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

$$