Public Information Statement
NOUS41 KWBC 211850 AAA
PNSWSH
Public Information Statement, Comment Request, Amended
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
350 PM EDT Thu Mar 21 2013
To: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS users and employees
From: Mark Tew
Chief, Marine and Coastal Services Branch
Subject: Amended: Experimental Gridded Marine Offshore and High
Seas Forecasts in the National Digital Forecast
Database (NDFD) Effective Wednesday March 20, 2013
This notice was amended to additionally notify users NHC will
delete the TAFB experimental gridded marine offshore and high
seas forecasts Web page referenced below when the new NDFD
oceanic grid becomes available for display on the experimental
NDFD map viewer.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/gridded_marine/
Effective Wednesday March 20, 2013, at 1200 Coordinated Universal
time (UTC), the NWS Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB)
will begin providing, on an experimental basis, gridded forecasts
of four marine weather elements over its offshore waters and high
seas forecast areas of responsibility (AOR) in the Atlantic and
Pacific. The grids will be included in NDFD. The Ocean Prediction
Center (OPC) will begin providing offshore grids on May 1, 2013.
OPC high seas forecasts grids are expected to be added during
2014. The Honolulu Weather Forecast Office will provide grids
when necessary hardware improvements are completed later this
year.
The Weather Forecast Offices in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Juneau,
AK, currently provide five variables over their offshore
waters on an experimental basis to the NDFD in the Arctic Ocean,
Bering Sea, and Gulf of Alaska basins.
The TAFB experimental 5-day forecasts of gridded mean sea level
pressure, surface (10-meter) winds, and significant wave heights
on the National Hurricane Center Web page at
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/gridded_marine/
will be discontinued when the new NDFD oceanic grid becomes
available for display on the experimental NDFD map viewer.
The gridded marine parameters include surface wind direction and
speed, wind gusts, significant wave heights, and marine hazards.
The Alaska offices also produce a weather grid.
The upper right latitude, longitude for this new oceanic grid is:
79.99N, 10.71E
The lower left corner lies directly on NCEP grid 204 point, which
coincides with all other Pacific region NDFD grids. The lower
left latitude, longitude for this grid is:
30.42S, 129.91E
Specific information on the grid domain can be found at
http://graphical.weather.gov/docs/ndfdSRS.htm
Areas of the new offshore grids that coincide with the NDFD CONUS
grid will be included in the CONUS mosaic.
Each offshore and high seas producer will update their grids at
least four times per day.
As of March 20, 2013, experimental marine grids are online at:
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP.001-003/
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP.004-007/
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP.001-003/
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndfd/AR.oceanic/VP.004-007/
More details regarding these elements are available in the
Product Description Document in the online catalog of
Experimental NWS products and services available at:
http://products.weather.gov/PDD/Ex_Grid_Offshore_HS_ndfd.pdf
With this implementation, forecasts for these new zones will be
available from NDFD in the following standard methods:
- Gridded Binary Version 2 (GRIB2) files via Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- Extensible Markup Language (XML) via Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP)
- Graphics via web browser
Graphics for the oceanic grid will be available via the new
experimental NDFD map viewer located at:
http://preview.weather.gov/graphical/
Both graphics, and XML via SOAP will become available within 30
days of these grids being produced.
Information on accessing and using NDFD elements is online at:
http://ndfd.weather.gov/technical.htm
Comments and feedback on these experimental TAFB Offshore and
High Seas NDFD elements, as well as the OPC Offshore elements,
are welcome at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=EGOSWHSMF
GRIB2 users:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=ndfd-grids
Users OF XML SOAP service:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=xmlsoap
NDFD online graphics:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=gfp
These new Offshore and High Seas Marine elements will remain
Experimental until NWS assesses feedback and completes a
Technical Analysis. At that time, the NWS will determine whether
to move these experimental elements to operational status,
discontinue them, or revise and extend the experimental feedback
period.
If March 20, 2013, is declared a Critical Weather Day this
implementation date will be postponed. Users will be notified of
that decision via another Public Information Statement and a new
implementation date will be established.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please contact:
David Soroka
National Marine Program Manager
National Weather Service Headquarters
Silver Spring Maryland 20910
301-713-1677X111
David.Soroka@noaa.gov
For general questions regarding NDFD data, please email:
NWS.NDFD@noaa.gov
For technical questions regarding NDFD data, please contact:
David Ruth
Mesoscale Prediction Branch Chief
NOAA/NWS Office of Science and Technology
Silver Spring, Maryland
David.Ruth@noaa.gov
301-713-1768x157
NDFD Public Information Statements are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/ndfd/tins.htm
All National Technical Implementation Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$
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