Drought Rainfall Definitions

Definitions for 9am and 3pm climate statistics terms

Cloud cover observations are measured in oktas (eighths). The sky is visually inspected to produce an estimate of the number of eighths of the dome of the sky covered by cloud. The presence of any trace of cloud in an otherwise blue sky is recorded as 1 okta, and similarly any trace of blue on an otherwise cloudy sky is recorded as 7.

Climate Statistics Definitions for Daily Elements other than Temperature, Rainfall, and 9am and 3pm Statistics

Definitions for common climate terms

Terms and definitions used in technical products in the Bioregional Assessment Programme, a collaboration between the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia. See http://www.bioregionalassessment.gov.au for more information about the Programme.

This glossary defines the key terms used on the Australian Network of Hydrologic Reference Stations portal.

The information presented on the Australian Landscape Water Balance website is produced by the Bureau's operational Australian Water Resources Assessment Landscape model (AWRA-L). AWRA-L is a daily 0.05° grid-based, distributed water balance model, conceptualised as a small unimpaired catchment. It simulates the flow of water through the landscape from the rainfall entering the grid cell through the vegetation and soil moisture stores and then out of the grid cell through evapotranspiration, runoff or deep drainage to the groundwater.

Terminology from the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (Geofabric) data model