What data is available?

You can currently access time series data from around 6000 water monitoring stations around Australia.

The following parameters are currently available:

Watercourse Level (Category 1a)
Watercourse Discharge (Category 1b)
Storage Level (Category 3a)
Storage Volume (Category 3b)
Rainfall (Category 4a)
Electrical Conductivity @ 25C (Category 9a)
Turbidity (Category 9d)
pH (Category 9g)
Water Temperature (Category 9h)

The time period over which data is available varies according to how long the station has been operating. The period of record for some stations starts in the late 19th century. Water Data Online includes data from operational monitoring stations and historical data from stations that are no longer operated.

Over time, more stations and additional parameters will become available.

Water Data Online presents time series data as received from a number of different water agencies around the country. Some agencies apply quality control processes prior to supplying data to the Bureau. See the FAQ Has the data been quality checked? for more information.

Where does the data come from?

Water Data Online displays information supplied by water agencies around the country. These data collection organisations are the custodians and licensees of the data (see Copyright for more information). Initially most data came from lead water agencies, we are introducing data from more organisations over time.

How often are data updated?

The Bureau receives data at different frequencies, depending on:

which organisation is supplying the data
the category of data supplied
the measurement method used at the station where data are collected.

Most data are supplied once a day, so we update Water Data Online daily to include new data that has been received and processed.

Does it include real time data and flood information?

Water Data Online does not display real time data; it includes current and historical information. Near real time data and flood forecasting and warning information is available from Australia Rainfall and River Conditions.

Am I able to use data for my own purposes?

You are able to use much of the material available in Water Data Online because many suppliers provide data under a Creative Commons Attribution Australia Licence. However you may have to contact some data providers to discuss using their data.

Before using data, please refer to Copyright for the licence preferences of the supplying organisations. For data suppliers applying the Creative Commons licence click on the CC-BY Logo to obtain the terms of that licence. For other data owners, please contact the organisation using the details provided.

How do I navigate the Water Data Online Map?

You will notice that the Water Data Online map shows Australia covered with blue circles and a few green balloons. Each blue circle represents a cluster of stations that fall within/near the area covered by the circle, the number inside the circle indicates how many stations are in that cluster. A green balloon represents a measurement station at the location for which time series data is available.

There is a '+/-' symbol at the top left of the map - you can click on these to zoom in/out, and click on the map and drag in any direction to bring a different area of Australia into view. Alternatively, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out.

If you click on a blue circle, or zoom in enough to differentiate between station locations, the blue circle is replaced by individual station balloons. To access data for a station, click on the station's balloon. A window for the station will open. This lists parameters and associated reports/downloads available to the left, and the selected report the right - which is initially the Time Series Explorer.

What are some easy ways to find and access data for a station?

Water Data Online provides both a Map and a Table view to allow you to find and access time series data measured at stations. These show stations that meet criteria specified using data entry fields on the left side of the main window. Initially no criteria are specified, so all stations are shown on the Map (mainly in blue circle clusters), and listed in the Table. You can switch between Map and Table views by clicking on the required tab on the main window. The easiest way to find a station will depend on the information you have about that station. Some examples are listed below, based on information available:

River name – Most stations that measure Watercourse Level or Discharge have the river name at the start of the station name. Enter the river name into the data entry field under the Search heading and click on the magnifying glass icon. This will find stations with names that contain the text you entered. You can then select the station you wish to view using either the Map or the Table view.
Station number – Enter the station number into the data entry field under the Search heading and click on the magnifying glass icon. Note: There are some instances where different data owners have provided data for a station with the same number. Sometimes (but not always) this is the same physical station. In this case, once you enter the station number the station will be shown as a balloon on the map, but the map will not zoom in on the station's location. To access a station's data supplied by a particular data owner, click on the Table tab and then on the row with the required data owner and station number.
Location – Use the map to navigate to the station - see the FAQ How do I navigate the Water Data Online Map?
State, council area or data owner: – You can either use the map to view the state/territory or council area (as above), or the filter using the Data Owner field. The Data Owner search is not initially shown on the main window, it is accessed by clicking on Show advanced search options (underneath the Station number field). If you click on the drop-down arrow for the Data Owner field you will see a list of organisation names - each prefixed with the state or territory in which they operate. Once you select a data owner, you can either use the Map or the Table to view all their stations.
Type of station or parameter measured: – Click on the Parameter drop-down arrow and select the appropriate parameter. For example, if you wish to see what data is available for reservoirs, lakes or other water storages, you could select Storage Level.

What is the difference between data on Water Data Online and other data sets available on the Bureau website?

The Bureau receives data from water authorities and water agencies around the country. The data is presented on Water Data Online in the way it has been received from these agencies. The Bureau is not responsible for quality checking this data.

Other data sets used within the Bureau have gone through quality assurance procedures to make sure they suit the purpose of the Bureau products in which they are used.

Due to a range of factors it is possible that rainfall data from the same site is present at both the Bureau's Climate Data Online and Water Data Online websites. These factors could include:

Historical ownership of equipment or maintenance at a site meant the Bureau, at some point in the past, was an owner of the data
The Bureau may own the raingauge, but another organisation maintains the equipment and manages the data
The Bureau receives data from a real-time feed for the purposes of flood warning, but an organisation collects the same data using a database and into their own data management system

What is the difference between storages data on Water Data Online and the Water Information Dashboard?

The Bureau receives storage data from water authorities and water agencies around the country. Some agencies adjust their data to models and datums and others do not. The data is presented on Water Data online in the way it has been received from these agencies.

Data on the Water Information Dashboard has been standardised for display so nationwide information can be compared from the one source. Accessible volume or the volume available to be released (Total volume minus dead storage volume), is presented for over 300 water storages across Australia. Storage levels provided in a local reference system are adjusted to Australian Height Datum (AHD). Water storage capacity and volumes are also available for urban and rural regions, states, territories, and drainage divisions. There has also been some quality control process applied to remove spikes and fill gaps with derived values using capacity tables or up to one year of linear interpolation.

You can use the Water Data Online Data download feature available on the Station window to download standardised data shown on the Water Information Dashboard. To do this:

Select Data download from the left menu of the Station window, then;
Select data download (listed underneath). The Data download screen will then appear to the right.
From the Parameter drop down list, select the parameter you wish to download (Storage Level or Storage Volume)
From the Time Series drop down list select one of:

Continuous - Accessible Volume
Daily Mean - Accessible Volume
Continuous - AHD
Daily Mean - AHD

Who do I contact for more information?

To provide feedback or request further information regarding Water Data Online, please email waterdatasupport@bom.gov.au or visit our Feedback page.

Has the data been quality checked?

Each time series dataset is a combination of validated and unvalidated (provisional) data. Provisional data are generally raw data that has not been quality checked. Validated data has been through the data owner's internal quality assurance processes. These generally include:

removal of spikes and other discrepancies in observation values
filling gaps between observations
adjustment of values post calibration of instruments
assignment of quality code (see the FAQ What do quality codes represent?)

Provisional and validated datasets are merged before being made available on Water Data Online, with validated data taking precedence over provisional data.

It is not possible to determine whether any individual value is provisional or validated. However, usual practice is for data owners to allocate a 'higher' quality code (e.g. A) for validated data and 'lower' quality code (e.g. E) for provisional data.

Data are automatically updated when new validated data are provided; i.e. validated overwrites provisional.

The Bureau is not responsible for quality checking data, rather our role is to display supplied data.

What do quality codes represent?

Quality codes provide guidance for usability of the data. Each data point is assigned a quality code from A to F. Generally the lower the quality code the higher the data quality:

A – The record set is the best available given the technologies, techniques and monitoring objectives at the time of classification
B – The record set is compromised in its ability to truly represent the parameter
C – The record set is an estimate
E – The record set's ability to truly represent the monitored parameter is not known
F – The record set is not of release quality or contains missing data

Quality code D is no longer used.

Rainfall total data may use the quality code 'Zero Rainfall'. Rainfall data is often measured by event-based rain gauges. These rain gauges only record a data point when rain falls. If no rain falls for a day, then no data points will be recorded. The aggregated daily total value will be zero, and 'Zero Rainfall' is used as the quality code for this day. Therefore this quality code can only occur in daily total time series, not in the continuous (all points) time series. On rare occasions there will be a monthly aggregate with zero rainfall and the "Zero Rainfall" quality code will be applied to the monthly aggregate in that case.

A more detailed description of quality codes is available.

Why do some stations have periods of missing data?

Data that the data owner has determined is missing or unsuitable for release (Quality F) is not used in summary reports or statistical analyses on Water Data Online. This can lead to gaps in the period of record on such reports for a station's parameter.

Which reports or downloads show Quality F data?

Quality F data is available in the:

Time series explorer for periods of up to 1 year (and the corresponding data download).
Data download for continuous time series

Note: The quality code for each data value is listed in the data download. (The disclaimer file included in the download translates numeric quality codes in the downloaded data to the A-F code used in the Quality and gap summary report.)

Quality F data is NOT used or shown in the:

Time series explorer - for periods of more than 1 year (and the corresponding data download)
Data download - for aggregated time series (not Continuous)
Period of record summary
Quality and gap summary
Daily data summary
Monthly data summary
Yearly data summary
Monthly mean statistical analysis
Yearly statistical analysis
Ratings and gaugings
Duration curve
Difference from mean analysis

Are there any known data issues?

There are some data issues that we are working to address:

A missing value has been inserted between each set of some owner's data supplied to the Bureau (usually one per day).
This appears as a small gap between data points in the Time Series Explorer.
The gap is more noticeable for stations where observations are taken infrequently.

Which time zones are the data displayed in?

Time of day is presented in local standard time. Coordinated Universal Timezones (UTC) are:

Eastern States (QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS) - UTC +10:00
Central States (NT, SA) - UTC +09:30
Western Australia - UTC +08:00.

How is mean data calculated?

Mean values are a time weighted average of all of the recorded data points within the interval. Each interval is from 00:00:00 to 00:00:00 (midnight one day, to midnight the next) with the mean value recorded at the start of the interval. For example, a daily mean value for 00:00:00 01/01/2014 is a time weighted mean of all recorded data points between 00:00:00 01/01/2014 and 00:00:00 02/01/2014.

A time weighted mean is different from an arithmetic mean, it is a better representation of the measured data as it is common practice for a station's automated data logger to record data points at irregular time intervals such as when a change in watercourse level exceeds a threshold.

For example, the logger may record a change of +/-10mm for watercourse level. During a flood event many data points will be recorded compared with a dry period, where very little change in watercourse level is observed so there may only be 1 data point recorded per day.

Source data for the mean value must have data coverage for at least 90% of the interval for the mean to calculate. There will be a gap in the mean time series where insufficient source data was present. This setting is to ensure that we are not creating mean values where the source data does not sufficiently represent the period.

Measurements quality coded as Quality F are treated as missing for the purpose of daily mean calculations.

If you would prefer to calculate mean values using a different method, you can download continuous data using the data download tool. Continuous data are data as recorded with no aggregation applied.

Why are some watercourse level values below zero?

Due to the variability in stream bed levels over time, it is common practice to assign a reference datum at each station for recording of watercourse level. The zero watercourse level is usually surveyed to occur below the level at which the watercourse stops flowing. This means that a zero level does not necessarily equate to a zero discharge and a negative level can be valid.

Watercourse levels are usually monitored in large watercourse pools that have stable geology. When a watercourse stops flowing, the pools of the watercourse slowly recede though evaporation or seepage into ground. When this occurs the watercourse level hydrograph shows a slowly receding watercourse, which may become negative, while the watercourse discharge hydrograph shows a constant zero flow during the period.

What is the interval between data points shown in the time series explorer?

The interval between data points shown on the time series explorer depends on the length of the period you are viewing:

Periods of less than one year: Continuous data is shown (data points at intervals as supplied by the data owner).
Periods of one year or more: Mean daily data is shown (one data point per day).

Is there a limit to the amount of data I can download?

You can download data for one station and time series at a time. There is no limit to the amount of data you can download for the selected station's time series - you can download the whole period of record if you wish.

Web Services for Water Data Online

The Water Data Online portal comes with a Web Services API to access the data. However, due to ever-increasing cyber security risks, this service is protected by a web-scraping and Denial-Of-Services prevention algorithm, which means that the total volume of data that you can extract from our service and the frequency with which you can access the service is limited. For more information, please contact waterdatasupport@bom.gov.au.

A Sensor Observation Service standard version 2 (SOS2) has been implemented; the service returns data in WaterML2 format. The SOS2 standard was developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) as part of the OGC Sensor Web Enablement framework. The WaterML2 standard was also developed by the OGC with support from the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO though the WIRADA research alliance.

Detailed information on how to use the service is available in the Guide to Sensor Observation Services (SOS2) for Water Data Online v1.0.1.pdf.
An overview is provided below:

Access Point (URL)

SOS2 web services for Water Data Online can be accessed at www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/services?service=SOS&version=2.0&request=GetCapabilities

Workflow Example

Step 1- See what information the service can provide using the GetCapabilities request.

Example GetCapabilities request
Example GetCapabilities response

When interpreting the response, note that:

Each <swes:observableProperty> corresponds to a Water Data Online parameter that you can access via SOS, for example Water Course Discharge.
Each <sos:ObservationOffering> contains a type of Water Data Online time series that you can access via SOS. These are listed under <swes:procedure>.

The procedure or time series type defines the method used to produce time series data. For example, a time series produced using the Day.Mean procedure contains values calculated as the daily mean of a station's measurements over a day. The day is defined as starting at 12am and ending at 12pm. A missing value is recorded for the daily mean if the period for which there are measurements covers less than 90% of the day.

Step 2- Find stations using the GetFeatureOfInterest request

Example GetFeatureOfInterest request
Example GetFeatureOfInterest response

You can specify a combination of (optional) filters to select the stations you require:

Use <sos:procedure> to select stations that record measurements using a particular method.
Use <sos:observedProperty> to select stations that record measurements for a specific parameter.
Use <sos:spatialFilter> to select stations within a specified geographical area.

Take note of each station's <gml:identifier>, this is needed in the next step.

Step 3- Retrieve time series data by performing a GetObservation request

Example GetObservation request
Example GetObservation response

You can select time series data to return using a combination of (optional) filters:

Use <sos:procedure> to select the time series type
Use <sos:observedProperty> to select the parameter.
Use any number of <sos:featureOfInterest> identifiers (see <gml:identifier> values from Step 2) to specify which stations you need the time series data for.
Use <sos:temporalFilter> to specify the time period for which data is to be provided.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Data quality and issues

How to interpret the data

Reports, Downloads and Web Services

Access Point (URL)

Workflow Example