NOUS41 KWBC 031950
PNSWSH
Technical Implementation Notice 12-20
National Weather Service Headquarters
Washington DC
350 PM EDT Tue Mar 4 2012
To: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPort
Other NWS partners and employees
From: Cynthia Abelman
Chief, Aviation Services Branch
Subject: Reprioritization of GRIB2 and
GRIB1 WAFS Upper Air
Forecasts Transmission Times Effective July 5, 2012
Effective Thursday July 5, 2012, at 1200
Coordinated Universal
Time (UTC), the NWS World Area Forecast
Center (WAFC) will reprioritize the transmission times of the World Area
Forecast System (WAFS) Upper Air Forecasts.
WAFS Upper Air Forecasts are digital
forecasts issued in GRIB1
and GRIB2 formats. Currently the GRIB1 formatted forecasts are issued first,
followed by the GRIB2 format of the same digit forecasts. This results in a 45
minute delay in the transmission of the GRIB2 version of these forecasts.
Starting July 5, 2012, the order of transmission will be switched: GRIB2 format
will be issued first and GRIB1 format issued second.
NWS plans to stop transmitting the GRIB1
format of WAFS Upper Air Forecasts in November 2013. This change is intended to
encourage users of WAFS Forecast information to use the GRIB2 format. After this
change, GRIB1 users will encounter the 45 minute delay.
In support of the WAFS, the NWS WAFC
Washington provides global gridded forecasts of upper wind and temperature data
covering
Flight Levels FL050-530, tropopause heights and temperature, and maximum wind
(height, speed, direction) based on output from the Global
Forecast System Numerical Weather Model. This data can be used in flight
planning systems to optimize flights routes or to generate a range of charts, such and wind and temperature charts, cross sections, etc.
The aforementioned gridded products are
produced four times daily, for T+06 to T+36 hour time steps, and are available
in both GRIB1 and GRIB2 formats on the International Satellite Communications System (ISCS) and the
WAFS Internet File System (WIFS). This change affects the order and times that
these gridded products will be available on both ISCS and WIFS.
There are some differences at the technical
encoding level between GRIB1 and GRIB2. The major differences from the meteorological
and operational perspective between the two formats are:
- GRIB2 is a regular grid with 1.25 X 1.25
degree (~140KM X 140 KM at the equator) resolution. GRIB1 has the longitudinal points on the grid
thinned as the polar regions are approached.
- GRIB2 bulletins contain data covering the
entire globe for each level and each parameter in each bulletin. GRIB1 has separate
bulletins for each octant of every level/parameter combination.
- GRIB2 data is compressed using the
JPEG2000 standard.
Appropriate JPEG2000 decompression
libraries will be necessary.
- GRIB2 has a temporal resolution of 3
hours, from T+06 to T+36 inclusive. GRIB1 has a temporal resolution of 6 hours (T+06 to T+36 inclusive).
- GRIB2 has additional levels close to the
normal cruise of level of Airliners.
If you have any questions about this
change, please contact:
Matt Strahan
Chief, International Operations Branch
Aviation Weather Center/WAFC Washington
Kansas City, MO 64153
816-584-7204
matt.strahan@noaa.gov
National Technical Implementation Notices
are online at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm
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