NHC Experimental Gridded Marine Forecasts
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Contents
- Overview
- Product Description
- Methodology
- Availability
- Examples
- Feedback and Comments
2. Product Description
There are two grid domains (Atlantic and East Pacific) for the marine weather elements posted on the web site.
The Atlantic grid encompasses the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico with an approximate lower left boundary of 2.9N103W and an
approximate upper right boundary of 35N10.5E which covers the TAFB Atlantic Area of responsibility (AOR) from 07N to 31N between 35W and
100W. This grid also provides coverage for western Africa in the event routine forecast data becomes available for geographic region at a future
date.
The East Pacific grid encompasses the northeast and southeast Pacific Ocean with an approximate lower left boundary of 20S145W and an approximate
upper right boundary of 32.5N65.5W which covers the TAFB East Pacific AOR.
The gridded elements consist of Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) in millibars (mb), surface (10-m) winds in knots (kt) and significant wave heights in feet (ft). These elements are available at a
spatial resolution of 12.5 km and a temporal resolution of six (6) hours out to 120 hours or five (5) days for both basins.
Presently, point-and-click marine forecasts are only available within the Coastal Waters Forecast areas of local NWS Weather Forecast Offices.
For example, a user can obtain a gridded marine forecast by accessing the
main page of a local Weather Forecast Office, such as Miami at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/ and clicking
a point adjacent to the coastline.
Alternatively, a user may craft a URL and enter a specific latitude/longitude point such as the following:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=25.0&lon=-80.0
If the specified latitude/longitude point lies within the Coastal Waters Forecast domain, the user is presented with a gridded marine forecast.
NHC's long term goal (2 to 3 years) is to provide point-and-click marine forecasts over the open Atlantic and Pacific oceans and also to provide
the data in the NWS National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD). These point-specific forecasts are
based upon forecast grids; hence the name "gridded marine forecasts".
Before NHC can provide the gridded forecasts operationally several software upgrades, computer programming tasks, forecaster training sessions, and
full backup capability must be completed.
Example 1. Atlantic Gridded Marine Forecast Domain (NH2).
(Click for larger image)
Example 2. East Pacific Gridded Marine Forecast Domain (NH1).
(Click for larger image)
Next: Methodology
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