Satellite upgrades will boost Australian weather predictions

AUSTRALIA has struck a deal to access weather data from Japanese and Chinese satellites.

AUSTRALIA has struck a deal to take weather data from Japanese and Chinese satellites.

And when the Bureau of Meteorology’s Melbourne ­supercomputer comes online in the next few years, it should allow accurate weather forecasts down to areas just 6km wide.

It would also be more accurate at predicting severe events such as cyclones or wind changes that can affect bushfires.

Bureau director Rob Vertessy said it would be like moving from a black and white television to a HD colour TV.

“From mid next year people will see big changes,” Dr Vertessy said.

Forecasts that extended from three days to seven a decade ago are likely to move out to nine and 10 days.

The popular radar will be overhauled for online users to obtain a real-time view of ­developing weather anywhere in the country.

Weather scientists are also experimenting with a lightning tracker.

Without our own weather satellites and a huge land mass with few people, Australia ­relies heavily on foreign satellites for weather observations.

Japan launched its Himawari-8 satellite in October and China is launching the Fengyun-4 in 2016.

Dr Vertessy said the ­bureau’s new supercomputer would allow scientists to process the streams of new data 20-40 times faster than at present. But even so, the bureau would still not get every forecast right.

“You can’t be 100 per cent accurate but we can confidently say we are rarely caught out,” he said.

Dr Vertessy admitted the bureau had “room for ­improvement” with its seasonal outlooks, which would greatly benefit farmers.

He said better computer modelling, advances in the science of seasonal prediction and better observations were the keys to improvements.