About Warruwi Radar

The Warruwi radar was built as part of the Strategic Radar Enhancement Project (SREP) which aimed to close significant gaps in the existing radar coverage for Australia by delivering four new radars across the country.

Geographical Situation

The radar location is on South Goulburn Island which is located in the Arafura Sea, off the West Arnhem Land coast and East of the Coburg Peninsula, 290km North East of Darwin and 380km West of Gove. The Warruwi people are the traditional owners of the Goulburn Islands.

Meteorological Aspects

The radar provides more comprehensive coverage for tropical cyclone and monsoon monitoring. The location was chosen to improve coverage in the meteorologically active north coast area of the Northern Territory, linking up with the coverage currently afforded by the Gove and Darwin (Berrimah) radars. The radar gives much better coverage for West Arnhem communities including Minjilang, Murganella, Oenpelli, Warruwi, and Maningrida.

Non-meteorological aspects

In most cases, processing of the radar signal removes permanent echoes caused by hills, building and other solid objects, but sometimes a few slip through. These usually show up as small, stationary or erratically moving specks, mostly over higher ground to the south. Heavy rain over the radar site will cause attenuation of all signals. Path attenuation also occurs when the radar beam passes through an intense thunderstorm cell; the returned signal from cells further along that path will be reduced. In strong winds and very rough seas, sea clutter may be visible off the coast out to a range of about 30km. This sea clutter tends to remain in the same area and can therefore be distinguished from rain echoes, which generally move with the wind. Non-meteorological Echoes In most cases, the processing system at the radar removes permanent echoes caused by mountains, hills, buildings and other solid objects. Occasionally, however, some may not be completely removed from the display. These usually show up as small, stationary, erratically visible specks, mostly over the higher ground of the Arnhem Land Plateau to the south. On cold clear dry season nights and mornings these echoes may become stronger or increase in number due to downward refraction of the radar beam.