Explore what the global climate models are projecting for Australia’s future climate via a number of easy to use tools found on this website. There is also plenty of supporting information to ensure that you have all the information you need to explore and understand the climate model results and visualisations. Each interface allows you to follow links to further information, download underpinning data or save figure files.
There are some considerations you might like to make before beginning to use the data exploration tools available here. Here are some common questions, answers and links to more information.
There are two types of projections data available representing a range of future scenarios and climate variables.
These are; projected climate changes (including fine scale data); and application-ready future climate data (applied to observational data).
For more information on data types and the scale (grid size) of data available read more here.
If you are interested in using climate data for applications (e.g. impact assessment) or further research there are some considerations you need to make.
Information on consideration of time frames for the assessments, how to select climate models of the most relevance to your application while maintaining internal consistency in the data sets you retrieve and how to choose an emission scenario can be found here.
Users may wish to cite material collected from this website, including data that are accessed through the various tools. More information about citing, referencing and acknowledging the Climate Change in Australia website and data sets can be found here.
A range of tools are provided that allow access to information of differing levels of complexity, ranging from carefully crafted statements about future climate scenarios to detailed gridded data sets. Each tool is given a rating according to the complexity of the information provided and the level of climate science knowledge needed to fully understand the information and how best to use it. This is shown by the rating icon displayed on each tool. The ratings are described in detail here .
The table below provides an overview of each of the climate tools and the data available. Details of the tool ratings are provided here .
|
Tool |
Description |
Variables |
Application Ready |
View |
Download |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Basic |
View regional summary information about future climate and key messages |
Mean temperature Rainfall Extreme Temperature Extreme Rainfall Drought Marine and Coastal |
X |
|||
|
Basic |
Find locations whose current climate approximates the future climate at your location. |
(Based on changes in temperature and rainfall) |
X |
|||
|
Basic |
View bar plots of multi-model regional-average seasonal changes in eight variables |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall Solar Radiation Evapotranspiraton¹ Wind Speed Relative Humidity |
X |
X |
||
|
Basic |
View bar plots of multi-model regional-average seasonal changes in six extremes measures |
Coldest Night 1-in-20 yr Coldest Night Hottest Day 1-in-20 yr Hottest Day Wettest Day 1-in-20 yr Wettest Day |
X |
X |
||
|
Basic |
View gridded maps and/or tabulated multi-model regional-average changes for seven marine variables |
Mean Sea Level Sea Level Allowance Sea Surface Temperature Sea Surface Salinity Ocean pH Aragonite Saturation |
X |
X |
||
|
Intermediate |
View maps and download gridded projected change and future climate (change applied to historic data) data from eight individual climate models |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall Solar Radiation Evapotranspiraton¹ Wind Speed Relative Humidity |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
Intermediate |
Interactively view multi-model data as a continuous time-series from 1900--2100 |
Mean Temperature Rainfall |
X |
|||
|
Intermediate |
View maps and download gridded projected thresholds data (e.g. days above 35°C) from eight pre-selected climate models |
Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
Basic |
Explore climate projections using a simple Climate Futures Matrix defined by two climate variables. |
X | ||||
|
Intermediate |
A guided interface to generate application specific projections data for an impact assessment |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall Wind Speed Relative Humidity Evapotranspiration¹ Solar Radiation |
X |
X |
||
|
Intermediate |
Explore projected changes from multiple sources and/or emissions scenarios and time-periods using Climate Futures Matrices |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall Wind Speed Relative Humidity Evapotranspiration¹ Solar Radiation |
X |
X |
||
|
Advanced |
Develop tailored projections, identify representative models and export change data for use in impact assessments |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall 1-in-20 yr Rainfall Wind Speed 1-in-20 yr Wind Speed Relative Humidity Evapotranspiration¹ Solar Radiation |
X |
X |
||
|
Advanced |
Download gridded change data from up to 40 global climate models in a range of formats |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall 1-in-20 yr Rainfall Wind Speed 1-in-20 yr Wind Speed Relative Humidity Evapotranspiration¹ Solar Radiation |
X |
|||
|
Advanced |
Download application-ready future daily or monthly time-series data from eight pre-selected global climate models models (availability of variables is dependent on locality) |
Mean Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Rainfall Relative Humidity Evapotranspiration² Fire Weather |
X |
X |
Notes
1. Morton
(1983) Wet Areal Evapotranspiration
2. Morton (1983) Point Potential Evapotranspiration (a
proxy for Pan Evaporation)
(Morton FI (1983)
'Operational estimates of areal evapotranspiration and their significance to the science and practice of hydrology.' Journal of Hydrology 66, 1-76.)
Page updated: 31st October 2017