSTG | Pumped storage | CMNT | Catchment | PSTN | Power station |
| CRT | Centre | PT | Point | DR | Drain | RB | Retarding basin |
| DS | Down stream (also D/S) | RES | Reservoir | E | East | RSTN | Railway station |
| G | Gauge | RVT | Rivulet |
| GT | Great | RWY | Railway |
| HBR | Harbour | S | South |
| HS | Homestead | SPR | Spring |
| HW | Headwater | ST | Street |
| HWY | Highway | SWP | Swamp |
| IPS | Irrigation pumping station | TRIB | Tributary |
| JCTN | Junction | TW | Tailwater |
| L | Lake | US | Upstream (also U/S) |
| LGN | Lagoon | VY | Valley |
| LTL | Little | W | West |
| MSSN | Mission | WCS | Watercourse |
| MD | Main drain | WQ | Water quality |
| N | North | WS | Water supply |
| PCS | Pipeline control structure | X-ING | Crossing |