NOUS41 KWBC 061319
PNSWSH
 
Technical Implementation Notice 11-12
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

915 AM EDT Wed Apr 6 2011

 
To:      Subscribers:
         -Family of Services
         -NOAA Weather Wire Service
         -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
         -NOAAPORT 
         Other NWS users and employees
 
From:    Therese Z. Pierce
         Marine and Coastal Services Branch Chief
 
Subject: Experimental U.S. Arctic Offshore Marine Zones to be
         added to the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD)
         and changes to existing NDFD parameters in other Alaska 
         Offshore zones effective May 18, 2011
 
Effective Wednesday, May 18, 2011, at 1800 Coordinated Universal 
time (UTC), three new arctic marine zones will be added to the 
NDFD on an experimental basis over the Alaska Region. NWS will 
continue to produce the experimental text forecast for these 
zones labeled PKZ500, PKZ505 and PKZ510. These marine zones will 
be part of the larger experimental Alaska NDFD suite of graphical 
forecasts currently available. 
 
An updated map of all Alaska Region Marine Zones can be found at:
 
http://www.arh.noaa.gov/offshore.php
 
A compressed shapefile of the new Offshore Marine Zones can be found at:
 
http://weather.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/data/oz02jn09.zip
 
The five weather elements that will be forecasted within these offshore 
marine zones are Surface Wind, Surface Wind Gusts, Significant Wave 
Height, Hazards, and Weather.
 
The production of NDFD data for the Offshore Marine Zones in the Gulf 
of Alaska (PKZ310, PKZ351-352) and Bering Sea (PKZ411-414) will 
continue but contain only the same five experimental elements available 
in the new NDFD Arctic Offshore Marine Zones. 
 
More details regarding these elements are available in the Product 
Description Document in the online catalog of experimental NWS 
products and services are available at:
 
http://products.weather.gov/PDD/AK_ExperimentalPDD_100630.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
  AccessProtocol (SOAP)
- Graphics via web browser
 
All users can use the same methods they currently use to acquire 
these forecasts.
 
Information on accessing and using NDFD elements is online at:
 
http://ndfd.weather.gov/technical.htm
 
Comments and feedback on these experimental Arctic Offshore 
NDFD elements are welcome at:
 
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=aondfd
 
GRIB2 users:
 
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=ndfd-grids
 
Users OF XML SOAPservice:
 
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 Arctic Offshore 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 retain them as 
experimental elements.
 
If May 18, 2011, is declared a Critical Weather Day this 
implementation date will be postponed.  Users will be notified 
of that decision via another Technical Implementation Notice 
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
     1325 East West Highway
     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 Technical Implementation Notices 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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