Data licenses and acknowledgements

License requirements for data downloaded from this website.

The data (including climate projections), information and applications within this Climate Change in Australia website are covered by the Climate Change in Australia Terms of Use . Users should also note any limitations and acknowledgements that may be described on various website pages associated with specific data, information and applications on those pages.

This page provides a general overview of the data sources and acknowledgements for the data accessible from this website. This page also has additional acknowledgements associated with funding sources.

Acknowledgements

Funding sources

This website was originally developed (during 2013-2016) using funding from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Environment under the Regional Natural Resource Management Planning for Climate Change Fund along with funding from CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Subsequent funding for maintenance and minor updates was provided by CSIRO.

The website was given an overall update in 2020/21, going live in March 2021. This update was supported through the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, with assistance from the CSIRO Climate Resilience Enterprise initiative.

In 2025, the website was updated to provide users with access to data based on CMIP6 climate modelling. This update was supported by the Australian Climate Service.

CMIP5 data

Where climate projections data incorporating CMIP5 model data are used, an acknowledgement similar to the following should be included in your publication:

“We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme's Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP, and we thank the contributing climate modeling groups (listed at https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/availability.html) for producing and making available their model output. For CMIP the U.S. Department of Energy's Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provides coordinating support and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals.”

Full details of the required citation and acknowledgement information for use of CMIP5 model data are given here.

CMIP6 application-ready data

CMIP6 application-ready data are provided under the CC BY 4.0 license , which allows the sharing and adaptation of the data, including for commercial use. Where these data are used, an acknowledgement similar to the following should be included in your publication:

“The CMIP6 climate projections data were created by CSIRO with funding from the Australian Climate Service (a partnership between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Geoscience Australia) and with the assistance of resources from the National Computational Infrastructure (a capability enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy supported by the Australian Government). The projections data contain modified information from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) multi-model dataset. We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme, which, through its Working Group on Coupled Modelling, coordinated and promoted CMIP6. We thank the contributing climate modelling groups for producing and making available their model output, the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) for archiving the data and providing access, and the multiple funding agencies who support CMIP6 and ESGF.”

Other data sources

Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6): Gridded time series from global climate model historical and projections simulations https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/CMIP6/

Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5): Gridded time series from global climate model historical and projections simulations https://pcmdi.llnl.gov/mips/cmip5/ 

Australian Gridded Climate Data (AGCD): Gridded (0.05°) daily time series of historic data http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/austmaps/about-agcd-maps.shtml

Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP): Gridded (0.05°) daily and monthly time series historic data http://www.bom.gov.au/jshess/docs/2009/jones.pdf

Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN-SAT): Daily time series site data http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/acorn-sat/ .

Bureau of Meteorology High Quality Station Network: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/hqsites/about-hq-site-data.shtml

BARRA-R2: Gridded (0.11°) daily time series of historical data https://geonetwork.nci.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/f9057_2475_0540_0329

ERA-Interim: Gridded (0.75°) daily and monthly time series of historical data https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/dataset/ecmwf-reanalysis-interim

CSIRO Land and Water: Gridded (0.05°) data http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JHM-D-11-058.1

NRM boundaries: cluster, sub-cluster and super-cluster boundaries were created using the NRM regional boundaries available at http://www.environment.gov.au/fed/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid={44822389-732B-420D-A4C8-9A6E8A38D4EC}

Page last updated: 19^th May 2025