Gateway Communications and the
Welcome to the National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway web site. This site
contains information on meteorological data exchange, communication standards, switching
practices, and meteorological data codes. The site also has information about communication
recommended practices used in global data exchange. There is information on the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) Manual 386 recommended practices that is not published in
standard source documents. There is information that is difficult to find in general
reference sources. The reference sources covered are
WMO manuals and OFCM documents. The site is not a replacement for formal published
documents. The material provided here may be removed without notice after standard
reference materials are available.
Information about the Gateway is available on
this web site. This information describes the basic architecture of the NWS Gateway central
switching system. The access to data and products filed on the Gateway central server
resources are described on the File/Web Services
page. The Gateway central switching system also serves as the Washingon Regional
Telecommunication Hub (RTH) of the WMO Global
Telecommunication System (GTS) for WMO Region IV. The WMO web page provides informaion
on recommended communication practices and describes the functions of the RTH. The WMO
recommended data exchange practices are covered under Data Switching topics. The pages
describe the WMO abbreviated heading structure and contains GTS circuit diagrams. The
message format and content structure are agreed upon through international recommended
practices developed jointly by member Nations of the WMO.
The Gateway is on the Main Trunk Network (MTN) of the GTS. The Gateway has file servers
that store forecast model products in GRIB code online. The files are not switched as WMO
messages. They are available through the Gateway
File/Web Services.
Documentation is available on the Gateway (Washington RTH) message handling procedures
and message recognition practices. The U.S. National
AWIPS data dissemination practice is also described on this web site. The content of
exchanged messages is available at the
WMO web server in Geneva. The master document is called Publication No. 9, Volume C1 or
"The Catalogue of Meteorological Bulletins".
The Gateway (Washington RTH) related information on this web site includes :
Additional information on National and International meteorological data exchange practices can be found on the following Web sites:
This site provides specialized meteorological software
& documentation developed by the NWS.
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