What data are available from SILO?
There are 15 different climate variables available from SILO:
- maximum and minimum air temperature
- rainfall
- evaporation (two types – class A pan and synthetic pan)
- solar radiation
- vapour pressure
- relative humidity at the time of maximum and minimum temperature
- evapotranspiration (five different options – FAO56, Morton’s actual, Morton’s potential, Morton’s lake, Morton’s wet)
- mean sea level pressure (available only in spatial grid data).
SILO provides data for individual stations as well as interpolated values for each climate element between observation stations. This interpolated information is available across Australia on a 0.05 degree grid (approximately every five kilometres) extending back to 1889.
SILO data can be accessed in three ways:
- Interpolated data grids for spatial modelling and GIS applications.
- Grids are derived by interpolating the Bureau of Meteorology's station records. Interpolations are calculated by splining and kriging techniques. The data in the grids are all synthetic. There are no original meteorological station data left in the calculated grid fields.
- ‘Drilled’ historical time-series for a specific location in the interpolated grid.
- The Data Drill accesses the data grids. The data in the Data Drill are all synthetic. There are no original meteorological station data left in the calculated fields. However, the Data Drill does have the advantage of being available for any set of coordinates in Australia.
- ‘Patched’ data for observed data with missing or suspect values ‘patched’ with interpolated data.
- Patched data is valuable for modelling studies, saving the user the task of dealing with missing data. The Patched Point Dataset uses original Bureau of Meteorology measurements for a particular meteorological station, but missing data are filled (“patched”) with interpolated values. The Patched Point Dataset would typically be used when an analysis or simulation is needed quite close to a meteorological station. However, if an analysis is required for a location which has no meteorological station nearby, then the Data Drill is the more relevant product. As interpolated values are estimates, the patched data should be used with care.
Available formats
The data are available in fifteen different point formats for the Patched Point and Data Drill, and forty-one different spatial formats to suit different client needs.
The price list for SILO is available on the Department of Environment and Resource Management’s website.
Last updated 25 October 2011