Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program
The United States VOS Program is organized for the purpose
of obtaining weather and oceanographic observations from moving
ships. An international program under World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) auspices, the VOS program has forty nine
countries as participants. The United States program is the
largest in the world, with over 900 vessels. Observations
are coded in a special format known as the ships synoptic
code, or "BBXX" format. They are then distributed on national
and international circuits for use by meteorologists in weather
forecasting, by oceanographers, ship routing services, fishermen,
and many others. The observations are then forwarded for use
by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville,
North Carolina.
Observations from ships form the basis of marine weather
forecasts in coastal, offshore and high seas areas. The
program operates at no cost to the vessel, with communications
charges, observing equipment and reporting supplies furnished
by the National Weather Service. Vessels participating in
the VOS program are typically active commercial vessels
with licensed crew. For further information on the VOS Program,
visit the VOS Webpage
and read the Mariner's
Weather Log Magazine.
SKYWARN Program
Many mariners participate in the SKYWARN Program. SKYWARN
is a nationwide network of volunteer weather spotters who
report to and are trained by the National Weather Service.
These spotters report many forms of significant or severe
weather such as Severe Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Hail, Heavy
Snow, or Flooding. Contact your local
National Weather Service Forecast Office to learn about
SKYWARN activities in your area.
MAREP Program
MAREP is a program whereby mariners report current coastal
weather conditions in the form of plain language reports to
local Weather Forecast Offices producing Coastal Weather Forecasts.
Unlike the VOS and SKYWARN programs, pre-registration and
training is not usually a prerequisite for participation.
Available reporting methods and procedures vary between Forecast
Offices. Cellular telephone, HF Marine radio, VHF Marine Radio,
Ham Radio, Webforms and e-mail are a few of the communication
tools used. Contact your local National
Weather Service Forecast Office to learn about MAREP program
activities in your area.
| National Weather Service Phone Numbers to Report Marine Observations and Severe Marine Weather (MAREPs) |
| Ocean Prediction Center |
None |
| National Hurricane Center |
None |
| Central Pacific Hurricane Center |
808-973-5284 |
| Caribou, ME |
None |
| Portland/Gray, ME |
800-482-0913 |
| Taunton, MA |
800-330-1147 |
| New York, NY |
800-226-0218 |
| Philadelphia/New Jersey |
None |
| Washington, DC/Maryland |
800-253-7091 |
| Wakefield, VA |
757-899-2415 |
| Newport/Morehead City, NC |
800-899-6889 |
| Wilmington, NC |
910-762-8724 |
| Charleston, SC |
888-383-2024 |
| Jacksonville, FL |
800-499-1594 |
| Melbourne, FL
|
321-255-0212 Ext 242 |
| Miami, FL
|
305-229-4528 |
| Key West, FL
|
305-295-1316 Ext 3 |
| San Juan, PR
|
787-253-4589 |
| Tampa, FL
|
800-282-1228 |
| Tallahassee, FL
|
850-942-8833 |
| Mobile, AL
|
None |
| New Orleans, LA |
504-522-7730 |
| Lake Charles, LA
|
337-477-5285 |
| Houston/Galveston, TX
|
None |
| Corpus Christi, TX |
None |
| Brownsville, TX |
None |
| Buffalo,NY |
866-896-BOAT |
| Cleveland,OH
|
None |
| Detroit/Pontiac,MI |
248-625-3309 Ext 468 |
| Gaylord, MI |
989-732-6242 Ext 1 |
| Grand Rapids,MI
|
Preregistration Required |
| Chicago,IL
|
815-834-1435 (8AM-8PM) |
| Northern Indiana, IN
|
574-834-1104 Ext 286 |
| Milwaukee/Sullivan,WI
|
262-965-5061 x468 |
| Green Bay,WI |
920-494-7478 |
| Marquette,MI
|
906-475-5213 |
| Duluth,MN
|
218-729-6697 Ext 6 |
| Seattle, WA |
None |
| Portland, OR |
None |
| Medford, OR |
800-483-4573 |
| Eureka, CA |
800-240-3027 |
| San Francisco, CA
|
800-437-2689 |
|
Los Angeles/Oxnard, CA
|
800-524-6120 |
| San Diego, CA
|
800-240-3022 |
| Annette, AK
|
907-886-3241 |
| Barrow, AK
|
907-852-6484 |
| Bethel, AK
|
907-543-2236 |
| Cold Bay, AK
|
907-532-2448 |
| Juneau, AK
|
877-807-8943 |
| King Salmon, AK
|
907-246-3303 |
| Kodiak, AK
|
907-487-2102 |
| Kotzebue, AK
|
907-442-3231 |
| McGrath, AK
|
907-524-3177 |
| Nome, AK
|
907-443-2321 |
| St. Paul Is., AK
|
907-546-2215 |
| Valdez, AK
|
907-835-4505 |
| Yakutat, AK
|
907-784-3322 |
| Honolulu, HI
|
808-973-5277 |
| Marianas (Guam)
|
671-472-0952 |
| Micronesia
|
671-472-0952 |
| American Samoa
|
684-699-9130 |
MAROB Program
All Information with Respect to the MAROB Program Are
Preliminary and Subject to Revision
The MAROB Program is an experimental voluntary marine observation program
of the National Weather Service in the early stages of development.
It seeks the participation of all mariners, both commercial
and recreational, which are not part of the more in-depth
VOS program. It is the goal of the program to collect as
many marine observations as practicable, to improve the
accuracy of coastal, offshore and high seas forecasts, by
taking advantage of technological advancements in digital
marine communications.
MAROB observations will be in coded form which can be better
ingested, distributed and displayed by forecasters than
observations in plain language. The MAROB report format
will be identical to VOS coded reports, with the exception
that "MAROB" will replace "BBXX". The MAROB program will
differ from the VOS Program in at least several other aspects:
Although MAROBs will be used by forecasters in forecast
decision process, these data will likely not be used directly
by computer models; Any communications charges and the cost
of any observing equipment will not be reimbursed by the
Weather Service; The observation elements collected will
typically be a subset of those collected in the full VOS
report.
CLICK HERE for more details on the MAROB program.
MARS Program
The MARS Program is a voluntary marine observation program
of the National Weather Service whereby U.S. Coast Guard Group
Stations report marine weather conditions from several shore
locations within their operating area. The reports are in
an abbreviated plain language format with fixed fields. For
further information on the MARS program contact paula.rychtar@noaa.gov
APRSWXNET/Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP)
Originally, APRSWXNET was developed as a way for amateur radio
operators to transmit weather data to the NOAA's Forecast
Systems Laboratory (FSL) in Boulder, Colorado for research.
The success of this effort and the amount of data routinely
collected have led to use by other research labs and by operational
parts of NOAA including the National Weather Service. The
system has also been expanded to allow collection of observations
via the Internet, thereby expanding the program to persons
not holding an amateur radio license. The program offers the
potential of greatly improving the accuracy of marine forecasts
and timeliness of warnings. An example would be a network
of volunteer automated weather stations installed at marinas
and yacht clubs along the coast. For further information,
visit the CWOP
Webpage
Nearby CWOP weather data may be retrieved via the Internet as in the following examples where 20902 is the zip code, or the position is 39.1N, 77.1W, or via NOAA's NCEP Central Operations MADIS Database which offers a Display of Surface Data .
.
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxnear.cgi?zip=20902
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxnear.cgi?lat=39.1&lon;=-77.1
Cooperative Observer Program (COOP)
The National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program
(COOP) is truly the Nation's weather and climate observing
network of, by and for the people. More than 11,000 volunteers
take observations on farms, in urban and suburban areas, National
Parks, seashores, and mountaintops. The data are truly representative
of where people live, work and play. Although these observations
are typically taken over land, they impact the accuracy of
Global Forecast Models used in marine forecasting. For further
information, visit the COOP
Webpage
Voluntary Mesonets
NOAA's NCEP Central Operations MADIS Database offers a Display of Surface Data from several government, commercial and voluntarily operated mesonets as well as observations of those of the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program and data buoys. A variety of marine observations may also be viewed on the National Ocean Service's nowCOAST Web Portal.
|
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