ACCESS-C: Australian Convective-Scale NWP with Hourly 4D-Var Data Assimilation

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently upgraded its convection-allowing numerical weather prediction system, known as the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-C). ACCESS-C includes seven domains covering major population centers, nested inside the Bureau's global NWP system. The upgrade included the introduction of data assimilation, with hourly cycling 4D-Var. With a much newer version of the Unified Model to provide the forecast, a range of storm attribute diagnostics to improve forecasting of severe weather events could be introduced. This paper details the configuration of the new version of ACCESS-C. Some verification compared with its predecessor (a downscaling system of comparable resolution) is presented. Of greater note is an exploration of the differences in the model characteristics between the new and old systems, which will affect how users interpret the outputs.