NOUS41 KWBC 231135

PNSWSH

 

Public Information Statement, Comment Request

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

735 AM EDT Tue Oct 23, 2012

 

To:       Subscribers:

          -Family of Services

          -NOAA Weather Wire Service

          -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network

          -NOAAPORT

          -NWS Air Quality Focus Group

          Other NWS partners and employees

 

From:     Laura K. Furgione

          National Weather Service Director (Acting)

           

Subject:  Comments Requested by November 26, 2012, on Proposed

          Termination of NWS Ozone Air Quality Predictions

 

NWS is proposing to terminate all operational and experimental ozone air quality predictions and developmental predictions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) produced using the Community Model for Air Quality (CMAQ) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). This termination is proposed due to the current fiscal environment. NWS will maintain operational air quality predictions of smoke, dust, and volcanic ash, as well as dispersion model predictions for the emergency management community responding to harmful releases.

 

Please provide comments on the proposed termination, by November 26, 2012, to:

 

nwssp.comments@noaa.gov

 

NWS will evaluate all comments to determine whether to proceed with this termination. It is expected that the operational ozone output will be terminated on or about March 5, 2013, and the experimental ozone output and developmental PM2.5 predictions will be terminated on or about January 22, 2013.

 

Specifically, this will result in the termination of all surface ozone and developmental PM2.5 predictions over the CONUS, Alaska and Hawaii that are made from the 06 UTC and 12 UTC prediction cycles.

 

All web-based ozone prediction displays at:

 

http://airquality.weather.gov/

 

will no longer be available, including the following graphical displays and numerical tables for operational ozone predictions over the CONUS, Alaska and Hawaii:

 

- The 1 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 8 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 1 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 8 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

 

Operational ozone predictions from the NWS National Digital Guidance Database (NDGD) server at:

 

ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/DF.gr2/DC.ndgd/GT.aq/ 

 

will no longer be available, including the following files for the CONUS, Alaska and Hawaii:

 

- ds.ozone01.bin: The 1 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.ozone08.bin: The 8 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.mozone01.bin: The 1 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.mozone08.bin: The 8 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

Operational ozone predictions will no longer be available from the NCEP server:

 

ftp://ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/aqm/prod/

 

http://www.ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/data/nccf/com/aqm/prod/

 

and from the Real-Time NOMADS server:

 

http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/

 

http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/aqm/prod/

 

 

In addition, the experimental CMAQ system that provides developmental Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) predictions for the CONUS will be terminated.  The experimental CMAQ is executed for the 06 UTC and 12 UTC cycles at NCEP.  The developmental PM2.5 predictions are normally only available to the NWS Air Quality Forecaster Focus Group.

 

Experimental ozone prediction displays at:

 

http://airquality.weather.gov/expr

 

will no longer be available, including the following experimental ozone displays for:

 

- The 1 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 8 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 1 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface

 

- The 8 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

Experimental ozone predictions from the NWS National Digital Guidance Database (NDGD) server at:

 

ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.expr/DF.gr2/DC.ndgd/GT.aq/

 

will no longer be available, including the following experimental ozone files for the CONUS:

 

- ds.ozone01.bin: The 1 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.ozone08.bin: The 8 hour average ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.pozone01.bin: The 1 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

- ds.pozone08.bin: The 8 hour average daily maximum ozone concentration at the lowest model layer near the surface.

 

 

Experimental ozone predictions will no longer be available from the NCEP server:

 

ftp://ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/aqm/para/

 

http://www.ftp.ncep.noaa.gov/data/nccf/com/aqm/para/

 

and from the Real-Time NOMADS server:

 

http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/aqm/para/ .

 

Please note that NOAA’s ozone predictions will no longer be available for automatic generation of air quality products distributed through Websites and other means outside of NOAA, including, but not limited to:

 

http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.noaamaps

 

http://www.airnowtech.org/index.cfm

 

http://aqmos.sonomatech.com/login.cfm

 

 

For questions concerning these changes, please contact:

 

Ivanka Stajner

NOAA/NWS/OST

Silver Spring, MD 20910

ivanka.stajner@noaa.gov

301 713 9001 x 185

 

National Public Information Statements are available on line at:

 

      http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm

 

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