Australian ATC towers; do they have their own met instruments?

[Cirronimbus]

Hello.

I am curious about a statement made in another thread at DG&P General Aviation & Questions; Use of QFE in Australia (post 24 refers). The poster suggested that ATC towers in Australia use their own met instruments and do not rely on the Met guys for anything other than metars and TAFs. The post started because I was concerned about the way the Met guys in Darwin measure air pressure. They use a barometer inside an airconditioned office on the first floor to obtain pressure. They also report QFE as being equal to that particular pressure (first floor in aircon). This is wrong. However, if the ATC people have their own instruments maybe it doesn't matter.

Can anyone tell me if Air Traffic Controllers in Australia (and in particular, Darwin) use their own barometers or do they rely on the Bureau of Met data?

Thanks,

Cn

[No Further Requirements]

As far as I can remember in Darwin, the TWR has their own barometer which is corrected for QNH and the data is taken at the met station either just near the ARP or at the balloon release met office on the airport. TAFs and METARs are used for information, but the stuff on the ATIS comes from the information piped to the TWR in real time.

Hope that helps - been a few years since I was up there.

Cheers,

NFR.

[Awol57]

Here at Jandakot we have QNH, Temp (dry and wet bulb) and wind information displayed to us which is derived from BoM equipment in the middle of the field.

Other data (ie cloud height) comes from METARs and the TAFs.

The same is true at Perth Tower, though they have more wind selections available to them.