We’ve talked about Phil Jones’ Russian and Chinese sites, where we’ve just scratched the surface so far. Warwick Hughes took a first crack at some years ago, but was unsuccessful in identifying the Jones sites. Jones, never making things easy, did not provide the names of any of the Australian sites, nor the WMO identification numbers. However, from the information that he did provide, I’ve scratched together names for the various sites and WMO identifications. Jones has said that he has no information on how the sites were selected.
To be fair, many of them have rural-looking descriptors and it looks as though a genuine effort was made here to avoid cities. Australians may be able to comment on further. I haven’t compared this listing to Warwick’s prior efforts.
Jones lists his eastern Australian data set here. In his covering text, he says in one place that only national IDs are provided:
For Australia, these are the national IDs then in use….
although shortly thereafter, he inconsistently states that WMO IDs were used:
The location names are given for the fUSSR, but only the WMO IDs were known for Australia and China.
The Jones IDs are definitely not WMO IDs as the last sentence indicates. I struggled for a while trying to match the identification numbers to WMO IDs and quickly gave up. A listing of Australian national IDs is online here (I located this by googling CSIRO and one of the id numbers) and I was quickly able to match all the Jones IDs to CSIRO IDs.
There are some small but annoying geographical errors in the Jones data set, which were a problem in trying to identify WMO numbers. I was able to match many Jones locations to GHCN stations as follows. I identified GHCN stations within 0.1 degree lat and long of the Jones. Where there was only one match (and this was the majority of cases), I adopted this match. There were 2 sites with 2 matches and about 7 with none (the latter all resulting from the annoying errors in the Jones data). I subsetted the GHCN data to eastern Australia and manually looked up the names (from the CSIRO match already done) and was able to match all of them. This resulted in the identifications listed below textfile here.
It looks as though there was a genuine effort to locate rural sites. But I’d be interested in any Australian comment on local aspects of these sites (and will cross-check Warwick Hughes’ commentary on another occasion.) About the billabongs, I was thinking of the chorus in Waltzing Matilda. Think about it.
id csiro lat long site wmo ghcn.id
1 1 16044 -30.71667 134.5667 TARCOOLA 94655 0
2 2 18070 -33.73333 135.8667 PORT LINCOLN 94660 0
3 3 21014 -33.83333 138.6333 CLARE POST OFFICE 95667 1
4 4 21043 -33.18333 138.0167 PORT PIRIE BHAS 94669 0
5 5 22807 -35.66667 137.6500 KINGSCOTE 94807 0
6 6 23733 -35.06667 138.8667 MOUNT BARKER 94806 0
7 7 29041 -17.66667 141.0833 NORMANTON POST OFFICE 94267 0
8 8 30018 -18.25000 143.5000 GEORGETOWN POST OFFICE 94275 0
9 9 30045 -20.75000 143.0833 RICHMOND POST OFFICE 94340 0
10 10 31016 -15.48333 145.2500 COOKTOWN POST OFFICE 94283 0
11 11 32004 -18.18333 146.0000 CARDWELL EDEN ST 94292 0
12 12 32025 -17.50000 146.0000 INNISFAIL 94291 0
13 13 33007 -20.00000 148.1667 BOWEN POST OFFICE 94366 1
14 14 34002 -20.03333 146.3333 CHARTERS TOWERS POST OFFICE 94356 1
15 15 35069 -24.86667 146.2500 TAMBO POST OFFICE 94355 0
16 16 37010 -19.91667 138.1000 CAMOOWEAL TOWNSHIP 94255 0
17 17 38003 -22.90000 139.8833 BOULIA AIRPORT 94333 0
18 18 39015 -24.83333 152.3500 BUNDABERG POST OFFICE 94774 0
19 19 39039 -25.60000 151.5333 GAYNDAH POST OFFICE 94543 0
20 20 40043 -27.25000 153.3667 CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE 94954 0
21 21 40126 -25.53333 152.6000 MARYBOROUGH 94849 2
22 22 41038 -28.50000 150.2833 GOONDIWINDI POST OFFICE 94530 1
23 23 43030 -26.53333 148.7667 ROMA POST OFFICE 94515 1
24 24 44026 -28.06667 145.6667 CUNNAMULLA POST OFFICE 94500 0
25 25 46037 -29.46667 142.0667 TIBOOBURRA POST OFFICE 94485 0
26 26 46043 -31.08333 143.5500 WILCANNIA (REID ST) 94695 0
27 27 48013 -30.10000 145.9333 BOURKE POST OFFICE 94703 0
28 28 51039 -31.56667 147.2000 NYNGAN AIRPORT 94708 0
29 29 52026 -30.01667 148.1167 WALGETT 95715 1
30 30 56002 -30.51667 151.6667 ARMIDALE (RADIO STATION 2AD) 94773 0
31 31 58012 -29.43333 153.3667 YAMBA PILOT STATION 94589 0
32 32 58037 -28.80000 153.2833 LISMORE (CENTRE STREET) 94586 0
33 33 60026 -31.90000 152.4833 PORT MACQUARIE (HILL STREET) 94784 0
34 34 61055 -32.91667 151.8000 NEWCASTLE NOBBYS SIGNAL STATION 94387 2
35 35 65012 -32.21667 148.5667 DUBBO (COOREENA RD) 94719 0
36 36 69018 -35.91667 150.1500 MORUYA HEADS PILOT STATION 94937 0
37 37 73009 -34.63333 148.0167 COOTAMUNDRA POST OFFICE 94714 0
38 38 75031 -34.51667 144.8333 HAY MILLER STREET 94698 0
39 39 77042 -35.38333 143.6167 SWAN HILL POST OFFICE 94843 0
40 40 80015 -36.16667 144.7667 ECHUCA AERODROME 94861 0
41 41 83025 -37.15000 147.6333 OMEO 94911 0
42 42 84016 -37.56667 149.4167 GABO ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE 94933 0
43 43 85096 -39.23333 146.3667 WILSONS PROMONTORY LIGHTHOUSE 94893 0
44 44 88043 -37.08333 143.7833 MARYBOROUGH (DERBY STREET) 94849 2
45 45 90015 -38.76667 143.7333 CAPE OTWAY LIGHTHOUSE 94842 1
46 46 91057 -40.96667 146.8333 LOW HEAD (COMPARISON) 94965 0
47 47 94010 -43.33333 147.0000 CAPE BRUNY LIGHTHOUSE 94961 1
48 48 94041 -43.66667 146.5000 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE 94962 0
49 49 98001 -39.73333 143.9500 CURRIE POST OFFICE 94851 0
Climate Audit 
28 Comments
One that I personally know is Newcastle Nobby’s Signal Station (id #34): This is right in the heart of Newcastle and only a few km from both the CBD and a steel mill. This is one Australia’s busiest coal loading ports and it’s not unusual to see tens of large coal carrier ships “lined up” waiting to load (easily visible from Nobby’s beach). I would assume that the signal station is either 1) at the lighthouse (couple of 100m out at the most easterly point of the Nobby’s Head) or 2) at the old army barracks (now a historical site – 100m or so back from the beach) or 3) the Naval station about 1km or so from the beach or 4) possibly (least likely) at the Naval training station (once again about 100m from the beach itself, this time directly on the water in the port). Aside from the obvious urban contamination from being in the heart of a city of a million plus residents (although all are close enough to easily qualify as “on the coast” and would likely show cooler temperatures than even a few km inland), the lighthouse is surrounded by asphelt/rocks and the barracks, Naval station and training station both have a lot of concrete/asphelt/crushed rock in and around them. I’d say these would be about as UHI contaminated as, say, Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens (that’s right next to the Sydney Opera House) would be.
7 7 29041 -17.66667 141.0833 NORMANTON POST OFFICE 94267 0
8 8 30018 -18.25000 143.5000 GEORGETOWN POST OFFICE 94275 0
Georgetown (pop 300) and Normanton (pop 2500) both small isolated towns at the bottom of Gulf of Carpentaria. These towns have shrunk in size since their weather stations were established during mining booms.
10 10 31016 -15.48333 145.2500 COOKTOWN POST OFFICE 94283 0
On the east coast, half way up Cape York Peninsula at the mouth of the Endeavour River. Post Office would have a nice view of river. Again this town has probably shrunk since gold rushes of the 1870s.
Port Pirie has a major lead smelter, and while population is relatively small, there is a lot of industrial activity, roads, concentrate stockpiles etc etc that could be expected to develop a marked UHI effect.
I would have identified Newcastle as a site that is likely a major UHI effect as well. Many of the others look rural enough, but a detailed check would need to be done. Quite a few stations are smaller country towns, and they may have a UHI.
Jones et al 1990 say of this network:
It doesn’t sound like Newcastle Nobby’s is a rural site, for one.
Here is a link to the governments population distribution as at the 2001 census.
You will note that most aussies live in the SE corner and along the coast.
Some of the towns along the coast have grown tremendoulsy.
Some on the list above have a lot more then the 5,000.
1 . Sydney , NSW : ………………………………….. 3,502,301
2 . Melbourne , VIC : ……………………………….. 3,160,171
3 . Brisbane , QLD : ………………………………… 1,508,161
4 . Perth , WA : ……………………………………. 1,176,542
5 . Adelaide , SA : …………………………………. 1,002,127
6 . Gold Coast-Tweed Heads (Gold Coast Part) , QLD : ……… 376,533
7 . Canberra-Queanbeyan (Canberra Part) , ACT : ………….. 309,799
8 . Newcastle , NSW : …………………………………. 279,975
9 . Central Coast , NSW : ……………………………… 255,429
10 . Wollongong , NSW : ……………………………….. 228,846
11 . Sunshine Coast , QLD : ……………………………. 169,931
12 . Geelong , VIC : ………………………………….. 130,194
13 . Hobart , TAS : …………………………………… 126,048
14 . Townsville-Thuringowa , QLD : ……………………… 119,504
15 . Cairns , QLD : ……………………………………. 98,981
16 . Toowoomba , QLD : …………………………………. 89,343
17 . Ballarat , VIC : ………………………………….. 73,002
18 . Darwin , NT : …………………………………….. 71,348
19 . Bendigo , VIC : …………………………………… 68,723
20 . Launceston , TAS : ………………………………… 68,443
21 . Rockingham , WA : …………………………………. 60,766
22 . Rockhampton , QLD : ……………………………….. 59,471
23 . Mackay , QLD : ……………………………………. 57,648
24 . Maitland , NSW : ………………………………….. 53,470
25 . Mandurah , WA : …………………………………… 46,700
26 . Bunbury , WA : ……………………………………. 45,297
27 . Gold Coast-Tweed Heads (Tweed Hds Pt) , NSW : ………… 45,021
28 . Bundaberg , QLD : …………………………………. 44,555
29 . Wagga Wagga , NSW : ……………………………….. 44,453
30 . Albury-Wodonga (Albury Part) , NSW : ………………… 42,146
31 . Port Macquarie , NSW : …………………………….. 37,978
32 . Hervey Bay , QLD : ………………………………… 36,108
33 . Shepparton-Mooroopna , VIC : ……………………….. 35,823
34 . Tamworth , NSW : ………………………………….. 32,544
35 . Melton , VIC : ……………………………………. 32,072
36 . Orange , NSW : ……………………………………. 31,969
37 . Dubbo , NSW : …………………………………….. 30,939
38 . Canberra-Queanbeyan (Queanbeyan Part) , NSW : ………… 29,926
39 . Kalgoorlie-Boulder , WA : ………………………….. 28,281
40 . Mildura , VIC : …………………………………… 28,059
41 . Albury-Wodonga (Wodonga Part) , VIC : ……………….. 27,728
42 . Lismore , NSW : …………………………………… 27,362
43 . Bathurst , NSW : ………………………………….. 27,033
44 . Warrnambool , VIC : ……………………………….. 26,845
45 . Gladstone , QLD : …………………………………. 26,628
46 . Coffs Harbour , NSW : ……………………………… 26,079
47 . Richmond-Windsor , NSW : …………………………… 25,890
48 . Geraldton , WA : ………………………………….. 25,436
49 . Sunbury , VIC : …………………………………… 25,153
50 . Nowra-Bomaderry , NSW : ……………………………. 24,763
51 . Alice Springs , NT : ………………………………. 24,636
52 . Mount Gambier , SA : ………………………………. 22,754
53 . Albany , WA : …………………………………….. 22,415
54 . Devonport , TAS : …………………………………. 21,576
55 . Whyalla , SA : ……………………………………. 21,273
56 . Maryborough , QLD : ……………………………….. 21,192
57 . Goulburn , NSW : ………………………………….. 20,888
58 . Palmerston , NT : …………………………………. 20,576
59 . Mount Isa , QLD : …………………………………. 20,522
60 . Armidale , NSW : ………………………………….. 20,272
61 . Broken Hill , NSW : ……………………………….. 19,832
62 . Traralgon , VIC : …………………………………. 19,606
63 . Katoomba-Wentworth Falls , NSW : ……………………. 18,400
64 . Burnie-Somerset , TAS : ……………………………. 18,095
65 . Forster-Tuncurry , NSW : …………………………… 17,994
66 . Cessnock-Bellbird , NSW : ………………………….. 17,826
67 . Grafton , NSW : …………………………………… 17,425
68 . Kwinana , WA : ……………………………………. 17,377
69 . Cairns Northern Beaches , QLD : …………………….. 17,193
70 . Gawler , SA : …………………………………….. 16,837
71 . Taree , NSW : …………………………………….. 16,651
72 . Ballina , NSW : …………………………………… 16,603
73 . Wangaratta , VIC : ………………………………… 16,347
74 . Griffith , NSW : ………………………………….. 16,007
75 . Broome , WA : …………………………………….. 15,900
76 . Moe-Yallourn , VIC : ………………………………. 15,381
77 . Kingston-Blackmans Bay , TAS : ……………………… 14,823
78 . Busselton , WA : ………………………………….. 13,957
79 . Sawtell , NSW : …………………………………… 13,835
80 . Morwell , VIC : …………………………………… 13,528
81 . Port Pirie , SA : …………………………………. 13,266
82 . Horsham , VIC : …………………………………… 13,255
83 . Crafers-Bridgewater , SA : …………………………. 13,199
84 . Port Augusta , SA : ……………………………….. 13,198
85 . Bongaree , QLD : ………………………………….. 13,025
86 . Murray Bridge , SA : ………………………………. 13,015
87 . Nambour , QLD : …………………………………… 12,894
88 . Sale , VIC : ……………………………………… 12,851
89 . Port Hedland , WA : ……………………………….. 12,777
90 . Port Lincoln , SA : ……………………………….. 12,668
91 . Ocean Grove-Barwon Heads , VIC : ……………………. 12,652
92 . Singleton , NSW : …………………………………. 12,530
93 . Raymond Terrace , NSW : ……………………………. 12,523
94 . Kurri Kurri-Weston , NSW : …………………………. 12,317
95 . Kiama , NSW : …………………………………….. 12,287
96 . Bacchus Marsh , VIC : ……………………………… 12,140
97 . Warwick , QLD : …………………………………… 12,016
98 . Pakenham , VIC : ………………………………….. 11,301
99 . Lithgow , NSW : …………………………………… 11,044
100 . Echuca-Moama (Echuca Part) , VIC : …………………. 10,958
101 . Karratha , WA : ………………………………….. 10,796
102 . Yeppoon , QLD : ………………………………….. 10,787
103 . Bairnsdale , VIC : ……………………………….. 10,673
104 . Gympie , QLD : …………………………………… 10,619
105 . Warragul , VIC : …………………………………. 10,438
106 . Bowral , NSW : …………………………………… 10,406
107 . Batemans Bay , NSW : ……………………………… 10,212
108 . Colac , VIC : ……………………………………. 10,189
109 . Lawson-Hazelbrook , NSW : …………………………. 10,153
110 . Emerald , QLD : ………………………………….. 10,081
111 . Muswellbrook , NSW : ……………………………… 10,037
112 . Parkes , NSW : ……………………………………. 9,800
113 . Swan Hill , VIC : …………………………………. 9,766
114 . Dalby , QLD : …………………………………….. 9,731
115 . Ulladulla , NSW : …………………………………. 9,607
116 . Portland , VIC : ………………………………….. 9,602
117 . Inverell , NSW : ………………………………….. 9,540
118 . Ulverstone , TAS : ………………………………… 9,514
119 . Esperance , WA : ………………………………….. 9,425
120 . Moree , NSW : …………………………………….. 9,273
121 . Lara , VIC : ……………………………………… 9,211
122 . Casino , NSW : ……………………………………. 9,159
123 . Mount Barker , SA : ……………………………….. 9,152
124 . Hamilton , VIC : ………………………………….. 9,118
125 . Victor Harbor , SA : ………………………………. 8,971
126 . Cowra , NSW : …………………………………….. 8,715
127 . Mudgee , NSW : ……………………………………. 8,628
128 . Benalla , VIC : …………………………………… 8,623
129 . Bowen , QLD : …………………………………….. 8,557
130 . Innisfail , QLD : …………………………………. 8,532
131 . Ayr , QLD : ………………………………………. 8,507
132 . Charters Towers , QLD : ……………………………. 8,494
133 . Kempsey , NSW : …………………………………… 8,450
134 . Wangi-Rathmines , NSW : ……………………………. 8,391
135 . Nelson Bay , NSW : ………………………………… 8,039
136 . Torquay , VIC : …………………………………… 8,005
137 . Gunnedah , NSW : ………………………………….. 7,867
138 . Deniliquin , NSW : ………………………………… 7,793
139 . St Georges Basin-Sanctuary Point , NSW : …………….. 7,618
140 . Murwillumbah , NSW : ………………………………. 7,599
141 . Maryborough , VIC : ……………………………….. 7,476
142 . Clifton Springs , VIC : ……………………………. 7,306
143 . Carnarvon , WA : ………………………………….. 7,280
144 . Kingaroy , QLD : ………………………………….. 7,193
145 . Healesville , VIC : ……………………………….. 7,149
146 . Forbes , NSW : ……………………………………. 7,100
147 . Ararat , VIC : ……………………………………. 7,067
148 . Byron Bay , NSW : …………………………………. 7,039
149 . Cooma , NSW : …………………………………….. 6,949
150 . Collie , WA : …………………………………….. 6,947
151 . Leeton , NSW : ……………………………………. 6,936
152 . Mareeba , QLD : …………………………………… 6,889
153 . Young , NSW : …………………………………….. 6,843
154 . Castlemaine , VIC : ……………………………….. 6,834
155 . Leopold , VIC : …………………………………… 6,781
156 . Katherine , NT : ………………………………….. 6,718
157 . Bridgewater-Gagebrook , TAS : ………………………. 6,682
158 . Moss Vale , NSW : …………………………………. 6,613
159 . Camden Haven , NSW : ………………………………. 6,486
160 . Seymour , VIC : …………………………………… 6,430
161 . Medowie , NSW : …………………………………… 6,292
162 . Mittagong , NSW : …………………………………. 6,271
163 . Tumut , NSW : …………………………………….. 6,250
164 . Narrabri , NSW : ………………………………….. 6,247
165 . Nambucca Heads , NSW : …………………………….. 6,155
166 . Northam , WA : ……………………………………. 6,152
167 . Wonthaggi , VIC : …………………………………. 6,146
168 . Emerald , VIC : …………………………………… 6,144
169 . Stawell , VIC : …………………………………… 6,141
170 . Moranbah , QLD : ………………………………….. 6,135
171 . Golden Bay-Singleton , WA : ………………………… 6,073
172 . Roma , QLD : ……………………………………… 5,910
173 . Atherton , QLD : ………………………………….. 5,890
174 . Port Douglas , QLD : ………………………………. 5,868
175 . Lennox Head , NSW : ……………………………….. 5,834
176 . Drouin , VIC : ……………………………………. 5,817
177 . Glen Innes , NSW : ………………………………… 5,721
178 . Yamba , NSW : …………………………………….. 5,660
179 . Deeragun , QLD : ………………………………….. 5,633
180 . Aldinga Beach , SA : ………………………………. 5,537
181 . Kyabram , VIC : …………………………………… 5,524
182 . Lemon Tree Passage , NSW : …………………………. 5,507
183 . Lakes Entrance , VIC : …………………………….. 5,505
184 . Goondiwindi , QLD : ……………………………….. 5,496
185 . Kununurra , WA : ………………………………….. 5,491
186 . Cootamundra , NSW : ……………………………….. 5,487
187 . Biloela , QLD : …………………………………… 5,479
188 . Ellenbrook , WA : …………………………………. 5,469
189 . Humpty Doo-McMinns Lagoon , NT : ……………………. 5,247
190 . Corowa-Wahgunyah (Corowa Part) , NSW : ………………. 5,218
191 . Bargara , QLD : …………………………………… 5,175
192 . Gatton , QLD : ……………………………………. 5,103
193 . Helensburgh , NSW : ……………………………….. 5,075
194 . New Norfolk , TAS : ……………………………….. 5,005
These are towns in smaller rural areas or remote areas that i know pretty well. Some of them are quickly growing regional towns. The lighthouses are often remote. Also the listing above seems to be very light on for numbers. Some of the towns, eg port macquarie for instance has an area population of around 60,000, whereas the listing shows a lot less. (Defn town footprint?)
If you want anything specific please let me know and id be happy to help.
20 20 40043 -27.25000 153.3667 CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE 94954 0
22 22 41038 -28.50000 150.2833 GOONDIWINDI POST OFFICE 94530 1
24 24 44026 -28.06667 145.6667 CUNNAMULLA POST OFFICE 94500 0
25 25 46037 -29.46667 142.0667 TIBOOBURRA POST OFFICE 94485 0
26 26 46043 -31.08333 143.5500 WILCANNIA (REID ST) 94695 0
27 27 48013 -30.10000 145.9333 BOURKE POST OFFICE 94703 0
28 28 51039 -31.56667 147.2000 NYNGAN AIRPORT 94708 0
29 29 52026 -30.01667 148.1167 WALGETT 95715 1
30 30 56002 -30.51667 151.6667 ARMIDALE (RADIO STATION 2AD) 94773 0
still a pretty decent sized town and long term establishment. Centre of wool farming.
31 31 58012 -29.43333 153.3667 YAMBA PILOT STATION 94589 0
32 32 58037 -28.80000 153.2833 LISMORE (CENTRE STREET) 94586 0
large regional centre
33 33 60026 -31.90000 152.4833 PORT MACQUARIE (HILL STREET) 94784 0
quickly growing coastal regional centre
35 35 65012 -32.21667 148.5667 DUBBO (COOREENA RD) 94719 0
large regional centre
36 36 69018 -35.91667 150.1500 MORUYA HEADS PILOT STATION 94937 0
37 37 73009 -34.63333 148.0167 COOTAMUNDRA POST OFFICE 94714 0
38 38 75031 -34.51667 144.8333 HAY MILLER STREET 94698 0
39 39 77042 -35.38333 143.6167 SWAN HILL POST OFFICE 94843 0
40 40 80015 -36.16667 144.7667 ECHUCA AERODROME 94861 0
41 41 83025 -37.15000 147.6333 OMEO 94911 0
42 42 84016 -37.56667 149.4167 GABO ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE 94933 0
43 43 85096 -39.23333 146.3667 WILSONS PROMONTORY LIGHTHOUSE 94893 0
45 45 90015 -38.76667 143.7333 CAPE OTWAY LIGHTHOUSE 94842 1
Warwick Hughes’ discussion of the Australian sites is at http://www.warwickhughes.com/papers/90lettnat.htm
A note on the Nobby’s signal station: 34 34 61055 -32.91667 151.8000 NEWCASTLE NOBBYS SIGNAL STATION 94387 2
I’m fairly sure it’s actually on the headland, by the lighthouse. I live about 5 km from it. It’s as isolated as an urban site could possibly be, and while it doesn’t fit being “rural”, it’s on a headland with minimal residential and/or industrial within about 1500m radius. The temperature is definately moderated by coastal proximity, and the daytime temperatures 10-20km inland are usually 1-2 degrees higher, the opposite being true at night. (Poster #1 seems to have gone a little overboard on his description of >1 million people living around Nobbys. Newcastle, population-wise, is heavily centred around suburbs ~10-20km to the south-west of the port and is more of a conglomeration of small towns than a city).
Also, while the census says ~280,000 people for Newcastle, it’s not as populous as it sounds. Certainly, it does have (in the greater Newcastle area) the recorded number of people, it’s a very large area that gets counted as “Newcastle” (This is true for many areas, say #8-30 on the census list). Newcastle’s heavy industry had a major downturn about 10 years ago and the smelters etc. that were prominent locally are much reduced. The air quality here is now high, whereas 10 years ago, the same could not be said.
2 2 18070 -33.73333 135.8667 PORT LINCOLN 94660 0
3 3 21014 -33.83333 138.6333 CLARE POST OFFICE 95667 1
4 4 21043 -33.18333 138.0167 PORT PIRIE BHAS 94669 0
5 5 22807 -35.66667 137.6500 KINGSCOTE 94807 0
12 12 32025 -17.50000 146.0000 INNISFAIL 94291 0
27 27 48013 -30.10000 145.9333 BOURKE POST OFFICE 94703 0
43 43 85096 -39.23333 146.3667 WILSONS PROMONTORY LIGHTHOUSE 94893 0
45 45 90015 -38.76667 143.7333 CAPE OTWAY LIGHTHOUSE 94842 1
I know these areas, and they’d all qualify as rural.
The vast majority of those sites look reasonably rural. Some may have urban heating effects, a good number are coastal too (as is most of the australian population). If it’s inland in Australia, there’s a good chance it won’t suffer from UHI.
Steve.
Steve M, I have started a thread in the Australian WeatherZone Forums to gather information for you.
WeatherZone is by far the largest and most used weather forum in Australia, and has contributers from all over country, including many in rural areas.
Here is the thread I started:
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=006595
(added text version above just in case, as I cannot see the link below in Preview)
Urban Heat Island Effect – Australian rural sites
Steve,
So you have got CRU to list all those 1990 station locations.
The heat must have been too much, all those protests.
The Jones East Australian list of 49 looks OK to me. Will check the China and the USSR locs later.
There is a paper by Neil Plummer (et al ?) in an Australian journal (possibly Aust Met Mag), about the time of the Letter to Nature, I am surprised it was not referred to. I have seen the ref somewhere but can not put my hands on it now.
For anyone looking at my page;
http://www.warwickhughes.com/papers/90lettnat.htm
The Jones 1990 series = the Plummer series.
And for those of you looking at the “Eastern Australia temperature variations 1930-1992” paper scanned online at, which reports on a more rural set of stations than did Plummer and Jones et al 1990;
http://www.warwickhughes.com/papers/
Likewise, the Jones et al 1990 East Aust series is ref to as Plummer, while our use of Jones refers to Jones et al 1986 gridded data.
What climatology needs is the sort of effort that went into “Eastern Australia temperature variations 1930-1992”, carried out globally.
Apart from a couple of examples already mentioned (Newcastle, Port Pirie, Lismore), I think the list is pretty rural. The Cooktown post office is a lovely building ( I have a photo of it somewhere).
However there are many, many rural sites in Australia, so what was the selection criteria? Maybe someone cleverer than I can plot these sites on a map of Australia, as it seems to me that these sites are heavily weighted to Southern and Eastern Australia. This could be part of the experimental design, as most of the urban centres are in Southern and Eastern Australia
Steve
A quick scan of the list suggests the stations were basically sited at government offices in towns, such being the mind of the Sir Humphreys in the worlds various civil services.
Civil servants have never been known to live in uncivilised circumstances unless forced to by powers beyond their control.
#11
Site selection would have been based on having civil servants (public servants) reading the instruments. Using contractors during those times would have been an alien idea for quasi-socialist Australia.
The definition of rural basically means an absence of concrete, asphalt(bitumen) or other manufactured (mined) products. So towns away from the main centres of population are rural only by definition, not physical fact.
Rural to me means the Giles weather station close to Laverton in Western Australia.
In any case the whole treatment of this data statistically is flawed since Jones et al seem to have no understanding of the problems associated with crunching intensive variables, sample support, etc etc,
They are, simply, incompetent.
They are, however, extremely competent in areas I have none.
The citation for Plummer 1991 is Plummer N. 1991. Annual mean temperature anomalies over eastern Australia. Bull Aust Meterol Oceanogr Soc 4 42-44. This is 49 stations. John Daly has information on inhomogeneities at one of the lighthouses here http://www.john-daly.com/low-head.htm and an interesting letter from Plummer to Daly in 1996 about Daly’s criticism of this lighthouse record in which Plummer says that later official studies estimate inhomogeneity at this site as up to 1 deg C, that the Jones et al article did not claim that there had been any attempt to ensure inhomogeneity in the stations and that later better controlled studies confirmed warming in eastern Australia. Here’s an extended excerpt but consult the link.
Plummer’s citations were:
The obvious next step is to get the version of data used in Torok and Nichols and compare that to the Jones et al 1990 data. I haven’t foraged for this data. I won’t be doing any more work on this topic for a couple of weeks, so if anyone can locate it for me, that would be nice. Warwick might have it already.
I notice that the Australian BOM has online summary statistics for their stations e.g here. Does anyone know how to extract the underlying data?
Louis #13
I wasn’t querying the location of the sites, but rather the selection of the “rural” sites for Jones et al (2000) from the multitude (including Giles) available. Apparently Jones doesn’t know what selction criteria were employed, maybe his co-authors have a better insight.
Re: #15
Steve, could you specify exactly what data you would like out of those tables? Or, do you want the meta-data for each station(such as location, opstat etc)? I can write a scraper tonight if I know the variables you want.
Hoping contribute a little 🙂
Sinan
Steve – I recommend that you request photographs of each site, as even in rural areas, they can be poorly sited. We discuss this issue in
Davey, C.A., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2005: Microclimate exposures of surface-based weather stations – implications for the assessment of long-term temperature trends. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., Vol. 86, No. 4, 497’€”504.
Click to access R-274.pdf
Pielke Sr., R.A., C. Davey, D. Niyogi, S. Fall, J. Steinweg-Woods, K. Hubbard, X. Lin, M. Cai, Y.-K. Lim, H. Li, J. Nielsen-Gammon, K. Gallo, R. Hale, R. Mahmood, R.T. McNider, and P. Blanken, 2007: Unresolved issues with the assessment of multi-decadal global land surface temperature trends. J. Geophys. Res. in press.
Click to access R-321.pdf
Pielke Sr., R.A. J. Nielsen-Gammon, C. Davey, J. Angel, O. Bliss, M. Cai, N. Doesken, S. Fall, D. Niyogi, K. Gallo, R. Hale, K.G. Hubbard, X. Lin, H. Li, and S. Raman, 2007: Documentation of uncertainties and biases associated with surface temperature measurement sites for climate change assessment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., in press.
Click to access R-318.pdf
and
Jamiyansharav, K., D. Ojima, and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Exposure characteristics of the Mongolian weather stations. Atmospheric Science Paper No. 779, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, 75 pp.
Click to access NR-145.pdf
I’m trying to get at the underlying monthly data in a time series form. The tables themselves just contain summaries that don’t work for me. The problem is identifying a location for the underlying data.
Steve, try:
ftp://ftp.bom.gov.au/anon/home/bmrc/perm/climate
It is the most comprehensive online database available without charge from the BoM, but it only includes 100 stations.
Thanks to ‘user pays’ Govt. policies, to get their complete data set you need to buy one of their CDs:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/how/newproducts/IDCtemps.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/how/newproducts/IDCthp.shtml
– unless you can convince someone at the BoM that you deserve to get the data you want for free – I think ‘research’ purposes could qualify, but I do not know who you should contact there to get the info you need.
I hope everyone looks at Warwick’s joint paper linked in #10.
I found three things in the paper particularly interesting. One was their use of the autocorrelation in the series to suggest something about urban warming bias. The second was the apparent contrary move in temperature trend in Australia over the period 1979-1992 relative to the rest of the world. The third was the link they found between temperature changes and cloudiness.
It would seem that building on this work by updating it for the last 15 years would be a good way to proceed. I am sure that with Warwick’s intimate knowledge of the Australian data and Steve’s ability to use R to process data quickly, accurately, and using the best available techniques something quite interesting could be developed in a relatively short period of time.
Following up on #18, readers from Australia probably could contribute photographs of many of the weather stations in the data set. That might be interesting.
Maybe Warwick would consent to a “re-publication” of his paper on CA to get the ball rolling.
Jones’ research is utterly dishonest because he refuses to provide data to corroborate his results…. hell, I can do just as well with my Ouija board.
Re: #8
you say “(Poster #1 seems to have gone a little overboard on his description of >1 million people living around Nobbys. Newcastle, population-wise, is heavily centred around suburbs ~10-20km to the south-west of the port and is more of a conglomeration of small towns than a city)”
It’s certainly true that Newcastle, like most cities in Australia, is well spread out (eg, Sydney is around the same size as greater London while housing considerably less people), but in my view this would not significantly affect the UHI component. Why not? Well, that effect is generated by surface area of artificial, err, surfaces like tiled roofs, asphelted roads, concrete walkways etc. There is certainly no lack of any of that for 20km in any direction from Nobby’s (at least where there is is land, anyway 😉 ) except the odd park (admitedly, some quite large).
It’s also certainly true that if the record station is at the lighthouse, it’s probably about as free from UHI effect as would be possible in that general area. It’s in no way “rural” though – apart from state capitols, it’s hard to think of too many places in Australia that would have similar amounts of UHI generating surfaces in the general surrounding area.
Since you live nice and close, perhaps you can post some photos? Me, I live in Sydney, but I have friends at Lake Macquarie who I have seen reasonably regularly for the last 20 years or so, so I’m not *totally* ignorant of the general layout. It’s certainly changed *considerably* over that time frame – I know that many people now commute daily to Sydney from at least as far as Wyong (100km or so, I would think).
You could probably find a lot on the net already…
As an example, here’s Nobby’s lighthouse:
To have a look at the surrounds – well, there’s always Google Earth…
cheers
Arnost
#23 – I appreciate the point. I wasn’t trying to deny that it’s an urban site, just pointing out that as urban sites go it’s pretty well situated. Photos depend on what you’d need to know (since the actual site is out-of-bounds to the public). Anyway… here’s one (not mine) of the headland, from the hill >1km to the south.
Obviously the city is out of the shot, but there’s really nothing for a good 1500m or so to the west. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing to the east of Nobbys Head (except the occasional dolphin). To the north/northwest (across the harbour) there’s a small suburb and large area of swamp, edged by sand dunes. Thinking of it as quadrants… only the south-west quadrant from Nobbys is really urban, and that starts over 1.5km away. So how much UHI effect is there? Some, probably, but really I have no idea… I do magnetospheric physics, not meteorology.
Just a comment about the rural sites though… many Australian country towns have limited paved road, and buildings are generally weatherboard. It’s not like small European/North American towns that have plenty of paved surface and brick, concrete and breezeblock buildings.
The link that I tried to post did not take – sorry, here it is again
http://www.lighthouse.net.au/liGhTS/NSW/Nobbys%20Head/Nobbys%20Head.htm
cheers
Re: #26
If the temperature station is the white box on the stand in the grassy area on the right of the first picture, I wonder if they correct for altitude? According to the data, the lighthouse is 35 meters up, rather a lot more than the standard 2 meters.
As a general rule, what is the best way to distinguish between rural and urban for UHI purposes? Vegatation cover?