-------- Original Message --------
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NOUS41 KWBC 311804
PNSWSH
Public Information Notice, Comment Request
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
203 PM EDT Thu Oct 31 2013
TO: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS partners, users and employees
FROM: Anthony Siebers
Acting Director, Ocean Prediction Center
SUBJECT: Soliciting Comments until June 3, 2014 on an
Experimental Lightning Strike Density product
(Offshore Waters)
The NWS National Centers for Environmental Predictions (NCEP)
Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) is accepting comments until June
30, 2014, on an experimental gridded lightning strike density
product.
Thunderstorm activity at sea can have significant impacts to the
safety of mariners and impact operations. Presently, only
satellite imagery gives mariners at sea an indication of
thunderstorm activity beyond the NWS WSR-88D weather radar
coverage. Satellite imagery provides the large scale view but
does not provide definitive information concerning whether a
particular cloud system is producing lightning.
The purpose of this product is to enhance awareness of developing
and transitory thunderstorm activity by giving users the ability
to determine whether a cloud system is producing lightning, if
that activity is increasing or decreasing, and to emulate the
future GOES-R Global Lightning Mapper (GLM) data.
The Experimental Lightning Strike Density product produced by OPC
will be available in gridded form (GRIB2) and also have
complementary web images. The base data uses the Vaisala GLD360
land based detection system. The experimental gridded product is
considered a derived product and is therefore acceptable for
distribution to the public. The product contains the number of
lightning strikes per square meter per second. Users should
remember that a lightning flash may be comprised of several or
many cloud-to-ground strikes.
GRIB2 data will be available on the OPC FTP server, accessible
via FTP and HTTP protocols:
ftp://ftp.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/grids/experimental/lightning_density
http://ftp.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/grids/experimental/lightning_density
Graphical images of the gridded product with GOES satellite
visible and IR satellite imagery will be available on the
Atlantic and Pacific pages of the Ocean Prediction Center web
page at:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/lightning
Please fill out a short survey at the following link:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=LSDP
To provide comments or request more information contact:
Joseph.Sienkiewicz@xxxxxxxx
301-683-1495
National Public Information Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$