Northern Territory to benefit from improved radar images with the Gove Radar replacement project now complete

07/07/2023

Issued: Friday, 7 July 2023

Communities in the East Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory will benefit from more reliable and up-to-date weather information thanks to the completion of the new Gove Weather Radar. Images from the upgraded radar are now live on the Bureau of Meteorology's website or the BOM Weather app.

Bureau Senior Officer for the Northern Territory, Jude Scott, said the new dual-polarised Doppler radar helps forecasters observe rainfall and wind conditions in real time across large areas.

"The Gove weather radar will provide better image resolution, better visibility of weather systems and less image interference," she said.

"It will improve the image resolution between rain and hail, and it will show higher quality images during intense rain and storms.

The upgraded radar will benefit communities, emergency services and local industry across East Arnhem Land."

Radar data feeds into the Bureau's models and forecasts to deliver better:

• Rainfall and flood warnings.
• Estimates of accumulated rainfall and stored soil moisture.
• Short-term forecasts of rainfall and severe weather.

Radars are part of a comprehensive weather observation network of more than 11,000 assets including satellites, upper atmosphere monitoring, automatic weather stations, ocean buoys and flood warning networks. This observation network enables the following:

• Communities and industry to make better decisions when preparing for severe weather.
• Farming businesses to make timely decisions, such as movement of stock, chemical and fertiliser application, sowing and harvesting.
• Increases forecast accuracy every year.

The project is part of the Bureau's ongoing work to enhance and improve the Australian radar and observation network.

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