Monthly daily maximum temperature: ANUClimate 1.0, 0.01 degree, Australian Coverage, 1970-2016

Abstract

Mean daily maximum temperature of each month, for the Australian continent between 1970-2016. Daily temperature regulates rates of plant growth and determines critical conditions such as frost on flowering and fruiting. Modelled by expressing each monthly value as a difference anomaly with respect to the gridded 1976-2005 mean daily maximum temperature for each month as provided by ANUClimate_v1-0_temperature-max_monthly-mean_0-01deg_1976-2005. The monthly anomalies were interpolated by trivariate thin plate smoothing spline functions of longitude, latitude and vertically exaggerated elevation using ANUSPLIN Version 4.5. Monthly data values were calculated from Bureau of Meteorology daily data at stations where there were at least 25 days of record, giving an average of 634 data points per month between 1970 and 2016. Automated quality assessment rejected on average 2 data values per month with extreme studentised residuals. The root mean square of all individual cross validation residuals provided by the spline analysis is 0.73 degrees Centigrade. A comprehensive assessment of the analysis and the factors contributing to the quality of the final interpolated grids is in preparation.