Data coverage
BARRA2 presents a moderate-resolution regional atmospheric reanalysis (BARPA-R2/RE2) and a kilometre-scale downscaled reanalysis (BARRA-C2) over Australia and surrounding regions, spanning from January 1979 to present day. BARRA2 can be used for weather and climate research, case studies of past weather events, studying climate variability and developing climatology products, driving impact modelling (e.g., hydrological, coastal, and fire), evaluation and calibration of other modelling work (e.g., seasonal and climate projections). BARRA2 includes: - BARRA-R2 (Regional Version 2) Product: BARRA-R2 is a moderate-resolution (12 km) regional atmospheric reanalysis over Australia and the surrounding regions including parts of southeast Asia and New Zealand. The dataset includes hourly, 3-hourly, daily and monthly data for temperature, moisture, wind and flux variables at sub-surface, surface, and pressure levels, and heights above surface. The vertical levels include 1000, 950, 925, 850, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30, 20, 10 hPa pressure levels and 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 1500 metres above surface. - BARRA-R2 Convective Parameters Product: This BARPA-R2 based dataset includes hourly data for a collection of convective parameters over Australia. These diagnostics used to characterise environments favourable for thunderstorms and their associated hazards (heavy rainfall, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and tornadoes). These include parcel-based indices such as convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective inhibition (CIN) for surface-based (SB), mixed-layer (ML), and most-unstable (MU) parcels; thermodynamic parameters such as precipitable water, saturation fraction, and lapse rates for various layers; and kinematic parameters such as bulk wind difference (BWD) and storm-relative helicity (SRH) for both fixed and "effective" layers. Daily and monthly mean and maximum values are also available for SBCAPE and SBCIN. - BARRA-RE2 (Regional Ensemble Version 2) Product: BARRA-RE2 is a moderate-resolution (24 km) downscaled ensemble for BARRA-R2 generated with ERA5 perturbations, over Australia and the surrounding regions including parts of southeast Asia and New Zealand. The dataset includes hourly, 3-hourly, daily and monthly data for temperature, moisture, wind and flux variables at sub-surface, surface, pressure levels, and heights above surface, for the 22 time-lagged member ensemble. The vertical levels include 1000, 950, 925, 850, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30, 20, 10 hPa pressure levels and 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 1500 metres above surface. - BARRA-RE2 Convective Parameters Product: The BARRA-RE2 based dataset includes sub-daily data for a collection of convective parameters over Australia. - BARRA-C2 (Convective-Scale Version 2) Product: BARRA-C2 is a kilometre-scale (4.4 km) downscaled reanalysis, over Australia. The dataset includes 20-minute, hourly, 3-hourly, daily and monthly data for temperature, moisture, wind and flux variables at sub-surface, surface, pressure levels, and heights above surface. There are additional variables unique to convection-permitting models, namely lightning flash rate, updraft helicity, and derived radar reflectivity. The vertical levels include 1000, 975, 950, 925, 900, 850, 800, 750, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30, 20, 10 hPa pressure levels and 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 1500 metres above surface. The dataset also includes 27 convective parameters that characterise environments favourable for thunderstorms and their associated hazards (heavy rainfall, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and tornadoes). Caution is advised when using these data as convective parameters are more commonly computed from coarse-resolution reanalyses with parameterised convection. Please see the BARRA2 FAQs and Parameter Descriptions for more information.
Access & permitted use
Review the publisher’s documentation for availability, eligibility and permitted uses, including commercial analysis, model training and redistribution.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Need help sourcing data?
Tell us your required fields, population, geography and time period. We can review suitable sources and licensing options.
Request sourcing help