Marine Surface Decoder

IMPORTANT: If you haven't already done so, be sure to read the overview document that contains information relevant to all of the NCEP decoders!

The NCEP Marine Surface Decoder parses reports of the following formats into the NCEP Decoder Interface Format:

SHIP	-	WMO FM 13-XI
FIXED BUOY	-	WMO FM 13-XI
CMAN	-	Coastal Marine Automated Network (CMAN) NWS Guide, 1203-01.04, REV. 1D

Known Deficiencies -- Groups not currently decoded in the FM13 report:

• in section 2
  • the sea ice and ice of land origin group ICE+c_iS_ib_iD_iz_i
  • the ICING+plain language group (it may no longer be reported)
• in section 3
  • the phenomena supplementary information group 9S_pS_ps_ps_p, unless it contains the wind gust or the highest mean wind speed data
  • the additional data groups in regional code form
  • the symbolic expression groups 5j₁j₂j₃j₄ (j₅j₆j₇j₈j₉) when they contain the following data:
    • daily amount of either evaporation or evapotranspiration
    • temperature change data
    • radiation data
    • direction of cloud drift
    • direction and elevation of cloud
• in section 5
  • all groups in a SHIP report
  • all groups in a FIXED BUOY report from countries other than the U.S or Canada

Related Documents:

• The NCEP Decoder Interface Format - a fairly detailed description of the output format that is used by all of the NCEP decoders, including examples of how to easily re-encode this output into your own desired final format
• Interface Output from the NCEP Marine Surface Decoder - a tabular listing of all of the decoded values available within the interface format output from the NCEP Marine Surface Decoder

Change History Log:

The latest version of the decoder can be downloaded and utilized free of charge, subject to the usual NWS disclaimer. You may click here to download a copy of the decoder software. If you wish to be included on our "decoders-announce" mailing list, please visit our Decoder Announcements mailing list site to subscribe yourself. This list is our way of informing our users whenever we make changes or updates to our software.

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