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Asia-Pacific Applied Science Associates routinely provide forecast meteorological,
hydrodynamic and wave data for Oil Spill Response, Search and Rescue and marine operations.
These forecasts are compiled from a wide range of sources and include predictions prepared
by third parties, such as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, together with enhanced
data prepared by APASA.
- Short Range Forecast - This forecast uses high resolution wind model forecasts provided by BOM for a 48 hour period from the forecast time, which are updated every 12 hours. Being a short term forecast, it is considered more reliable than the alternative long range forecasts. The BOM wind model also more accurately predicts the variability in wind speed and direction in nearshore waters. Tidal data is drawn from global model predictions for the area of concern, and offshore wave conditions are derived from the NOAA NWW3 forecast provided by NOAA.
- Long Range Forecast - The long range forecast uses identical tide and wave data as the Short Range Forecast, with wind data drawn from the NCEP GFS data set, which is updated every 6 hours. This wind data set is relatively coarse spatially, with data points around 100 km apart, and considered less accurate for inshore coastal waters. However, the advantage of the data set is the longer range in the forecast, typically 7 days ahead of the forecast time, which provides a reasonable guide to longer term trends.
This forecast series runs as a subset of our Western Australian forecast system, and has been tailored to provide information relevant to the Perth Metropolitan Coastal Waters. The forecasts are prepared for a coastal region from Binningup to Two Rocks, extending more than 30 nautical miles offshore of Rottnest Island.
Two forecast sets are presented:
