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NOAA>NWS>NCEP>OPC>Accomplishments>
2007
Ocean
Prediction Center 2007 Accomplishments
1. Overview
During 2007, OPC products and services have continued to increase in
popularity world wide. This is evidenced by the annual OPC web hit statistics.
From 2006 to 2007, hits to the OPC web site increased from about 36.7 million
to nearly 43 million. Over the past four years OPC has seen a dramatic increase
of annual web hits from about 10 million in 2003, a more than three fold
increase over this period.
In 2007, OPC provided on-demand weather support on a number of occasions. In
one instance, weather support was requested by NOAA HAZMAT when a Japanese
vessel in distress near Antarctica in February
2007 threatened a major oil spill. OPC also provided real-time support to the
NESDIS field experiment on ocean winds in early spring 2007 that resulted in
validation of the capability by the QuikSCAT
satellite to measure hurricane force winds. In addition, OPC provided weather
forecasts for a US Navy Research and Development field test off the west coast.
OPC provided wind and wave height analysis and forecast information, on a
regularly scheduled basis to the Navy. At conclusion of the field test, the
program director for the project wrote a letter of appreciation to OPC noting
the great value of the service provided.
Several enhancements were introduced to OPC operations during 2007. These
include the routine production of gridded wave analyses and forecasts which
have been made available on the AWIPS system. This will facilitate the use of
gridded guidance for WFO forecast applications. And, for the first time,
altimeter data has become available operationally to OPC’s
marine forecasters. This data, from the Jason satellite, has now become an
integral part of evaluating the sea state of the waters in OPC’s
area of responsibility.
The past year saw a number of changes in OPC personnel. Mr. James Clark was
promoted to Senior Marine Forecaster in January 2007; Mr. Frank Musonda joined OPC in December 2007 from WFO Guam; Ms. Joan
Van Ahn joined Ocean Applications Branch in May from
IMSG, she subsequently departed OPC for OCWWS in November. Dr. Yan Hao joined Ocean Applications Branch as a contracting
scientist with IMSG in November. Dr. Hao came from
SUNY Stony Brook upon completion of her Ph.D work
there.
2. Major Accomplishments
The highest number of OPC web site hits for a twelve month period -
For 2007, the OPC website has recorded 42,955,000 million hits. This was 117%
of the 2006 total, and an all time record for the web site. The web site
received 1,116,931 unique visits for the year. During the past year, the
Atlantic Charts were always the files most requested followed by the Unified
Analysis files. The product loops, files from the grids directory and the
Pacific Charts rounded out the top five. The chart most in demand from the
Atlantic files was the RA1 or Sea State Analysis. The RA1 usage varied
throughout the year accounting for as high as 20% of the total hits and as low
as 7%. The RA1 is the chart displayed on all of the commercial vendor’s
sites who link to the OPC web site. The most popular Pacific chart was the East
Pacific Surface Analysis.
Support to NOAA HAZMAT in Antarctica – On February 16 the OPC
received a call from NOAA HAZMAT requesting weather support for a factory ship
for the Japanese whaling fleet, the Nisshin Maru, off
Antarctica near 73.38 S and S 175.56 E. The
support was requested to help the United States Coast Guard (USCG) assess the
risk from an oil spill should it happen. OPC prepared a seven day forecast for
winds and seas at this location which was sent to NOAA HAZMAT. In addition, Joe
Sienkiewicz, OPC Science and Operations Officer (SOO), provided QuikSCAT data and maps for the incident area to OPC
forecasters. A total of two sets of forecasts were provided to HAZMAT who asked
that OPC be prepared to continue to provide support, if needed. No further
support to NOAA HAZMAT was required.
Operational enhancements - OPC completed a number of enhancements to
operational marine forecast products and services in 2007. Early in the year,
OPC began routinely producing gridded wave analyses and forecasts and made them
available on the AWIPS system to facilitate the NWS field office to use the
gridded guidance for their forecast applications. OPC implemented an
operational capability for marine users to obtain graphical weather forecasts
and analyses on personal digital assistants and cell phones. This permits
mariners to have a low cost, portable version of OPC’s
products available on demand. In addition, OPC began operationally providing
confidence levels of marine forecasts as part of its Marine Weather Discussion.
This enables Weather Forecast Offices and marine users to interpret OPC marine
weather forecast, and making better informed decisions.
Also in 2007, Jason altimeter data was introduced into OPC operations. This
is the first time that satellite based significant wave height information has
become operationally available to OPC forecasters. This information has become
an integral part of evaluating the sea state of the waters in OPC’s area of responsibility
3. Customer requirements collection and
validation through interaction with customers and partners
3.1 Conference Participation OPC took part
in 11 domestic and international workshops and conferences in 2007
Ming Ji,
Director, OPC, Joe Sienkiewicz, and Robert Daniels, IMSG/ OPC Oceanographer,
attended the 11th HYCOM workshop at NRLSSC Mississippi, April 24-26.
Mr. Daniels presented OPC results from evaluating the Environmental Modeling
Center/Marine Modeling and Analysis Branch HYCOM based Real Time Ocean Forecast
Systems (RTOFS) model.
The workshop topics included a broad
range of applications covering global, basin, and regional spatial scales and
ocean weather to climate time scales. Of particular interest to National
Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the HYCOM model is used for
coastal applications, both directly and configured as a regional model to force
simpler but higher resolution local models
Joe Sienkiewicz was invited to
participate in a three day National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Meeting
concerning the Options to Ensure the Climate Data Record from the National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite Systems (NPOESS) and Geostationary
Environmental Operational Satellite Series-R (GOES-R) Spacecraft. The meeting
was held at the NAS’ Keck Center in downtown Washington, DC
June 19-21. Mr. Sienkiewicz participated in two breakout sessions. The first
session was concerned with atmospheric sensors used to retrieve ocean surface
winds. The second session discussed microwave sensors and included scatterometers, altimeters, and passive radiometers. He
also presented OPC results during the microwave session concerning the use of QuikSCAT quality winds. Mitigation strategies were proposed
to maintain the current quality of the climate data record. The NAS panel will
provide a final report summarizing findings in early 2008.
Dave Feit
attended the 10th International Workshop on Wave Hindcasting
and Forecasting and Coastal Hazards held November 11-16, 2007 on the Island of Oahu
in Hawaii.
Dave and Scott Prosise, OPC Senior Marine Forecaster,
along with Chris Burr and Mark Tew, both on the staff
of the National Hurricane Center, co-authored a poster presentation entitled
“Overview of the Operational Marine Forecast and Warning Products
Produced at the Ocean Prediction Center and the National Hurricane
Center.”
Ming Ji attended
the International Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) Steering
Team (IGST) meeting in St John's,
Newfoundland, Canada,
7-9 August. The purpose of the meeting was to assess progress on regional and
global demonstration of ocean forecasting capabilities, evaluate ocean
observing system from a science and data assimilation requirement perspective,
and to discuss future directions in operational oceanography after GODAE ends
in December 2008. Ming Ji reported the status of Argo
and NCEP’s activities in assimilating Argo data
for ocean and climate prediction at the meeting. An important subject of
discussion at the meeting was the legacy and future direction of GODAE
community. The IGST recognized an important reason for GODAE's
success - GODAE was not conceived as a research program. It was aimed at
demonstrating an operational oceanographic analysis and forecasting capability
based on the ocean observing system of satellites and in situ platforms (e.g.,
altimeter, scatterometer, and Argo). A key to GODAE's succecss is the active
participation of operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers
internationally.
Ming Ji
attended the 1st Joint World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
– Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission (IOC) technical Commission
for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) Scientific and Technical
Symposium on Storm Surge, Oct. 2-6, 2007 in Seoul, South Korea.
Ming gave a presentation on “Toward Improved Operational Surge and
Inundation Forecasts and Coastal Warnings”. His co-authors include Frank
Aikman of NOAA’s Coast Survey Development Laboratory and Carlos Lozano of
NOAA’s Environmental
Modeling Center.
He also served as a member of a summary panel discussion session of the
symposium. Weather hazards such as storm surge and inundation often severely
impacts coastal communities and the economy internationally. OPC is poised to
develop an operational coastal forecast capability to support the NWS service
needs for coastal warnings and forecasts. The purpose of this symposium is to
enhance JCOMM’s activity in provision of expert
technical advice on the modeling, analysis and forecasting of storm surges, to
assist national meteorological services in fulfilling their service
obligations.
Joe Sienkiewicz participated in the
Waves and Operational Oceanography 2007 workshop at the French institute
IFREMER in Brest, France September 19 and a Wave Data
User Workshop, Defining a GLOBWAVE project, September 20-21, 2007. On the same
trip, Joe presented a paper entitled, "Hurricane Force Extratropical
Cyclones as Detected by QuikSCAT " at the joint 2007 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite
Conference, and 15th American Meteorological Society Satellite Meteorology and
Oceanography Conference in Amsterdam,
Netherlands
September 24-28, 2007. Joe also gave an invited presentation entitled,
"the Operational Use of Ocean Surface Vector Winds at NOAA" at the
4th EUMETSAT Ocean Sea Ice Satellite Applications Facility Workshop on
September 27, 2007. The workshop was held concurrently with the joint
EUMETSAT-American Meteorological Society conference on Satellite Meteorology
and Oceanography in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
While in Amsterdam,
Mr. Sienkiewicz also participated in the NASA Ocean Surface Winds Science Team
Meeting September 28-29.
Dave Feit,
Chief, Ocean Forecast Branch, represented the U.S. in the first session of the
Joint World Meteorological Organization/International Ocean Commission Expert
Team on Marine Accident Emergency Support. The meeting was held in Angra dos Reis, Brazil January 29-31. The main
issues addressed at the meeting related to the provision of emergency support
to HAZMAT, search and rescue operations, and support during harmful algal
blooms. As a result of the meeting, Dave was named a member of two tasks teams,
the team on MetOcean Product Development and the task
team on training.
Marine safety lectures and briefings
On March 3, in Annapolis, MD,
Paul Vukits, OPC Senior Marine Forecaster,
participated in the annual Singles on Sailboats, Inc. “Spring
Training”. This is a day long training program designed for sailors of
novice, intermediate, and advanced skill levels. Approximately 300 nationwide
attendees participated in four 90 minutes sessions. The sessions consisted of
nine classes being taught simultaneously. Mr. Vukits’
session was titled “Offshore Weather by National Oceanic Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)” and was attended by 21 sailing students. His talk
addressed how sailors can use OPC text and graphical products to ensure safe
transits. He explained the meteorology behind each product, how and why sailors
should use them, and how and where the products can be obtained.
Ming Ji
and Paul Vukits attended the Velux
5 Oceans race event in Norfolk,
VA on April 13 and 14,
2007. On April 13, Paul Vukits presented to the VELUX
5 OCEANS Race skippers and race team members a Power Point Weather Safety
Briefing detailing the latest available Ocean Prediction
Center products. WFO
Wakefield also provided a briefing on local weather conditions for the weekend.
The last leg of the race, from Norfolk VA to BilBao,
Span was to depart Norfolk
on Sunday, April 15. However, a strong coastal storm was predicted to cause
significant wind and sea conditions off the mid-Atlantic coasts from Sunday
through early the following week. Based on this briefing the start of the third
leg of the race was delayed by several days.
Joe Sienkiewicz participated in a weekend training session in April, in Ronkonkoma, NY hosted by
Maritime Communications and Navigation, Inc. Attendees were sailors and
mariners intending to either take part in the upcoming Marion, MA
to Bermuda Race this June or have plans for long distance sailing such as
trans-Atlantic. Twelve sailors participated in the seminar. Joe spoke for an
hour and a half on the use of National Weather Service (NWS) text and graphical
marine products and also talked about the use of model data in the form of GRIB
files. He spoke about the strengths and weaknesses of both numerical weather
and ocean prediction and gave examples of both. Joe used a mix of a prepared
presentation and live internet access to give examples of various National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) marine weather and oceanographic
products. The talk was well received with many questions being asked.
On June 22, Dave Kosier, OPC marine forecaster,
participated in a briefing to the Blue Water Sailors Group at Quiet Waters
Park in Annapolis, MD.
The briefing was attended by about 18 people. Dave made a slide presentation of
the products and services OPC provides and answered questions regarding OPC
capabilities. The group was very enthusiastic in their support of OPC and had a
particular interest in the issue of continuation of radiofax
charts.
Paul Vukits and Joe Sienkiewicz participated in
the annual Safety At Sea Seminar hosted by the US Naval Academy Sailing
Squadron, West Marine, and the Marine Trades Association of Maryland the
weekend of March 24 and 25. The event was held in Alumni Hall of the Naval Academy
and on the waters of the Severn River.
Approximately 250 civilian boaters and 400 midshipmen attended the Saturday
sessions and 150 civilian boaters the Sunday sessions. Joe and Paul gave
several presentations and also staffed a booth. Joe's Saturday presentation was
entitled "Weather Awareness" and basically described National Weather
Service (NWS) marine products and responsibility and gave tips on to what to
watch for when at sea or on the Chesapeake Bay.
On Sunday, Paul, Joe and former OPC forecaster Lee Chesneau
teamed up to go live on line and demonstrate the capabilities of the OPC and
NWS web pages. This was the thirteenth year the OPC has been invited to take
part. Many of the participants will be sailing this summer in the Annapolis to Newport Race or heading across the North Atlantic and
will be relying on OPC Offshore, High Seas and
graphical products. The USNA Safety At Sea Seminar remains one of the best
opportunities for OPC forecasters and customers to interact.
Boat shows
Atlantic
City Boat Show
Ming Ji and Ross Van Til,
OPC Marine Forecaster, worked with staff from Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) Mt
Holly, NJ and Upton, NY to maintain booth coverage during the Jan 31-Feb 4
Atlantic City Boat Show. Large displays from OPC and WFO Mt. Holly were set-up
side by side, yielding an impressive combined presentation. A laptop/monitor
with live internet, allowing booth operators to display various NWS web sites,
added to the effectiveness of the presentation. Also, several NWS/OPC handouts
were available. The show was very well attended, and several dozen users of
NWS/OPC products stopped by to chat, pick up information, and to share ideas on
various marine related issues.
Washington D.C. Boat Show
Four members of the OPC staff, marine forecasters Robert Banks, Hugh McRandal, George Bancroft and OPC Director Ming Ji, participated in the Washington Boat Show from February
14 - 19. They helped staff a booth arranged by and shared with Weather Forecast
Office (WFO) Sterling, VA. The OPC display setup was used as a
backdrop in the booth and attracted a significant number of boat show
attendees. Many of them expressed interest in OPC and noted that they keep the
OPC web site permanently book marked on their web browser.
Seattle Marine Expo
Ming Ji attended the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, WA
from Nov. 15-17. He joined NOAA personnel from NOS, NMFS and NWS personnel from
WFO Seattle, Anchorage and Juneau to staff the NOAA booth at the Expo.
The Pacific Marine Expo attracts deep water mariners from Alaska
to Australia,
many of them are OPC customers. Ocean surface currents and SST are the
frequently requested information by the Expo visitors.
Miami Boat Show
In June, Paul Vukits participated in the Miami
Boat Show with staff members of TAFB and Miami WFO to staff the NWS booth at
the show during his three week synergy training at TAFB.
MITAGS
Ming Ji, Dave Feit, and
Joe Sienkiewicz attended the grand opening event of the Marine
Simulation Technology
Center at the Maritime Institute of
Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS), Linithicum, Maryland,
on March 26. Among the new or improved technologies displayed were full-mission
bridges and towing simulators. Both of these systems realistically display the
shipboard environment in a number of different ports, harbors, and offshore
situations. Of particular interest was the capability of simulating and
displaying real-time weather information in the training environment.
PMOs and Ship Visits
On April 12, Ming Ji visited the Norfolk PMO, Mr.
Pete Gibino, and accompanied him to visit merchant
ships in Norfolk
ports. On June 21, Ming Ji visited the New York City
PMO located in South Amboy, NJ. Ming met with PMO Jim Luciani
and accompanied him to visit merchant ships in several NJ and NY ports. On Oct.
14, Ming Ji accompanied Seattle PMO, Mr. Pat Brandow, to visit merchant ships in port
of Seattle and port of Tokoma.
Ship visits by PMOs include recruiting ships into the
voluntary observing ships (VOS) program, calibrating barometers on board ships
if necessary, disseminating OPC analysis and forecasts to ships, and alerting
ship masters that the USCG is seeking public comments on a USCG proposal to
terminate HF radio fax broadcasting. The USCG's
announcement is available only on internet, but most of the merchant ships do
not have internet access while at the sea or in ports. PMO's
ship visitations alerted many ships to the USCG proposal and encouraged the
ship masters to respond to the USCG proposal via their shipping companies or
agents. The NWS PMO program is a vital link between OPC and high seas marine
warnings and forecasts and one of OPC's important customer - the commercial shipping sector. PMOs ensure OPC products get to shipping customers on time,
useful to the customers, and obtaining feedbacks from merchant ship customers
on needs to improve OPC services.
NOAA/NOS ORR and WFO Seattle
On Oct. 13, during the trip to Seattle for
the Pacific Marine Expo, Ming Ji visited NOAA HAZMAT
and NWS WFO Seattle, both are located in the Sand Point NOAA facility in Seattle, WA.
At NOS/Office of Response and Restoration (HAZMAT), staff members briefed Ming Ji on NOAA HAZMAT operations and requested for future OPC
products on Gulf Stream analysis and
forecasts. The visit to WFO (Seattle) resulted in the realization that OPC
needs to continue work with OS-21 to “push” for the awareness of
OPC gridded significant wave height product that is available on AWIPS but lack
of awareness by WFOs.
USCG Operations Center
On August 1, Ming Ji and Dave Feit
visited the USCG in Martinsburg,
West Virginia. The purpose of the
visit was to learn the scope and functions of the Automated Mutual-assistance
Vessel Rescue (Amver) system. The visit was hosted by
the Amver program leader, Mr. John Bowman. Amver is a voluntary reporting system for ship positions in
real time from one to four times daily to facilitate search and rescue (SAR)
efforts on the high seas. USCG built and operates the Amver
system that serves all ships and coordinates SAR world wide.
OPC visitors learned how Amver is connected to the
global surface marine observations. Most of the surface marine observations are
collected by ships participating in the voluntary observing ship (VOS) program.
Participating ships take regular marine observations while at the sea and
report observations through the Amver system in
conjunction with their position reporting. Before ship position reports arrive
at Martinsburg, the reports pass through a number of
meteorological/oceanographic operational centers around world that would peel
off marine/meteorological observations information from the Amver
messages and send the marine/met information onto the Global Telecommunications
System (GTS) for operational forecasting centers to use. Examples of these
centers include NOAA's Amver seas, and U.S. Navy's
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography
Center.
During the visit, Amver technical staff gave the
OPC visitors a presentation on Amver basics. In
addition, the Amver staff also gave a presentation on
USCG's Self Locating Datum Marker Buoys which are
deployed by USCG during any search and rescue event. These buoys report in real
time local currents information which could be a very useful data source for
OPC to validate HYCOM. Ming Ji gave a presentation on
OPC mission, products and services and important OPC partnerships with USCG in
disseminating OPC products. OPC visitors learned that National Weather Service
(NWS) model products are being routinely downloaded by USCG for SAR
applications. It was apparent that there are a number of potential NWS products
that could enhance USCG's needs for search and rescue
operations. OPC will follow up with USCG SAR operations to establish
collaborative efforts by providing USCG the OPC gridded winds and wave height
forecasts.
Naval Oceanographic Office
Ming Ji, Joe Sienkiewicz, and Robert Daniels
visited Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) at Stennis Space Center
on April 26 while attending the HYCOM workshop at NRLSSC. The visit was hosted
by the Warfighting Support Center (WSC) of the
NAVOCEANO. Mr. James Rigney, Director of WSC and his
staff members provided presentations on WSC’s
operational ocean forecasting operations. OPC visitors also toured the Major
Shared Resource Center (MSRC) for supercomputing that is housed and managed by
NAVO, and met with NAVO’s executive officer,
Capt. Brian Brown, U.S. Navy, and Technical Director, Mr. Charles Martinek. The Commanding Officer, Capt. John Cousins was
out of town. OPC visitors were shown NAVO’s
ocean forecasting operations and were informed that the Navy’s
operational global ocean forecast model output will become available for broad
community to access in May 2007.
NOAA NDBC
Ming Ji, Joe Sienkiewicz, and Robert Daniels
visited National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) at Stennis Space Center
on April 26 while attending the HYCOM workshop at NRLSSC. Paul Moersdorf, Director, NDBC, spent about 1.5 hours with OPC
visitors. He described to visitors NDBC operations, and discussed issues
ranging from data quality control, ship time for service buoys, monitoring the
observing network, and the Marine Weather Program. Of particular interest to
OPC is quality control effort at both NDBC and OPC. We will follow up on this
subject and looking for potential collaboration and coordination for possible
enhancement to OPC operations.
OPC Support for NESDIS Field Experiment
Joe Sienkiewicz, using available satellite, observational, and numerical
model forecast data from his desk in Camp Springs,
MD helped guide a NOAA P-3 aircraft into
strong winds in an intensifying winter ocean storm south of Nova Scotia on Friday, January 26. Through
satellite communication links aboard the aircraft, Joe was able to
"converse" with NESDIS scientist and Principal Investigator Dr. Paul
Chang via email and help guide the P-3.. The
researchers were testing an airborne dual frequency scatterometer
developed by the University
of Massachusetts. Results
are preliminary, but both the scatterometer and a GPS
dropsonde observed 70 knots of wind approximately 240
nautical miles southeast of Halifax,
Nova Scotia. The P-3 was
coordinating an overpass of the EUMETSAT METOP satellite with the ASCAT scatterometer on the aircraft.
In support of the ongoing NESDIS experiment using National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) P-3 N42RF, Joe Sienkiewicz, Joan Von Ahn (NESDIS StAR and OPC), and Zorana Jelenak (NESDIS StAR/UCAR Visiting Scientist) provided forecast information
and made pre- and in-flight recommendations to sample the areas of highest
winds in several winter ocean storms. Joe, Joan and Zorana
worked with NESDIS Principal Investigator, Paul Chang for flights on February
2, 6, 8 and 9 and communicated through email via satellite communications on
the P-3. On the 2nd, based on their recommendations, the P-3
investigated an area of winds over a warm eddy north of the Gulf Stream and
about 45 nautical miles southeast of Sable
Island. The flight was
quite successful with the P-3 instrumentation observing 50 to 55 knots over the
warm eddy. The February 8 and 9 flights were extremely successful as the P-3
was able (for the first time) to detect extreme winds of hurricane force
intensity coincident with satellite overpasses. The P-3 uses GPS dropsondes, a Step Frequency Microwave Radiometer, and
IWRAP dual frequency scatterometer to measure the
surface winds.
Special Weather Support for U.S. Navy
From November 1 - 17, OPC provided twice daily marine weather forecast
support for a US Navy Research and Development project field testing off San Diego coast. The
testing site was within the OPC offshore zone forecast area of responsibility.
OPC provided twice daily wind and wave height analysis and forecast information
for the testing area. These specialized forecasts were based on OPC’s operational forecasts. The specialized
forecasts were provided in text format and required an acceptable level of
additional OPC resources to produce. They were transmitted to the Navy via
email.
At the conclusion of the testing period, the Navy program director, Mr. John
Curtis, wrote OPC: “… The information you have provided us has been
of tremendous value and we sincerely appreciate your help. The twice daily
forecasts were exactly what we needed …”
5. Media Interactions
Joe Sienkiewicz answered questions regarding winds and currents over the North Atlantic for Science World Magazine. Joe's
interview will appeared in an article concerning the single handed passage by a
14 year old boy, Michael Perham, from Gibraltar to Antigua
November 2006 to early January 2007. The route was designed to take advantage
of the favorable Canary and North Equatorial Currents and the predominant
northeasterly trade winds. In the interview Joe explained that Michael's route
was one favored by mariners in the era of sail and was south of the main storm
track. He also explained that Michael would have experienced swell generated by
North Atlantic winter cyclones and squalls of
tropical convection. The article will appeared in the May issue of Science
World.
On May 31, at 11:30am, Dave Feit was interviewed
live on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show. He provided
information about the weather characteristics in the North
Atlantic associated with the beginning of the hurricane season.
Dave emphasized that mariners intending to do a transatlantic crossing at this
time should be highly aware of the marine weather situation and should monitor
OPC marine products on a routine basis.
On July 12, Joe Sienkiewicz was interviewed Molly Bentley of the BBC Radio
News concerning the use of QuikSCAT ocean surface
winds at the OPC. The interview addressed issued of the use and quality of QuikSCAT winds to more specific questions about the
potential loss of QuikSCAT and impact on OPC
operations. Ms. Bentley planned to interview other experts within National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and publish her story on the BBC Radio News web site.
Joe was also interviewed by Maya Bell of the Orlando Sun Sentinel on July 13
regarding the operational use of QuikSCAT at the OPC.
Ms. Bell's questioning was centered on the impact of QuikSCAT
quality winds on the OPC warning and forecast process. Specifically she wanted
to understand what QuikSCAT has meant to operational
marine forecasting. Joe gave examples of the impact on OPC operations including
a discussion on the Gulf Stream effects on
wind and the ability to
6. Special Visitors
A contingent from the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Information Resources
visited the Ocean Prediction Center (OPC) on May 25. The group comprised LCDR
Alan Yelvington, LT Joe Lally,
Lt Wade Gough, and LT James Corbett. Dave Feit and
Joe Sienkiewicz provided a briefing about OPC operations and a tour of the operational
facility. Among the important issues addressed concerned developing closer
contacts and relations between the Coast Guard and OPC and to seek ways OPC can
increase support to Coast Guard operations. As a result of this meeting, LCDR Yelvington will seek input from various Coast Guard
operational functions about how most effective use can be made of OPC
capabilities.
On July 16, OPC was visited by Mr. John Englander, Ms. Rosa Maulini, and Mr. Geoff Morrison, all of the International Seakeepers Society. They were given a tour of the Center
along with a briefing and detailed demonstration of the OPC observation quality
control system. The demonstration focused on how the observations provided by Seakeeper platforms are integrated into the quality control
program. An accompanying film crew recorded an interview with the National
Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Director, Louis Uccellini,
who explained the value of in situ marine observations to the forecast process.
This was followed by the crew taking video footage of OPC operations. The video
recordings will be used in an informational Seakeepers
DVD.
Mr. David Wartman of Environment Canada visited
the OPC on Monday October 22, 2007. Mr. Wartman is
the Director, Meteorological Services of Canada Atlantic Operations and Chief
of Marine Services for all of Environment Canada. Joe Sienkiewicz and Wayne
Weeks of NWS Headquarters had an extended discussion on the challenges of
operational forecasting, future products and possible collaboration. Mr. Wartman was given a tour of National Centers for
Environmental Prediction (NCEP) operations in the National Oceanic Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Science
Center.
7. Awards
Jim Kells, Marine Forecaster, received the NWS
2007 Regional Level Cline award named after Isaac Cline who warned the
residents of Galveston, Texas about an impending hurricane in 1900.
Jim developed a variety of new methods of using meteorological data and
processes. This has led to significantly improved effectiveness and efficiency
for OPC operations. His efforts have also greatly improved the reliability and
strength of the OPC product suite.
Joe Sienkiewicz received the 2007 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for
leadership. Joe was recognized for leading NOAA's operational use of NASA's QuikSCAT satellite to produce more accurate forecasts and
warnings of marine and coastal weather. The Gold Medal was a group award. The
team consisted of eight members from both NOAA NESDIS and the NWS.
| 8. OPC Staff as of December 31, 2007 |
| | |
| Administration |
|---|
| Ming Ji, Director |
| Kevin McCarthy, Deputy Director |
| Crystal Rickett, Administrative Officer |
| Terri Borza, Secretary |
| | |
| Ocean Forecast Branch |
| David Feit, Branch Chief |
| | |
| Senior Marine Forecasters: | Robert Oszajca |
| | Scott Prosise |
| | Jim Clark |
| | Douglas Scovil |
| | Paul Vukits |
| | |
| Marine Forecasters: | Kevin Achorn |
| | George Bancroft |
| | Robert Banks |
| | Katherine Bell |
| | Victor DeJesus |
| | Joseph Czarniecki |
| | James Kells |
| | David Kosier |
| | Hugh McRandal |
| | Frank Musonda |
| | David Mills |
| | James Nolt |
| | Michael Rowland |
| | Todd Shaw |
| | Ross Van Til |
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| Ocean Applications Branch |
| Joseph Sienkiewicz, Acting Branch Chief/Science |
| Operations Officer Curt Janota, Meteorologist Developer |
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| Contractors: | Robert Daniels/IMSG |
| | Yan Hao/IMSG |
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Personnel Changes
Edward Schoenberg, Senior Marine Forecaster, retired January Jim Clark,
Marine Forecaster, was promoted to Senior Marine Forecaster in April Frank Musonda, Marine Forecaster, became an OPC staff member in
November Joan Von Ahn, Meteorologist Developer, transferred
to the Office of Climate Water and Weather Services in November
Senior Marine Forecaster Scott Prosise working on the Atlantic Regional Forecast
Joe Sienkiewicz, fourth from right, being
honored for receiving the 2007 Department of Commerce Gold Medal.
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www.nws.noaa.gov 
