NOS Hydrodynamic Model Outputs of Operational Forecast System (OFS)

Models are run and updated every 6 hours. Website shows map display (and hourly animation) of the nowcast and forecast guidance of the 5 datasets of: Water Levels, Tidal Currents, Winds, Water Temperature and Salinity. Data files are in NetCDF and are stored and made available on a THREDDS Data Server.

Raw data have not been subjected to the National Ocean Service's quality control or quality assurance procedures and do not meet the criteria and standards of official National Ocean Service data. They are released for limited public use as preliminary data to be used only with appropriate caution.

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Nowcast and Forecast Guidance outputs are based on preliminary data observations from active sensors. Preliminary data have not been subjected to the National Ocean Service's quality control or quality assurance procedures and do not meet the criteria and standards of official National Ocean Service data. They are released for limited public use as preliminary data to be used only with appropriate caution. Historical data are only good for observations and may not reflect present day conditions. These data are only representative of the geographic location of the observation.

Wind model output derived from National Weather Service's North American Mesoscale (NAM) model is also included in the output files.

Models are driven by real-time preliminary data observations and model forecast guidance. Nowcast and forecast guidance outputs are generated using hydrodynamic models run in an operational environment. Models are generally run four times a day, and most systems use either ROMS or FVCOM. Animation on the OFS is created by the model field output (at every grid point) from NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) model outputs.

Raw data have not been subjected to the National Ocean Service's quality control or quality assurance procedures and do not meet the criteria and standards of official National Ocean Service data. They are released for limited public use as preliminary data to be used only with appropriate caution.

The Continuous Operational Real-time Monitoring System (CORMS) staff is responsible for the 24 hours a day, 7 days a week monitoring of NOS operational observations, predictions, and operational forecast systems (models). The Modeling Team will work with CORMS to investigate the flags and work on solutions to ensure timely and correct information is displayed on the OFS web page and disseminated through the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) THREDDS server.

Data from active sensors are recorded and transmitted; then they go through a quality control procedure and are loaded into a database.

Model output files include 2-dimensional fields of wind speed and direction and water level elevations, and 3-dimensional fields of tidal currents, water temperature, and salinity. These hourly fields are updated four times per day. Time series at specific points are also outputted on a six-minute interval with most locations coinciding with CO-OPS observational stations. All of these outputs cover a 6-hour nowcast period and at least a 48-hour forecast. Wind model output are derived from products of National Weather Service's operational weather models, such as North American Mesoscale (NAM), Global Forecast System (GFS), High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR), or National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD).