Senator The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Hon Steve Edgington, NT Minister for Housing, Local Government and Community Development
A new weather radar in the Barkly region is one step closer, with the Bureau of Meteorology now in the final stages of negotiations with Airport Development Group for the radar to be installed at Tennant Creek Airport.
It's anticipated the radar will be located at the Bureau of Meteorology's existing airport site. Final stages of site-specific design work are now underway.
The new radar is jointly funded by the Australian and Northern Territory Governments as part of the Barkly Regional Deal.
Coverage will include Tennant Creek, Elliott and smaller townships and First Nations communities.
The new weather radar will be a high-power S-band dual-polarised Doppler radar. It will have enhanced performance and range compared to the original Tennant Creek radar, and will help to observe rainfall and wind conditions in real-time across large areas.
The new radar is expected to be operational by mid-2027 once construction and testing is complete.
The airport site was selected due to several advantages, such as an existing Bureau lease, connection to 3-phase mains power, and a building suitable to house the radar equipment.
The radar for this site has already been constructed and is ready to be shipped and installed once the foundations have been poured.
During the construction of the new radar, the community can continue to access Barkly region and Northern Territory weather information from a range of BoM sources.
Radars are just one part of a composite observing network, which also includes satellites, lightning detection and upper air and surface observations. Australia has one of the world's most extensive observation networks - more than 11,000 assets - including satellites, upper atmosphere monitoring, automatic weather stations, ocean buoys and flood warning networks. This is used to deliver data for forecasts, climate outlooks and other vital services.
