Extended Abstract (220K)5B.1
CO-OPS expands meteorological sensor network and quality control
Kathleen Elizabeth Egan, NOAA, Silver Spring, MD; and R. W. Bourgerie
The NOAA/NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) collects real-time water level, currents, meteorological and other oceanographic data along the U.S. coast, including the Great Lakes and ocean islands. Recently, CO-OPS received funding as part of the NOAA Weather and Water Goal team initiative to install meteorological sensors (winds, air pressure, and air temperature) at 90 additional National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) stations managed by CO-OPS. As a result, these installations will increase the spatial density of CO-OPS meteorological observations. Generally, the CO-OPS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®) water level stations, located in ports where real-time data are essential to navigation safety, contain a full suite of meteorological sensors. By the end of Fiscal Year 09, almost all of the 250 NWLON and PORTS® stations will contain meteorological sensors and over one-third of these stations will be located in urban areas. Furthermore, the increased coverage will provide better information on local weather conditions affecting water levels and port operations. In tandem with this recent data expansion, CO-OPS plans to apply a more rigorous quality control (QC) procedure to the meteorological data. Currently, the procedure in place primarily consists of turning data dissemination on or off by a 24x7 monitoring team. In addition to this data control, there will be real-time automated checks as well as monthly processing and QC, resulting in higher quality data overall. This enhanced QC and processing effort will extend higher quality assurance to users of both real-time and historical data. Beginning in 2009, users will have access to a wider range of stations with long-term meteorological data, yielding more reliable results.
Session 5B, Applications in Meteorology, Oceanography, Hydrology and Climatology II
Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM, Room 122BC
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