ACCESS-PH: single-level "group3" fields

A number of raw and post-processed NWP products are available as outputs from the Australian Community Climate Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS) suite of Numerical Weather Prediction models which are run routinely by the Bureau National Operations Centre (NOC). This document describes the content of the ACCESS-C PERTH (version APS3) IDY25403.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface and IDY25423.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface series of products.

For background information about ACCESS please refer to the top-level ACCESS NWP technical data documentation page.

If you require further information or assistance about ACCESS NWP products contact the Bureau's Real-time Data Services Section.

Model summary

ACCESS-C PERTH covers the Perth/Southwest WA domain, has a resolution of about 1.5 km and is run four times per day (00Z, 06Z, 12Z & 18Z basetimes) out to a forecast hour (HHH) of +36 (+42 for 18Z). This model is nested in the ACCESS-G model and consists of both an assimilation and forecast component.

NWP data filename convention

All NWP files in this product series have names that conform to the following convention:

IDY25403.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface.grb2 or IDY25403.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface.nc4 or

IDY25423.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface.grb2 or IDY25423.APS3.group3.slv.YYYYMMDDHH.HHH.surface.nc4

where

YYYYMMDDHHBase-date of model run in UTC time. YYYY = year, MM = month, DD = day, HH = hour
HHHForecast hour. A HHH of 000 is the analysis time-step.

Horizontal grid geometries

Variant
[IDY code]
Resolution
[Lon x Lat]
Domain limits
[W to E, S to N (Lon x Lat grid points)]
Parameters
[NC Vars]
IDY25403
 0.013 by 0.013 112.000 to 124.028, -37.000 to -26.970 (892 x 744) All
IDY25423
 0.013 by 0.013 112.000 to 124.028, -37.000 to -26.970 (892 x 744) All

Please note that

  • Latitude values in GRIB and NetCDF files are ordered North to South while longitude values are ordered West to East.
  • Longitudes always lie in the range 0.0 to 360.0 degrees. Longitudes can be transformed to lie between -180 and +180 degrees by subtracting 360 degrees from any longitude values greater than 180.

Time steps

Forecast hours of single-level fields:
1 to 36 by 1

Parameters

The following fields are included in this product series. Note that the "G2 d.c.n" table column refers to a field's GRIB2 'discipline'.'parameterCategory'.'parameterNumber' metadata. For more information see GRIB2 format notes.

Single-level fields

G2 d.c.n NetCDF var Steps G2 Units NC Units Description
0.5.3 av_lwsfcdown All W m-2 W m-2 Average downwards longwave radiation at the surface
0.4.7 av_swsfcdown All W m-2 W m-2 Average downwards shortwave radiation at the surface
0.5.5 av_netlwsfc All W m-2 W m-2 Average net longwave radiation at surface
0.4.9 av_netswsfc All W m-2 W m-2 Average net shortwave radiation at surface
0.5.4 av_olr All W m-2 W m-2 Average outgoing longwave radiation
0.0.10 av_lat_hflx All W m-2 W m-2 Average surface latent heat flux
0.0.11 av_sens_hflx All W m-2 W m-2 Average surface sensible heat flux
0.4.202 av_sfc_sw_dif All W m-2 W m-2 Average surface shortwave diffuse radiation flux
0.4.203 av_sfc_sw_dir All W m-2 W m-2 Average surface shortwave direct radiation flux

Explanation of steps column terms

AllParameter available at all time-steps
All but stepsParameter available at all time-steps except as specified
hhh...Parameter available from fhr onward

Notes on specific NWP file-formats

For technical notes about the GRIB2 encoding of ACCESS data, please refer to GRIB2 format notes. For technical notes about the NetCDF4 encoding of ACCESS data, please refer to NetCDF format notes.

Appendix A - Extended Field Descriptions

Extended description of single-level fields

G2 d.c.n NetCDF var Detailed description
0.5.3 av_lwsfcdown Time-averaged downward flux of longwave radiation at the ground or ocean surface. [W m-2]
0.4.7 av_swsfcdown Time-averaged downward flux of shortwave radiation at the ground or ocean surface. [W m-2]
0.5.5 av_netlwsfc Time-averaged net downward (total downward minus upward) radiative longwave flux at the surface (ground or ocean). [W m-2]
0.4.9 av_netswsfc Time-averaged net downward (total downward minus upward) radiative shortwave flux at the surface (ground or ocean). [W m-2]
0.5.4 av_olr Time-averaged longwave radiation flux leaving the top of the atmosphere. [W m-2]
0.0.10 av_lat_hflx Time-averaged latent heat flux at the surface (upward outgoing radiation values are positive). [W m-2]
0.0.11 av_sens_hflx Time-averaged sensible heat flux at the surface. This represents the time-averaged exchange of heat between the surface and the air by motion of air; also called “turbulent” heat flux. [W m-2]
0.4.202 av_sfc_sw_dif Time-averaged downward diffuse shortwave radiation flux at the surface. [W m-2]
0.4.203 av_sfc_sw_dir Time-averaged downward direct shortwave radiation flux at the surface. [W m-2]

Please note:

  • Fields in the above tables are listed in the same order as shown in the Parameters section of this document.
  • Units in the above table refer to NetCDF fields. In some cases the GRIB2 equivalent field has had values scaled/offset to convert to SI units for WMO GRIB2 compliance.
  • The nature of fields can not always be deduced easily from their NetCDF variable names. It is always safest to refer to the detailed description of a parameter.