The work is being conducted through the More Robust Weather Station Network to Support Climate Resilience project, led by Riverine Plains, which recently received grant funding from the Federal Government.
Riverine Plains project officer Kate Coffey said on-farm weather stations and soil moisture probe technologies were important tools for farmers planning weather-sensitive operations such as sowing, spraying, harvesting or irrigation scheduling.
“Official Bureau of Meteorology weather stations can be located up to 200km apart, so to fill-in the gaps, farmers often install on-farm weather stations to monitor temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall and soil moisture in real-time on their farms,” Ms Coffey said.
“Because these on-farm weather stations and soil moisture probes are networked and installed across a wide area, there is potential to harness them to better support existing Bureau of Meteorology stations and expand their usefulness to help communities prepare for climatic events such as fire and flood.”
Riverine Plains and its project partners collectively manage a network of more than 80 on-farm weather stations and soil moisture probes across southern Australia.
“Working alongside our farming system group partners means the project has the potential to overcome some of the existing barriers to sharing climate data, so that it can be accessed by a wider audience and create better outcomes for emergency management,” Ms Coffey said.
“We are also looking at ways to improve accessibility by combining these separate networks into a single platform, while ensuring data is collected and presented in a way that meets the needs of users.”
The project will also look at long-term funding for the sites and will investigate alternative ways to transmit data where mobile coverage is poor.
“With a warming climate likely to increase the frequency and severity of extreme climatic events, having greater public access to existing on-farm weather station networks could really help communities and emergency services identify and manage high risk situations,” Ms Coffey said.
“This could be especially important when rapidly drying fuel loads may increase the fire risk or when saturated soils might increase the risk of flooding, or when a fire or flood is under way and communities or emergency services need more information.”
For further information, phone Kate Coffey on 5744 1713 or email: kate@riverplains.org.au
To access the Riverine Plains’ network of weather stations and soil moisture probes, visit: https://riverineplains.org.au/riverine-plains-soil-moisture-probe-weather-station-network/
MEETING AND GREETING
Riverine Plains will hold its AGM on Friday, October 28 at 6pm on the lake, behind the Royal Hotel in Mulwala.
A barbecue will follow, which Riverine Plains chief executive officer Cath Marriott said all members, affiliates, student members and partners were welcome to come along to, whether they attended the AGM or not.
All food and drinks will be provided.
The group is also offering members (depending on resources):
– Drone photos of your farm to assess flood damage.
– Funding application support for flood relief.
More information: https://email.riverineplains.org.au
