File Formats and Samples
Point datasets
A continuous daily time series of data at either recording stations or grid points across Australia.
Point datasets are available in a range of fixed and customisable formats. The fixed formats are tailored for use in popular models and decision support systems. They are described below. Users can also create their own customised format by selecting the variables they require and the preferred layout (CSV or JSON).
| Data format | Description | Sample Data |
|
Standard (Standard) API format: standard |
Format is widely used for biophysical modelling. It provides data for: daily rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature, pan evaporation, solar radiation, vapour pressure, and relative humidity at the times of maximum and minimum temperature. | Station Grid point |
|
Standard including FAO56 reference evapotranspiration (short crop ETo) (FAO56 Penman-Monteith for short crops) API format: fao56 |
Similar to the Standard format, but also includes potential evapotranspiration (ETo). The ETo estimates are calculated using the FAO Penman-Monteith formula with a default wind value of 2 m/s. The Penman-Monteith formula also requires radiation as an input. Radiation is derived from cloud oktas and hours of sunshine duration using the procedure documented in Zajaczkowski et al.(2013). Note: This is a short crop version of the Penman-Monteith equation. As per Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), paper “Crop evapotranspiration – Guidelines for computing water requirements – FAO Irrigation and drainage paper 56. see our References section for further information. |
Station Grid point |
|
APSIM (APSIM model) API format: apsim |
Format is for use with the Agricultural Production Simulator (APSIM). | Station Grid point |
|
P51 (P51 for GRASP and MEDLI models) API format: p51 |
Format is for use with the Grass Production (GRASP) model and the Model for Effluent Disposal and Land Irrigation (MEDLI) V2 model. Note: this format is used by many biophysical modellers as it contains the core variables in a mimimal format. |
Station Grid point |
|
RAINMAN Streamflow 4.3 (RAINMAN) API format: rainman |
Format is for use with the RAINMAN application. It provides data for rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures, Class A pan evaporation, vapour pressure and solar radiation. The data for each variable are in separate files. It also includes instructions in a Readme text file. If a RAINMAN dataset is requested via the web interface, all 7 files are returned in a single .zip file. If users wish to request RAINMAN data via the API, they need to request each file individually. For further information, see our API Tutorial and Reference. |
Station Grid point |
|
Rainfall only (Rain Only) API format: rainonly |
Format contains daily rainfall; data are not provided for any other variable. | Station Grid point |
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Standard including ASCE reference evapotranspiration (tall crop ETo) (ASCE Penman-Monteith for tall crops) API format: ascepm |
Similar to the Standard format, but also includes potential evapotranspiration (ETo). The ETo estimates are calculated using the ASCE Penman-Monteith formula with a default wind value of 2 m/s. The Penman-Monteith formula also requires radiation as an input. Radiation is derived from cloud oktas and hours of sunshine duration using the procedure documented in Zajaczkowski et al.(2013). Note: This is a version of Penman-Monteith designed for taller crops by the American Society of Civil Engineers. See our References section for further information. |
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Monthly (Monthly summary) API format: monthly |
Format provides: (i) monthly totals for rainfall and evaporation; and (ii) monthly means for maximum and minimum temperatures, solar radiation and vapour pressure. | Station Grid point |
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Morton's (All Morton hydrological evapotranspirations) API format: allmort |
Similar to the Standard format, but also includes Morton's estimates of the following: (i) evaporation over shallow lakes; (ii) potential evapotranspiration over land; (iii) actual evapotranspiration over land; and (iv) wet environment areal evapotranspiration over land. | Station Grid point |
|
Evaporation* (Synthetic pan before 1970, pan evaporation after 1970) API format: evap_span |
Similar to the Standard format, but includes an additional column (denoted Evap_Sp) containing either: (i) a synthetic estimate of pan evaporation (1/1/1889 to 31/12/1969); or (ii) observed (or patched) Class A pan evaporation (1/1/1970 to present). | Station Grid point |
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Evaporation* (Synthetic pan comparison) API format: span |
Similar to the Standard format, but includes an additional column containing a synthetic estimate of pan evaporation (1/1/1889 to present). This format differs from the "Evaporation combination" format in that all data in the additional column (denoted Span) are synthetic estimates. | Station Grid point |
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CenW Forest Growth Model (CenW Forest Growth model) API format: cenw |
Format is for use with the CenW Forest Growth Model. | Station Grid point |
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Programmer's data for comparison with ASCE Reference Evapotranspiration (Comparison including ASCE-PM) API format: all2016 |
Similar to the “Programmer's data for comparison” format, but also includes the ASCE’s tall crop estimate of potential evapotranspiration (ETo). |
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Programmer's data for comparison (Comparison) API format: alldata |
Format contains most variables provided by SILO: the default variables included in the Standard format as well as:
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Station Grid point |
| Point data are also available in customisable CSV and JSON formats: | ||
| JSON | Contains data for only those variables selected by the user. | Station Grid point |
| CSV | Contains data for only those variables selected by the user. | Station Grid point |
* Please note, evaporation data are provided with a day-shift applied. For example: evaporation data for 31/01/2017 were actually reported on 01/02/2017 (day after). The shift to the previous day is applied because most (15 hours) of the recorded evaporation occurs in the previous day (measurement is taken at 9 am). The day-shift is applied to the Patched Point Data and Grid point formats and also to the evaporation combination format (with the use of synthetic evaporation data). However, the observed evaporation data (class A pan) are interpolated without a day-shift applied and gridded datasets are not day-shifted.
Many of the data formats share a common structure consisting of two blocks of information:
1. Descriptive block.
Several formats include a header describing the data. The metadata in the header is structured as follows:
- All lines start with a double quote ("), or exclamation mark (!)
- There are two sub-sections:
- Information for spreadsheet users (approximately 7 lines of text). The first line contains dummy data to enable a spread sheet program to sense the data format; and
- Information about the data requested: Approximately 20 lines of text containing:
- For DataDrill datasets:
i. the latitude and longitude of the location; and
ii. the user supplied reference (a single word, up to 10 characters long). - For Patched Point datasets:
i. the station details, including the latitude and longitude - The elevation at the location of interest
- The date that the data were extracted from the database; an
- A link to the SILO webpage where the user can find documentation and notices.
- For DataDrill datasets:
2. Data block
The data block typically contains:
- A line containing a label for each column of data appearing in the data block. The column titles are space separated, one word per data column. The line is of the form:
Date Variable_1 Variable_1_Source Variable_2 Variable_2_Source ··· Variable_n Variable_n_Source
where Variable_n_Source is the source code for variable n. - A line containing the units for each column of data. The units are space separated, one word per data column, and are enclosed in parentheses ().
- Lines of data. Each line starts with a date in yyyymmdd format. Therefore the first character is a 1 or 2. The data block continues to the end of the file i.e. there is no 'marker' to signify the end.
Gridded datasets
Gridded daily climate surfaces which have been derived either by splining or kriging the observational data.
The data are provided in NetCDF and GeoTiff formats. NetCDF datasets are arranged in annual blocks, where each file contains all of the daily grids for a given year and variable (or 12 monthly grids in the case of monthly rainfall). GeoTiff datasets contain a single daily grid in each file (or a single monthly grid in the case of monthly rainfall).
Examples demonstrating how the NetCDF data can be viewed, manipulated and analysed are provided on the gridded data page.
