Real Time Ocean Forecasting System (RTOFS)

• Global RTOFS
  A hybrid coordinate, 1/12° global ocean model, run once a day. Each run starts with 48 hours of hindcasting and produces forecasts every 3 hours (surface values only) and daily full-volume forecasts from the initial time (0Z) out to 144 hours (6 days).
• Atlantic RTOFS
  A hybrid coordinate, nominally 1/12° North and Equatorial Atlantic basin model, run once a day. Each run starts with 24 hours of hindcasting and produces forecasts every hour (surface values only) and daily full-volume forecasts from the initial time (0Z) out to 144 hours (6 days).
• Fukushima Tracers
  NCEP/NWS deployed three-dimensional particle tracing within our Global RTOFS system to predict the long-term movement of radionuclides in the ocean shortly after the Japanese nuclear disaster near Fukushima.
• Fukushima Surface Plume Study
  NCEP/NWS conducted a surface plume study using data from our Global RTOFS system to predict the first 100 days of movement of radionuclides in the ocean shortly after the Japanese nuclear disaster near Fukushima.

NOAA WAVEWATCH III^®

NOTICE OF PUBLIC RELEASE: A new version of WAVEWATCH III version 5.16 has been released. Details about the model and how to obtain the code can be found here.

A third generation wave model run four times a day (00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z). Each run starts with 9-, 6- and 3-hour hindcasts and produces forecasts of every 3 hours from the initial time out to 180 hours (84 hours for the Great Lakes).

Model Suite

• Global
• Hurricane Waves
• Great Lakes (NAM winds)
• Great Lakes (NDFD winds)
• NCEP Wave Ensemble
• NCEP/FNMOC Wave Ensemble
• Nearshore Wave Prediction System

Sea Ice Home Page

The Polar and Great Lakes Ice group works on sea ice analysis from satellite, sea ice modeling, and ice-atmosphere-ocean coupling. Our work supports the Alaska Region of the National Weather Service, the Great Lakes Marine Forecasting group in the Cleveland NWSFO, and other groups, as well as the Environmental Modeling Center, of which the ice group is a part.
Ice group: longer description

NCEP SST Analysis

Because there are a number of different uses for sea surface temperature analysis, a number of different analyses have been developed at NCEP. The two families are the RTG -- Real Time Global, and the OI -- Optimal Interpolation (aka Reynolds SST). The RTG analyses are aimed at weather prediction and modeling, particularly at high resolution and short range. The OI analyses are lower resolution and aimed more at long range weather and climate. Both have a history.

Marine Meteorology Group Products

• Ocean Winds - Satellite Remote Sensing:
  Sensors: SSM/I and QuikSCAT
  Products: wind speeds, wind vectors, atmospheric water vapor & liquid water concentrations
• Coastal Visibility: The lowest layer Coastal Visual Range Guidance products are provided as post-processed fields direct from the NAM (12 km resolution currently) model. The data used for the lower 48 states are taken from a 40km Lambert Conformal grid and applied to a 0.25° X 0.25° lon/lat grid over North America. The data used for Alaska are taken from a 45 km polar stereographic grid and applied to a 0.25° X 0.25° lon/lat grid over Alaska and adjacent water bodies. These fields are in meters and have been converted to nautical miles on the depictions shown on this web page.
• Global Visibility: This guidance is based on the GFS Model output and uses a modified version of the Stoelinga and Warner algorithm used in the eta mesoscale model. The GRIB output files have output in meters from 0 - 20,000 meters. The graphical display is designed primarily for the use of mariners.
• Vessel Icing: The NCEP superstructure ice accretion forecast system was developed by applying statistical algorithms developed by Overland and Pease at the Pacific Marine Environmental Research Laboratory in the mid-1980s. The algorithm relates icing to wind speed, freezing point of sea water, air temperature, and sea surface temperature. The method is designed for trawlers in the 20 to 75 meter length range, underway at normal speeds in open seas and not heading downwind.