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NOUS41 KWBC 141300
PNSWSH
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICE 09-30
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
900 AM EDT MON SEP 14 2009
TO: SUBSCRIBERS:
-FAMILY OF SERVICES
-NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE
-EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK
-NOAAPORT
OTHER NWS PARTNERS...USERS AND EMPLOYEES
FROM: JASON TUELL
SCIENCE PLANS BRANCH CHIEF
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SUBJECT: UPGRADE TO REAL TIME OCEAN FORECAST SYSTEM:
EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 28 2009
ON OCTOBER 28, 2009...BEGINNING WITH THE 0000 UTC COORDINATED
UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/ RUN...THE NATIONAL CENTERS FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION /NCEP/ WILL MAKE SEVERAL CHANGES TO
THE REAL TIME OCEAN FORECAST SYSTEM /RTOFS/. THESE CHANGES
ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE OF THE ATLANTIC FORECAST
AND ASSIMILATION SYSTEM.
THE MODEL CHANGES INCLUDE:
1. CHANGE SEA SURFACE HEIGHT /SSH/ ASSIMILATION QUALITY
CONTROL CRITERIA AND MASK TO EXPOSE MORE OF THE REGION TO
SSH DATA.
2. RESET BASIN AVERAGE SSH AND UPDATE MEAN DYNAMIC TOPOGRAPHY
TO BETTER MATCH OPEN BOUNDARY CONDITIONS.
3. ADD BOGUS SSH ANOMALY DATA OFFSHORE OF THE MID ATLANTIC
BIGHT TO CONTROL GULF STREAM PATH.
4. UPDATE TIDAL ELEVATIONS AND TRANSPORT BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
FROM THE GLOBAL INVERSE TIDE MODEL TPX07.
THE COMBINED EFFECT OF THESE CHANGES HAS RESULTED IN THE
FOLLOWING IMPROVEMENTS TO MODEL PERFORMANCE:
1. SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN SPURIOUS CURRENTS AND EDDIES IN
THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC AND EQUATORIAL ZONES.
2. MORE REALISTIC GULF STREAM AND LOOP CURRENT IN THE GULF OF
MEXICO WHICH COMPARES WELL WITH OBSERVED PATHS.
3. BETTER AGREEMENT WITH MEASURED TRANSPORTS FROM AOML CABLE
DATA NEAR 27 N FROM FLORIDA TO THE BAHAMAS.
4. SIGNIFCANTLY BETTER REPRESENTATION OF WATER TEMPERATURE
AND SALINITY AT THE WORLD OCEAN CIRCULATION EXPERIMENT /WOCE/
SECTIONS.
5. REDUCTION IN SST ERRORS WHEN COMPARED TO INSITU DATA.
6. SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN REPRODUCTION OF MESOSCALE
FEATURES NEAR U.S. EAST COAST AS SHOWN IN INDEPENDENT SSH
ANALYSIS BASED ON JASON-1 AND JASON-2 ALTIMETER DATA.
DATA FORMAT VOLUME AND DELIVERY WILL NOT BE IMPACTED BY THIS
IMPLEMENTATION.
A CONSISTENT PARALLEL FEED OF DATA WILL BECOME AVAILABLE ON
THE NCEP FTP SERVER ONCE THE MODEL IS RUNNING IN PARALLEL ON
THE NCEP CENTRAL COMPUTING SYSTEM ON SEPTEMBER 15 2009. AT
THIS TIME THE PARALLEL DATA WILL BECOME AVAILABLE VIA THE
FOLLOWING URL /USE LOWERCASE/:
FTP://FTP.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PUB/DATA/NCCF/COM/OFS/PARA
THE ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING CENTER /EMC/ HAS A PUBLICLY
AVAILABLE WEBSITE WHICH CAN PROVIDE USERS MORE INFORMATION
CONCERNING THE RTOFS /USE LOWERCASE/:
HTTP://POLAR.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/OFS/INDEX.SHTML
NCEP ENCOURAGES ALL USERS TO ENSURE THEIR DECODERS ARE
FLEXIBLE AND ARE ABLE TO ADEQUATELY HANDLE CHANGES IN
CONTENT...PARAMETER FIELDS CHANGING ORDER...CHANGES IN THE
SCALING FACTOR COMPONENT WITHIN THE PDS OF THE GRIB FILES AND
ANY VOLUME CHANGES WHICH MAY OCCUR. THESE ELEMENTS MAY CHANGE
WITH FUTURE NCEP MODEL IMPLEMENTATIONS. NCEP WILL MAKE EVERY
ATTEMPT TO ALERT USERS TO THESE CHANGES PRIOR TO ANY
IMPLEMENTATIONS.
FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THE SCIENTIFIC CONTENT OF THE
RTOFS...PLEASE CONTACT:
AVICHAL MEHRA
NCEP/EMC
CAMP SPRINGS MARYLAND 20746
301-763-8000 X7208
AVICHAL.MEHRA@xxxxxxxx
FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING THE DATAFLOW ASPECTS OF THESE DATA
SETS...PLEASE CONTACT:
REBECCA COSGROVE
NCEP/NCO DATAFLOW TEAM
CAMP SPRINGS MARYLAND 20746
301-763-8000 X 7198
NCEP.LIST.PMB-DATAFLOW@xxxxxxxx
NWS NATIONAL TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES ARE ONLINE AT
/USE LOWERCASE/:
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/OS/NOTIF.HTM
$$