Friday 3 August
BLUElink ocean forecasts now online

BLUElink, a $15m joint development by the CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology and Royal Australian Navy, is now producing one-week forecasts of ocean temperatures, currents and salinity around Australia. Links are located on the Marine Forecasts page.

Wednesday 4 July
New and updated satellite image links

New and updated links on the satellite image links page:

• Probably the best suite of satellite images currently available are these 1km visible, 4km infrared and water vapour images from Brisbane Storm Chasers. They are based on NPMOC Yokohama images (see next entry) and offer animations, a 14-day archive and - in the case of the high resolution visible images - many state and regional sub-images. (04/07/07)
• A full suite of current satellite images and loops for Australia and the Western Pacific (including Australia) from the US Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Centre in Japan: IR, enhanced IR, visible light and water vapour, together with the latest high resolution visible imagery. (04/07/07)
• Current QuikSCAT winds derived from satellite measurements from NOAA Marine Observing Systems. Click the map to zoom in. (04/07/07)

Thursday 21 June
More information in AWN's AWS reports

The automatic weather station (AWS) reports available on AWN's current weather menu now carry additional information on cloud cover and weather. It is given at the end of each report in an abbreviated form that will look familiar to pilots, because this visual information is critical to aviation. Help in interpreting the information is here, or can be accessed from the map access pages. At many airports, a Bureau staff member feeds this additional information into the AWS data before it is sent off. However, many AWSs are now equipped with sensors that allow them to make a good estimate of visibility and cloud cover, while some aspects of the weather can be deduced from the observations. AWSs at smaller airports and locations critical for aviation are progressively being equipped with these sensors.

Wednesday 13 June
Updates to computer forecast models links page

AWN's list of websites that carry computer forecast model graphics for Australia has been completely revamped, and now carries many more listings. There are details of the models carried on each site, how often they are updated, how far out the site graphics forecast and how many steps are shown per day, as well as notes on the products and how to use them. The new page can be accessed from the green menu band on any of the forecast pages, as well as here, and there is another new page that briefly describes all available models and has links to technical information about them.

Thursday 8 March
Changes to radar and lightning images

A radar mosaic from the Bureau covering the whole continent is now in use on the Current summary page and the Radar & Lightning access page. The image is updated hourly. There have been some changes to the lightning images on these pages, too, resulting from site changes at the World Wide Lightning Location Network.

Sunday 25 February
Additions to AWN's mobile phone service

Larger screens and faster data downloading on many new phones now make it possible to receive basic weather graphics, so AWN's mobile phone site is adding radar and a simple set of charts to its forecast and observation service. Static radar images -- both high scale (128km radius) and low scale (256km radius) -- are available for all areas, and there is a basic set of current and forecast charts. There are also satellite cloud images and a simple lightning tracker. Your phone will probably try to shrink these onto its screen, but look around for a "desktop" or similar option that allows you to view them full size by moving around using left/right/up/down arrows if these are provided on your keypad. The mobile service is here.