Australia’s Environment Explorer: data description and download

National-scale, comprehensive information on the condition and trajectory of our environment.

 

Disclaimer

Australia’s Environment Explorer is made possible through open data sharing by CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, TERN AusCover, ECMWF, NASA and Google. The material provided through this website is experimental and derived through active research. The Australian National University does not have a legislated role in providing authoritative information. All information is made available on the understanding that it does not constitute professional advice. Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. Links to other websites do not constitute an endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated organisation, product or service.

Data access and format

All gridded data can be accessed and downloaded via NCI’s THREDDS service in NetCDF4 format. If you are familiar with these then you can directly access our data catalogue. You can find annual files with data at the highest temporal and spatial time step available. To access the gridded annual maps you can also follow the Direct Download Links below. If you are not familiar with the NCI THREDDS you can find a good description here. Various software packages have native or external utilities to read NetCDF format, including QGIS, ArcGIS (instructions here), Matlab, Python, and ENVI/IDL. You can find a partial (if somewhat dated) list of processing and viewing software here.

Available data

Name	Land use
Description	Broad land use category, derived from the Catchment Land Use Mapping program
Data creator	ABARES
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	ABARES: Catchment Scale Land Use of Australia – Update September 2017, in, ABARES, Canberra, 2017. (link to reference)
Resolution	Original 50 m data was reclassified and resampled to 1/2000th (~50m) and 1/400th degree (~250 m).
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	The fraction of each broad land use category is available via THREDDS (link), look for LandUse in file name

Name	Exposed soil
Description	Annual mean percentage of soil unprotected by living vegetation or litter, derived from CSIRO mapping based on NASA MODIS imagery by the OzWALD model-data fusion system.
Data creator	CSIRO/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for BS in file name)

Name	Snow cover
Description	Annual mean fraction snow cover, derived from NASA MODIS imagery by the OzWALD model-data fusion system.
Data creator	ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for SN in filename)

Name	Water extent
Description	Annual maximum water extent, derived from NASA MODIS imagery and Geoscience Australia’s Water Observations from Space mapping by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	GA/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for OW in filename)

Name	Leaf area index
Description	Annual mean leaf area, derived from the NASA MODIS-based LAI product by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	NASA/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for LAI in filename)

Name	Persistent cover
Description	Annual persistent cover fraction, derived from CSIRO mapping of MODIS satellite imagery by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	CSIRO/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for PV in filename)

Name	Minimum temperature
Description	Minimum screen-level temperature, derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data downscaled by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	ECMWF/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Tmin in filename)

Name	Frost days
Description	Number of days with below-zero screen-level temperature, derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data downscaled by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	ECMWF/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series of Tmin for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Tmin in filename)

Name	Maximum temperature
Description	Annual maximum screen-level temperature, derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data downscaled by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	ECMWF/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Tmax in filename)

Name	Hot days
Description	Number of days with high (>35 oC) screen-level temperature, derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data downscaled by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	ECMWF/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series of Tmax for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Tmax in filename

Name	Fire frequency
Description	Average frequency of fire mapped at 2.5 km resolution, derived from Geoscience Australias Sentinel system
Data creator	GA
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/40th degree (~2.5 km)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Nhotspots in filename)

Name	Fire carbon emission
Description	Annual emission of carbon from wildfire, derived from ECMWFs Global Fire Assimilation System v1.2
Data creator	ECMWF
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/10th degree (~10 km)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for BurntCarbon in filename)

Name	Rainfall
Description	Total annual precipitation, derived from BoM station data and GPM satellite data by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	BoM/NASA/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/20th degree (~5 km)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Pg in filename)

Name	River inflow
Description	Total surface and subsurface runoff into the river, estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	BoM/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Qtot in filename)

Name	Soil water availability
Description	Average amount of water stored in the soil profile during the year, estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	BoM/ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for Ssoil in filename)

Name	Vegetation carbon uptake
Description	Gross primary production, the amount of carbon taken up by the vegetation through photosynthesis, as estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system
Data creator	ANU
Data license	Creative Commons by Attribution (CC BY 3.0 AU – link).
Reference	Van Dijk, Albert. I.J.M., Summers, David (2016) Australia’s Environment Explorer, The Australian National University (http://www.ausenv.online) DOI: 10.4225/41/5934faf27397b
Resolution	1/200th degree (~500 m)
Annual data	Direct download (start) or via THREDDS (link). File contains all years in the record.
Other data forms	Annual summary metrics (minimum, maximum, mean and sum) and time series for individual years via THREDDS (link), look for GPP in filename)