Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

 
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Brisbane's Upgraded Marburg Radar Now Live

17/11/2023

Images from the upgraded Brisbane (Marburg) weather radar in south-east Queensland are now live on the Bureau of Meteorology's website and the BOM Weather app.

The new dual-polarised Doppler radar is a tool for observing rainfall and wind conditions in real time across large areas.

Bureau Chief Customer Officer Dr Peter Stone said the Marburg weather radar will provide better image resolution, better visibility of weather systems and less image interference.

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

"At the Bureau, we use radars to monitor storms, including movement and severity, when issuing severe storm warnings. Any improvements to radars, especially in areas susceptible to severe storms like South-East Queensland, helps us issue warnings and keep the public informed and safe."

The upgraded radar is located on the Little Liverpool Range between Marburg and Rosewood 53 km west of the Brisbane. It will benefit communities, emergency services and local industry across the major centres of Greater Brisbane, Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, Gold and Sunshine Coasts, and surrounding areas.

  • Radars collect data to feed into our 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
  • hail location and strength of wind changes.

Radars are a key part of our observation network, including satellites, upper atmosphere observations and automatic weather stations, which:

  • enable industry to make better decisions when preparing for severe
  • help farming businesses make timely decisions, such as movement of stock, chemical and fertiliser application, and sowing and harvesting
  • increase forecast accuracy every year.

The Marburg radar is one 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.

These projects are part of the Bureau's ongoing work to enhance and improve the Australian radar and observation network.

ENDS...