A moratorium on changes to the NCEP production job suite will begin April 6, 1998, as NCEP begins preparations for the move to Goddard Space Flight Center as well as the Y2K conversion effort. The codes must be frozen to provide a test bed for comparing the results of codes converted to the new systems with those currently in operation. Engineers also need to install parallel communication systems, data ingest systems and a supervisor monitor scheduler at the Goddard facility.
The change moratorium will be strictly enforced except for changes directly related to the Class VIII computer and Y2K conversion efforts as well as prior commitments to implementation of the RUC II analysis and forecast system, the 4/day GFDL model forecasts, the 4/day Meso eta model forecasts, and the T170 spectral global model forecasts. However, given the saturated workload of the C90 computer, NCEP has concern whether all of these aforementioned model forecast changes can be implemented without causing frequent delays in the availability of NCEP products. The Environmental Modeling Center and NCEP Central Operations are preparing a list of trade offs should delays occur.
The contract award for the Class VIII computer system could be announced as early as April 1998. The system will be installed in Building 28 at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in July 1998. The testing and conversion of codes currently running on the Cray C90 will begin immediately, and acceptance of this new system is expected in October 1998. The NCEP lease contract for the C90 expires in February 1999. All codes currently running on this machine must be converted and moved to the Class VIII system by that date.
The Office of Hydrology has a number of Internet homepages addressing a wide variety of hydrology related- topics. One page is a web version of the Standard Hydrometeorological Exchange Format (SHEF) Manual:
http://hsp.nws.noaa.gov/hrl/shef/index.htm
Another homepage describes the site specific forecast model which will be included in a future software build of the WFO Hydrologic Forecast System:
http://hsp.nws.noaa.gov/hrl/ihfs/site_spec2/index.htm
Real-time aircraft sounding data are available from FSL on the web. This data set covers the continental U.S. and includes both flight level as well as ascent/descent data. The latter provides a sounding from many airports any time of the day or night. While the moisture depiction is still limited, the temperature and wind profiles are quite accurate. This web page includes an overlay of a current satellite image with the nationwide plot, an easier to read skew-t, a conversion of the data to SHARP format for use in that program, and initial inclusion of American Airlines data. This latter data set expands availability of both airports and time frame (more at night). The URL for this operational ACARS page is
http://acweb.fsl.noaa.gov/oper
Available most of the time, a beta page provides access to the newest advancements. The URL for this page is
http://acweb.fsl.noaa.gov/beta
FSL has also established a web site with a summary of RUC II model evaluation reports. There are hypertext links to the individual reports. Point to the web page at:
http://maps.fsl.noaa.gov/ruc2.evalsum.html
The National Severe Stroms Lab (NSSL) continues to proceed on schedule for developing a new unit control position (UCP) for the WSR 88Ds known as the master system control function (MSCF). This new graphical user interface can be viewed at the following Internet address:
http://www.osf.noaa.gov/app/gui/index.htm
NSSL will work over the next six months to prepare the RPG software for software build 9 design specifications. Completion of the entire open system software package is expected by year end.
The Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education and Training (COMET) announced the newly established meteorology educaton and training (METED) Web Site at:
This web site will become the principal location for all web-based materials produced the three NWS-related training programs as well as the site for information on their training and education activities.
The National Weather Service Training Center (NWSTC) has composed a "lightning note guide" on the web. The note guide provides a comprehensive review that introduces the operational forecaster to lightning theory, sensors, local climatology, real-time applications, and references as well as eyewitness reports.
This note guide is not linked to the NWSTC home page. You will need to point to the following address which is case sensitive:
http://www.nwstc.kc.noaa.gov/d.HMD/Lightning/Ltng_home.htm
The NDBC home page posts a variety of real time buoy data and hourly weather observations of interest to operational forecasters. The web site address is:
NDBC posts quality controlled observations within a few days of acquisition. This collection features comprehensive measurements such as wave spectra and offers better resolution than what is posted on the Internet in real time. Four months of files remain posted at a time. Recent data files are in ASC II. Past months data are compressed (zipped). This collection is also the only way obtain recent acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) data. ADCP data are measured at several southern California buoy stations.
The NDBC home page also features maps that show station locations and identifiers. The working status of each buoy station and servicing plans are posted. Measurement description tables list sensor accuracies, averaging periods, and resolutions.
The NDBC home page also contains climatic summary tables constructed by the National Climate Data Center. The summaries consist of frequency distributions, individual monthly means and extremes, and several bivariate tables for data collected from the time each buoy/station was comissioned through December 1993.
The European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting has posted experimental seasonal prediction products on the Worldwide Web. The products cover latitudes between 35N and 35S. The web site address is:
Environment Canada's Canadian Ice Service has recently added new products to its home page.
The new Community Ice Ocean Model (CIOM) is available at:
http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/ice/ciom/ciom.html
Real time GOES 8 imagery over the Canadian area of responsibility is color enhanced and available during the daytime at:
http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/ice/goes/index.html
The ABRFC recently placed a cogent explanation of mean areal precipitation (MAP) on their web page entitled "Precipitation Measurements and Relationships to Hydrological Modeling. Point to the following URL:
http://info.abrfc.noaa.gov/map/map.html
A web page is now available that details the current GOES test plan that began March 16th and will continue through mid April:
http://orbit7i.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/goes10test.html
TDL is posting the real-time LAMP (Local AWIPS MOS Program) guidance on a web page. The page includes analysis fields and graphics as well as individual station matrices. The address of the LAMP data page is:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/lamp/lamp.html
A description of how LAMP works can be found on the following TDL page:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/lamp/lamp.html
High resolution geodetic control data for the United States are now available on the Internet in a format compatible with Geographic Information System (GIS) software. The new format is the Point Profile of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) developed by NOAA for high precision point data. Internet users can retrieve the SDTS geodetic control data on the fly directly from a database that is continuously updated by the National Geodetic Survey. The data are available at:
More information on the product is available at:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/tools/sdts
NOAA's Satellite Analysis Branch has begun placing satellite imagery of significant environmental events from around the world on line updated daily. The imagery is suitable for illustrating news and feature stories. Captions and explanations are included. The events include fires, volcanic eruptions, tropical storms, floods, oil spills, snow and ice. Point to:
http://duc9.wwb.noaa.gov/SPECIAL/
