Version 2.1 (BRAN2.1) of our BRAN hindcast of ocean conditions for the 1992-2006 (and BRAN2.2 for 2006-2008) period are now available.

To obtain access to BRAN:

1. read the [Model description]
2. see if the model bathymetry [OFAM1] resolves your area of interest. You need Google Earth to view these. Open the folders to see 0-400m, 0-4000m.
   FYI: [OFAM2 (5 May 2009 edit)] grid. Model started 6 May 2009. Bathymetry is based on Smith and Sandwell V11.1 with edits, eg off Esperance, WA).
   OFAM3 grid: [v0: (11 May 2010 edit) - global coverage]
3. inspect the [graphics archive] to help you decide whether BRAN, as described above, might be suitable for your application
4. for digital access you'll need to know how to use an OPeNDAP server. This is a method for reading a user-defined subset of a big dataset straight into your programming environment, as if you had the data already stored on your own machine. Matlab users may wish to use the CSIRO netCDF/OPeNDAP interface to Matlab. An Australasian-region (Equator-52S, 95E-185E) subset of BRAN is also available (along with the graphics archive) by post as 2Tb of netCDF files on a USB external hard-drive.
5. [Register your name, email address, intended usage of BRAN, and acceptance of our Terms] to be told a password. Your email address will be added to an email forum list so that
   1. you will receive important updates on technical information (how the data are served up, details of the model, etc)
   2. you will receive questions, comments or suggestions posted to the list by the Bluelink team and other list members
   3. you can post questions, etc, yourself.
   Other list members will not know your identity unless you choose to reveal it. Non-members can not post messages to the list. You can unsubscribe from the list at any point but this cancels your right to make further use of the data.
6. Once you have the password, read how the files are accessed
7. For applications that value dynamic self-consistency ahead of getting the details of the state of the ocean right on any particular day, it will probably be more appropriate for you to use the SPINUP run of OFAM, during which there was realistic forcing, but no data assimilation. You will see (by noting the tracks of drifters) in the animations that SPINUP fails completely, for example, to place individual eddies where they actually occurred (something that BRAN does quite well), but is more realistic than BRAN in other ways, ie there are no shocks caused by the assimilation of data). The SPINUP data set is alongside BRAN as described above.
8. Questions? Contact:

   Andreas Schiller (Andreas.Schiller@csiro.au)

   
   

Extent of model runs

• SPINUP4
  
• SPINUP5
  
• BRAN1.5
  
• BRAN2.1
  
• BRAN2.2
  
• SPINUP6 (phase 1: strong relaxation to climatological T and S)
  
• SPINUP6 (phase 2: long run of OFAM2)
  
• BRAN3.0 (test run of OFAM2 with data assimilation)
  
• BRAN3.1 (2005-2010 run of OFAM2 with data assimilation)