All,

You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a user of NCEP model data. The NCEP Wave (NWW3) model will be upgraded on Tue Nov 27 2007. Please see the NWS TIN (Technical Information Notice) below if you are a user of the NCEP Wave (NWW3) model.

Please see the NCO PMB model changes web site for more information concerning NCEP model changes.

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/changes/

Thanks,
Joey Carr

EFFECTIVE TUE NOV 27 2007...WITH THE 1200 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/ RUN...THE NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION /NCEP/ WILL UPGRADE THE NOAA WAVE WATCH III /NWW3/ MODEL.

EXPECTED DATA DELIVERY TIMING/VOLUME/CONTENT CHANGES:

NOAAPORT DATA:

- AT THE CURRENT TIME...GRIDDED DATA SETS FOR THE FOLLOWING DOMAINS ARE DISSEMINATED TO NOAAPORT/AWIPS USERS: GLOBAL...EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC...WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC/GULF OF MEXICO...NORTH ATLANTIC HURRICANE…NORTH PACIFIC HURRICANE AND ALASKA. ALSO...BUOY BULLETIN DATA IS DISSEMINATED FOR THE SAME DOMAINS.

- ALL OF THESE PRODUCTS WILL BE OUTPUT BY THE NEW MODELING SYSTEM...BUT THE ONLY RESULTANT CHANGE WILL BE IN THE FORECAST QUALITY DUE TO THE IMPROVED RESOLUTION OF THE MODEL WHICH PRODUCES THE DATA SET.

- IN THE COOK INLET REGION OF ALASKA…VALID GRID POINT INFORMATION WILL REPLACE SOME OF THE MISSING VALUES WHICH CURRENLTY POPULATE GRID POINTS IN THAT REGION.

- NO CHANGE IS EXPECTED IN THE CONTENT DELIVERY TIME.

- NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN DATA VOLUMES ARE EXPECTED.

- NO CHANGE IN PDS CONTENT IS EXPECTED.

- AT SOME FUTURE DATE...ANOTHER NWS TIN WILL BE ISSUED TO ALERT USERS THAT THE HIGHER RESOLUTION DATA WILL BECOME AVAILABLE ON NOAAPORT.

NCEP/NWS FTP SERVERS:

- ALL OF THESE PRODUCTS WILL BE OUTPUT BY THE NEW MODELING SYSTEM...BUT THE ONLY RESULTANT CHANGE WILL BE IN THE FORECAST QUALITY DUE TO THE IMPROVED RESOLUTION OF THE MODEL WHICH PRODUCES THE DATA SET.

- IN THE COOK INLET REGION OF ALASKA…VALID GRID POINT INFORMATION WILL REPLACE SOME OF THE MISSING VALUES WHICH CURRENLTY POPULATE GRID POINTS IN THAT REGION.

- NO CHANGE IS EXPECTED IN THE CONTENT DELIVERY TIME.

- NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN DATA VOLUMES ARE EXPECTED.

- NO CHANGE IN PDS CONTENT IS EXPECTED.

- NEW HIGHER RESOLUTION DATA SETS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE ON THE NCEP FTP SERVER.

DISCLAIMER: NCEP WOULD ENCOURAGE ALL USERS TO ENSURE THEIR DECODERS ARE FLEXIBLE AND ARE ABLE TO ADEQUATELY HANDLE CHANGES IN CONTENT ORDER...PARAMETER FIELDS CHANGING ORDER...CHANGES IN THE SCALING FACTOR COMPONENT WITHIN THE PDS OF THE GRIB FILES AND ALSO ANY VOLUME CHANGES WHICH MAY BE FORTHCOMING. THESE ELEMENTS MAY CHANGE WITH FUTURE NCEP MODEL IMPLEMENTATIONS. NCEP WILL MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO ALERT USERS TO THESE CHANGES PRIOR TO ANY IMPLEMENTATIONS.

MODELING SYSTEM CHANGES:

1. A MULTI-GRID GLOBAL MODEL THAT PROVIDES FORECAST PRODUCTS
ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT GRIDS. ALL THE GRIDS HAVE INTERNAL
TWO-WAY COUPLING AND EXCHANGE INFORMATION DURING THE
COMPUTATION CYCLE. THE NEW GRIDS ARE:

A. A 30 MINUTE RESOLUTION GLOBAL GRID.
B. THREE 10 MINUTE RESOLUTION REGIONAL GRIDS COVERING THE
UNITED STATES /US/ EAST/WEST COASTS AND EASTERN
PACIFIC ISLANDS INCLUDING HAWAII.
C. AN ALASKA REGIONAL GRID WITH A 15 MINUTE RESOLUTION IN
LONGITUDE AND A 10 MINUTE RESOLUTION IN LATITUDE.
D. TWO 4 MINUTE RESOLUTION COASTAL GRIDS FOR THE US
EAST/WEST COASTS. THE US WEST COAST GRID ALSO
INCLUDES THE COASTAL WATERS OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
E. AN ALASKAN COASTAL GRID WITH A RESOLUTION OF 8 MINUTES
IN LONGITUDE AND 4 MINUTES IN LATITUDE.

2. FIELD OUTPUT WILL BE AVAILABLE IN GRIB2 FORMAT.

3. THE ENERGY SPECTRUM WILL BE PROPERLY PARTITIONED. THE
FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL OUTPUT GRIDS WILL BE AVAILABLE:

A. PARTITIONED WAVE HEIGHT DATA FOR WIND SEAS-KPDS ID=102
PRIMARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=105-LEVEL 1
SECONDARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=105-LEVEL 2
B. PARTITIONED PEAK PERIOD DATA FOR WIND SEAS-KPDS ID=103
PRIMARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=106-LEVEL 1
SECONDARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=106-LEVEL 2
C. PARTITIONED MEAN DIRECTION FOR WIND SEAS-KPDS ID=101
PRIMARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=104-LEVEL 1
SECONDARY SWELLS-KPDS ID=104-LEVEL 2

4. MINOR CHANGES TO THE PHYSICS INCLUDING:

A. LINEAR WAVE GROWTH TERM TO IMPROVE INITIAL WAVE GROWTH
RESULTS
B. A SURF ZONE BREAKING TERM TO PROVIDE MORE REALISTIC
ESTIMATES OF WAVE HEIGHT FOR LAND FALLING TROPICAL
SYSTEMS.

5. THE FORECAST RUN WILL NOW START NINE FORECAST HOURS PRIOR
TO THE ORIGINATING TIME OF THE CYCLE AS OPPOSED TO SIX
HOURS PRIOR ALLOWING FOR THREE ADDITIONAL HOURS OF
ASSIMILATION. FORECAST OUTPUT CONTINUES OUT TO 180 HOURS.

ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17 2007...PARALLEL DATA SETS FOR THE CURRENT PRODUCTS AND NEW HIGHER RESOLUTION PRODUCTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE AVAILABLE ON THE NCEP FTP SERVER AT THE LINK BELOW. NCEP ENCOURAGES ALL USERS TO EVALUATE THESE DATA SETS TO ENSURE THAT THEIR SYSTEMS ARE PREPARED FOR THE UPCOMING CHANGE.
/PLEASE USE LOWERCASE LETTERS/

FTP://FTPPRD.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PUB/DATA/NCCF/COM/WAVE/PARA

THE ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING CENTER /EMC/ HAS A PUBLICLY AVAILABLE WEB SITE WHICH CAN PROVIDE USERS MORE INFORMATION CONCERNING ALL NCEP MODELING SYSTEMS. /PLEASE USE LOWERCASE LETTERS/

HTTP://WWW.EMC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV

SPECIFIC INFORMATION REGARDING THE NEW WAVE MODEL IMPLEMENTATION CAN BE FOUND AT THE LINK BELOW: /PLEASE USE LOWERCASE LETTERS/

HTTP://POLAR.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/NEW.WAVES/WELCOME.HTML

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE SCIENTIFIC CHANGES WITHIN THE MODELING SYSTEM...PLEASE CONTACT:

HENDRIK TOLMAN
NCEP/EMC...CHIEF MARINE MODELING BRANCH
CAMP SPRINGS MARYLAND
PHONE: 301 763 8000 X7253
EMAIL: HENDRIK.TOLMAN@NOAA.GOV

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE DATAFLOW ASPECTS OF THIS IMPLEMENTATION...PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO THE NCEP/NCO/PMB DATAFLOW HELPDESK: /USE UPPERCASE LETTERS FOR THE NCEP.PMB.D PORTION OF EMAIL ADDRESS AND LOWERCASE LETTERS FOR THE REMAINDER/

NCEP.PMB.DATAFLOW@NOAA.GOV

THIS AND OTHER NWS TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION NOTICES ARE AVAILABLE
ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/NOTIF.HTM