Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Science talk (15+5mins)
Free-running tests with the NRI-version of the Regional Nesting Suite by Matt Lipson
Matt will focus on the difference of using BARRA-R2 vs ERA5-LAND initial conditions when running the NRI-version of the UKMO Regional Nesting Suite. He will also touch on the use of OSTIA extensions as well as go through model outputs and possible ways to convert these to netcdf.
Tech talk (15+5mins)
An introduction to ACCESS-Vis: Visualisation tools released to date and current work in progress by Owen Kaluza
Own will give a brief introduction to the ACCESS-Vis and ACCESS-Visualisation-Recipes releases. These projects aim to make rendering 3D high-res visualisations and animations easier and more accessible within the Jupyter Notebook environment.
Owen will also cover some more complex example visualisation outputs created using these tools, including a work in progress from atmospheric data sets such as AUS2200.
2025 ACCESS Workshop:Heidi Nettelbeck (5-10mins)
Plan is to have parallel science talk sessions. Co-chairs need our input of what we’d like to see in the program. Any Ideas?
Compute/storage resources - Atmosphere WG:Heidi Nettelbeck
Any Experiment proposals for Q1/2025? → 875 kSU allocation
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
Next Atmosphere WG meeting: March 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
33
Atmosphere WG meeting 19.03.2025
** For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below **
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Poll on potential training topics for ACCESS 2025 WorkshopJasmeen Kaur (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Added value of regional climate models over Australia by Christian Stassen
Regional climate models (RCMs) are intended to improve global climate model (GCM) projections by providing more detailed regional and local climate change projections. However, RCMs have their own biases and limitations. An ensemble of RCM projections, produced for the Australian Climate Service, was analysed to assess its added value in predicting extreme weather events. This work reports on the added value analysis of this CORDEX-CMIP6 ensemble, with focus on how well and where it provides better information for cold, hot, wet and dry extremes.
Tech talk: (10+5mins)
Running the ACCESS / UM for beginners by Paul Gregory
W21C has developed training materials to help the community run atmospheric experiments using the Unified Model (UM). These materials begin with basic cylc and rose tutorials, followed by a basic rose/cylc suite, and then a minimum working example of a functioning atmospheric UM suite. These materials should give new users sufficient skills and confidence to tackle the NRI-supported ACCESS suites for atmospheric experiments.
AM3 development & configurations:Martin Dix, Matt Woodhouse (5+10mins)
ACCESS-NRI update on AM3 development followed by a discussion about which AM3 configurations would be useful to the Atmosphere community.
rAM3 beta release: ACCESS-NRI configuration of the UKMO RNS (end of March). Watch this space! Heidi Nettelbeck
Compute/storage resources - Atmosphere WG:Heidi Nettelbeck
Any Experiment proposals for Q1/2025? (875 kSU allocation). Can also use for testing development of ACCESS suites.
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
To gather suggestions and ideas for potential training topics for the 2025 ACCESS-NRI Community Workshop (in Melbourne from 8-12 Sept.), the ACCESS-NRI training team has created a poll on the ACCESS-Hive Forum.
We would love to hear feedback from all community members about the training sessions they’d like to see this year!
There are 3 main ways to add or vote on the suggestions (similar to StackOverflow):
1. Choose up to 10 options from the existing options on the poll.
2. Add a new suggestion by hitting the button.
3. ↑ You can also upvote any suggestion found in the replies.
We are looking forward to meeting you at the working group meetings as well .
Please note that the poll will close on 2025-03-30T13:00:00Z.
Thanks heaps!
Jasmeen Kaur
ACCESS-NRI User Training Team
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
35
!! Reminder: Atmosphere WG meeting 19.03.2025
** For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below **
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Poll on potential training topics for ACCESS 2025 WorkshopJasmeen Kaur (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Added value of regional climate models over Australia by Christian Stassen
Regional climate models (RCMs) are intended to improve global climate model (GCM) projections by providing more detailed regional and local climate change projections. However, RCMs have their own biases and limitations. An ensemble of RCM projections, produced for the Australian Climate Service, was analysed to assess its added value in predicting extreme weather events. This work reports on the added value analysis of this CORDEX-CMIP6 ensemble, with focus on how well and where it provides better information for cold, hot, wet and dry extremes.
Tech talk: (10+5mins)
Running the ACCESS / UM for beginners by Paul Gregory
W21C has developed training materials to help the community run atmospheric experiments using the Unified Model (UM). These materials begin with basic cylc and rose tutorials, followed by a basic rose/cylc suite, and then a minimum working example of a functioning atmospheric UM suite. These materials should give new users sufficient skills and confidence to tackle the NRI-supported ACCESS suites for atmospheric experiments.
AM3 development & configurations:Martin Dix, Matt Woodhouse (5+10mins)
ACCESS-NRI update on AM3 development followed by a discussion about which AM3 configurations would be useful to the Atmosphere community.
rAM3 beta release: ACCESS-NRI configuration of the UKMO RNS (end of March). Watch this space! Heidi Nettelbeck
Compute/storage resources - Atmosphere WG:Heidi Nettelbeck
Any Experiment proposals for Q1/2025? (875 kSU allocation). Can also use for testing development of ACCESS suites.
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
Next Atmosphere WG meeting: April 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
36
Atmosphere WG meeting 30.04.2025
For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Towards enhancing climate projections through improved understanding and simulations of marine low cloudsQinggang Gao
The response of low clouds to warming is the greatest source of uncertainty in climate projections. Current global climate models at coarse resolutions struggle to represent clouds, particularly low clouds driven by shallow convection. Although global kilometer-resolution simulations may become feasible for climate projections by 2060s, higher resolution alone does not guarantee more accurate predictions. Building upon the high-resolution regional climate modelling products focused on Australia (BARRA-R2, BARRA-C2, and BARPA-C), we evaluate the added value of high-resolution simulations in representing low clouds and radiation. Our findings suggest that simulations at 4.4 km resolution, typically considered as convection-permitting, may not fully resolve the complexities of low clouds and associated shortwave radiation, leading to notable and distinct bias compared to observations. The underlying mechanisms are explored and potential pathways for improvements are discussed.
Short talk: (10mins)
W21C plansBethan White
Bethan will share a few thoughts on her initial plans as well as some longer-term priorities for her role within W21C.
ACCESS-rAM3: Beta release & future development:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
The first ACCESS-NRI supported release of ACCESS-rAM3, an implementation of the UKMO Regional Nesting Suite, is NOW AVAILABLE for you to use and test!
For more information about ACCESS-rAM3 and what you can expect to do with it, refer to the Release Information on the Hive Forum.
Momentum User Workshop 2025 (9-13 June):Charmaine Franklin (5mins)
UKMO Momentum Workshop will include a range of topics, e.g., idealised LFRic modelling workshop, regional session focussed on RAL3-LFRic, etc.
AAF authentication on ACCESS-Hive Forum:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
ACCESS-NRI has been working with Australian Access Federation (AAF) in a project to add AAF authentication to our services, allowing you to log into the Hive Forum using your institutional credentials. Please follow these instructions to add AAF authentication to your Forum account without affecting the way you currently log in.
Are there any experiment proposals for Q2/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
ACCESS-NRI’s OM3 and CM3 developments have used 40% of the quarter allocation in 15 days. Can any WGs already identify any spare capacity to transfer to ACCESS-NRI?
Next Atmosphere WG meeting:May 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
37
Beta-release of ACCESS-rAM3
Is now OUT!!
As flagged in our recent Atmosphere WG meeting, the beta-release of ACCESS-rAM3 is now available for you to use and test!
What is ACCESS-rAM3?
The ACCESS Regional Atmosphere Model (ACCESS-rAM3) is an implementation of the UKMO Regional Nesting Suite. It is configured to derive its initial and lateral boundary conditions from ERA5. For its land-surface initial conditions, ACCESS-rAM3 offers flexibility by allowing the use of alternative datasets, such as ERA5-Land and BARRA-R2.
For more information about ACCESS-rAM3 and what you can expect to do with it, refer to the Release Information on the ACCESS-Hive Forum.
You can also visit the ACCESS-Hive Docs for more information about the model configuration and how to run ACCESS-rAM3.
2 Likes
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
38
!!Reminder: Atmosphere WG meeting 30.04.2025
For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Towards enhancing climate projections through improved understanding and simulations of marine low cloudsQinggang Gao
The response of low clouds to warming is the greatest source of uncertainty in climate projections. Current global climate models at coarse resolutions struggle to represent clouds, particularly low clouds driven by shallow convection. Although global kilometer-resolution simulations may become feasible for climate projections by 2060s, higher resolution alone does not guarantee more accurate predictions. Building upon the high-resolution regional climate modelling products focused on Australia (BARRA-R2, BARRA-C2, and BARPA-C), we evaluate the added value of high-resolution simulations in representing low clouds and radiation. Our findings suggest that simulations at 4.4 km resolution, typically considered as convection-permitting, may not fully resolve the complexities of low clouds and associated shortwave radiation, leading to notable and distinct bias compared to observations. The underlying mechanisms are explored and potential pathways for improvements are discussed.
Short talk: (10mins)
W21C plansBethan White
Bethan will share a few thoughts on her initial plans as well as some longer-term priorities for her role within W21C.
ACCESS-rAM3: Supported release & future development:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
The first ACCESS-NRI supported release of ACCESS-rAM3, an implementation of the UKMO Regional Nesting Suite, is NOW AVAILABLE for you to use and test!
For more information about ACCESS-rAM3 and what you can expect to do with it, refer to the Release Information on the Hive Forum.
AAF authentication on ACCESS-Hive Forum:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
ACCESS-NRI has been working with Australian Access Federation (AAF) in a project to add AAF authentication to our services, allowing you to log into the Hive Forum using your institutional credentials. Please follow these instructions to add AAF authentication to your Forum account without affecting the way you currently log in.
Momentum User Workshop 2025 (9-13 June):Charmaine Franklin (5mins)
UKMO Momentum Workshop will include a range of topics, e.g., idealised LFRic modelling workshop, regional session focussed on RAL3-LFRic, etc.
Are there any experiment proposals for Q2/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
ACCESS-NRI’s OM3 and CM3 developments have used 40% of the quarter allocation in 15 days. Can any WGs already identify any spare capacity to transfer to ACCESS-NRI?
Desired metrics for evaluation for AM3:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
What standard metrics should we be tracking during development?
Next Atmosphere WG meeting:May 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
39
Atmosphere WG meeting 04.06.2025
For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Supported reference datasets update:Clare Richards (15mins)
Clare will give an update on supported reference datasets on Gadi that are relevant to our Atmosphere community. She would also like to obtain a final decision on the requests that were for the BOM datasets/collections already on Gadi (AGCD, Operational Radar, BARRA1 and 2).
ACCESS Workshop 2025 (8-12 September):Heidi Nettelbeck, Paige Martin (15mins)
Compute/storage resources:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Any experiment proposals for Q2/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
Next Atmosphere WG meeting:July 2025
1 Like
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
40
!! Reminder: Atmosphere WG meeting 04.06.2025
For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Supported reference datasets update:Clare Richards (15mins)
Clare will give an update on supported reference datasets on Gadi that are relevant to our Atmosphere community. She would also like to obtain a final decision on the requests that were for the BOM datasets/collections already on Gadi (AGCD, Operational Radar, BARRA1 and 2).
ACCESS Workshop 2025 (8-12 September):Heidi Nettelbeck, Paige Martin (15mins)
Compute/storage resources:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Any experiment proposals for Q2/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
Next Atmosphere WG meeting:July 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
41
Atmosphere WG meeting 23.07.2025
** For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below **
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Exploring regional LFRic simulations for Australian case studiesCharmaine Franklin, Ian White, Vinod Kumar and Belinda Roux
The BoM is testing the next-generation regional model (LFRic) to assess its performance under Australian conditions. This effort supports the development of a research-ready regional configuration that integrates the latest science from the third version of the Regional Atmosphere and Land (RAL3) configuration, with the LFRic infrastructure and the GungHo dynamical core; all key components of the UK Met Office (UKMO)'s Next Generation Modelling System. This talk will highlight some key results from the BoM’s early assessment of RAL3-LFRic for both the Melbourne and Darwin domains run at 1.5km horizontal resolution. This is performed as part of a broader collaboration with the UKMO. Significant technical work has enabled side-by-side comparisons between RAL3-LFRic, and the current UKMO Unified Model also configured with RAL3 (RAL3-UM). An important focus has been on understanding model behaviour and performance in capturing Australian weather conditions. Case studies run and analysed include high-impact weather events that have occurred over Australia in recent years: tropical cyclone Tiffany in 2022, a frontal system that brought widespread heavy rainfall and damaging winds in June 2021, and heat waves in 2020 and 2025. Such case studies provide the basis for evaluating the readiness of RAL3-LFRic for Australian applications.
Short talk: (10+2mins)
Towards a climatology of sea breezes around Australia from high-resolution atmospheric model dataAndrew Brown
The sea breeze circulation is a mesoscale atmospheric process that can be important for human health and offshore wind energy, while also potentially providing a source of convective initiation in coastal regions. The importance of the sea breeze has resulted in many climatological studies around the world, including in Australia. However, these climatologies are limited to small regions due to having a specific sea breeze definition for a particular coastline of interest. This includes assuming a fixed direction, timing, and intensity for the local sea breeze circulation. Andrew will discuss development and testing of general sea breeze detection methods that can be applied to any coastline and model data. An accepted method for sea breeze detection from model data does not yet exist, to his knowledge, in the literature. He will also present spatial maps of Australian sea breeze occurrences based on several candidate methods applied to 6 months of atmospheric model datasets, including a high-resolution km-scale configuration of ACCESS, and a regional and global reanalysis (BARRA and ERA5).
Atmosphere WG annual meeting on Friday 12 September.
Do you have agenda/discussion ideas?
RAL-LFRic discussion session?
ACCESS-NRI Visualisation Project - Call for EOI:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
ACCESS-NRI is inviting expressions of interest from domain experts and researchers who would like to collaborate on a 3-month visualisation project. We’re offering technical support and expert guidance to help you bring your science to life. See here for more details.
Compute/storage resources:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Any experiment proposals for Q3/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
Next Atmosphere WG meeting:August 2025
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
42
2025 ACCESS Workshop - Scholarships for students and ECRs
Are you a student or Early Career Researcher interested in climate and weather science and modelling? Join us at the 2025 ACCESS Community Workshop! Connect with other researchers using the same models and tools as you and discover new software tools that could transform your research!**
The ACCESS Community Workshop will take place 8-12 September 2025 in Melbourne and we are welcoming students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to contribute and attend. The Workshop takes place over 4 days: 2 days of presentations, 1 training day, and 1 day devoted to specific domain working groups (Land Surface, Machine learning for Climate and Weather, Atmosphere, Ocean and Sea ice, Cryosphere and Earth System modeling).
Scholarships are available to support ECR/student travel and attendance via the abstract submission. Applications close 22 June 2025.See here for more information
heidi
(Heidi Nettelbeck, ACCESS-NRI Atmosphere Modelling Team Lead)
43
!! Reminder: Atmosphere WG meeting 23.07.2025
For a calendar invite, simply click on the relevant calendar link below
Admin: Volunteer for taking today’s meeting minutes to post here on the Forum.
Brief update from WG co-chairs and ACCESS-NRI:Yi Huang, Charmaine Franklin, Matt Woodhouse, Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Science talk: (15+5mins)
Exploring regional LFRic simulations for Australian case studiesCharmaine Franklin, Ian White, Vinod Kumar and Belinda Roux
The BoM is testing the next-generation regional model (LFRic) to assess its performance under Australian conditions. This effort supports the development of a research-ready regional configuration that integrates the latest science from the third version of the Regional Atmosphere and Land (RAL3) configuration, with the LFRic infrastructure and the GungHo dynamical core; all key components of the UK Met Office (UKMO)'s Next Generation Modelling System. This talk will highlight some key results from the BoM’s early assessment of RAL3-LFRic for both the Melbourne and Darwin domains run at 1.5km horizontal resolution. This is performed as part of a broader collaboration with the UKMO. Significant technical work has enabled side-by-side comparisons between RAL3-LFRic, and the current UKMO Unified Model also configured with RAL3 (RAL3-UM). An important focus has been on understanding model behaviour and performance in capturing Australian weather conditions. Case studies run and analysed include high-impact weather events that have occurred over Australia in recent years: tropical cyclone Tiffany in 2022, a frontal system that brought widespread heavy rainfall and damaging winds in June 2021, and heat waves in 2020 and 2025. Such case studies provide the basis for evaluating the readiness of RAL3-LFRic for Australian applications.
Short talk: (10+2mins)
Towards a climatology of sea breezes around Australia from high-resolution atmospheric model dataAndrew Brown
The sea breeze circulation is a mesoscale atmospheric process that can be important for human health and offshore wind energy, while also potentially providing a source of convective initiation in coastal regions. The importance of the sea breeze has resulted in many climatological studies around the world, including in Australia. However, these climatologies are limited to small regions due to having a specific sea breeze definition for a particular coastline of interest. This includes assuming a fixed direction, timing, and intensity for the local sea breeze circulation. Andrew will discuss development and testing of general sea breeze detection methods that can be applied to any coastline and model data. An accepted method for sea breeze detection from model data does not yet exist, to his knowledge, in the literature. He will also present spatial maps of Australian sea breeze occurrences based on several candidate methods applied to 6 months of atmospheric model datasets, including a high-resolution km-scale configuration of ACCESS, and a regional and global reanalysis (BARRA and ERA5).
Atmosphere WG annual meeting on Friday 12 September
Need your input on agenda/discussion ideas
- RAL-LFRic discussion session?
ACCESS-NRI Visualisation Project - Call for EOI:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
ACCESS-NRI is inviting expressions of interest from domain experts and researchers who would like to collaborate on a 3-month visualisation project. We’re offering technical support and expert guidance to help you bring your science to life. See here for more details.
Compute/storage resources:Heidi Nettelbeck (5mins)
Any experiment proposals for Q3/2025 (875 kSU allocation)?
→ See here for how to apply for Atmosphere WG Resources.
AUS2200 input files:Paul Gregory (1min)
Paul wants to run AUS2200 for a few hours to benchmark the I/O performance. If anyone has any stored input files (ancils, LBCs, grib start-dumps etc) could they please contact him.
on the ACCESS-Hive Forum.
We would love to hear feedback from all community members about the training sessions they’d like to see this year!
Choose up to 10 options from the existing options on the poll.
Add a new suggestion by hitting the 
button.
.
Beta-release of ACCESS-rAM3