[Ncep.list.nos-nowcoast-status] NOAA/NOS nowCOAST Status Message - New version of LEOFS

[NOAA/NOS nowCOAST Status Message Mailing List]

NOAA/NOS nowCOAST Status Message
4:30PM EDT Tuesday, May 3, 2016

A minor upgrade of nowCOAST was implemented today in order to process 
the forecast guidance from the new version of NOS' Lake Erie Operational 
Forecast System.  However, users do not need to do anything differently 
to obtain maps of predictions from the new LEOFS via nowCOAST's map 
services.

LEOFS is part of NOS' Great Lakes Operational Forecast System (GLOFS) 
which provides  predictions (guidance) of water levels, water currents 
and water temperatures in the 5 Great Lakes (Erie, Michigan, Superior, 
Huron and Ontario) for the commercial, recreation, and emergency 
response communities. The upgrade of LEOFS is a collaborative effort of 
NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory, NOS/Coast Survey 
Development Laboratory, NOS/Center for Operational Products and 
Services, and NWS/NCEP Central Operations.

A few of the upgrade highlights:
1) Use the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) as the core 3-D 
ocean circulation forecast model instead of the Princeton Ocean Model
2) Horizontal resolution increased from 5km lake wide to 400m near shore 
to 3.5km offshore
3) Vertical resolution increased from 10 to 20 sigma layers
4) Use lateral boundary conditions for water levels and water 
temperatures based on near-real-time observations
5) Forecast cycle includes heat flux input as well wind forcing (present 
version does not include heat flux,  just surface wind forcing)
6) Nowcast cycle forced by NOAA High Resolution Rapid Refresh 3km 
gridded 2-hr meteorological forecast guidance  while forecast cycle 
forced by NWS NDFD 2.5km gridded meteorological forecasts

Additional information can be found in the NOS Technical Implementation 
Notice available at
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notification/tin16-08nos_leofsaaa.htm

John Kelley
nowCOAST Project Manager
NOAA/NOS/CSDL