Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The SX6 includes high bandwidth, large scale storage and large shared
memory per node that enable all of the data required for OceanMAPS to
be stored for online operations. This structure minimises the interaction
of the operational models with archive devices to post processing storage.
The schedule for OceanMAPS is dependent on three inputs that are handled
by the data management system, (a) NRT observations, (b) NWP surface
fluxes, and (c) Sea surface temperature analyses. The system includes an
analysis and forecast cycle that depends on the data management system
for handling the distribution and servicing of products.
The Bureau maintains communications with a variety of networks to
support NRT observation retrievals and data distribution. The majority of
ocean profile observations are obtained from the GTS. Satellite observations
such as sea surface anomalies from JASON-1 are pushed from OCEANIDS
and available approximately 5-7 hrs behind real-time. ENVISAT is obtained
fromESAona3daydelay.
Operational systems are designed to perform robustly to a regular sched-
ule. The operational ocean system is planned to produce forecasts out to
7 days, twice per week. The prototype schedule includes: a symmetric analy-
sis cycle for high-quality analyses, an asymmetric analysis cycle for forecast
initial conditions and a forecast cycle. The symmetric analysis uses a sym-
metric observation window which is constrained by the time scale of one
complete attimeter orbit (
3 days behind real time) and is repeated daily
using 3-day old analysed NWP fluxes. The asymmetric cycle uses an off-
centred observation window and produces a nowcast and initial condition
for the forecast. Both the analyses and forecasts depend on the availability
of NWP fluxes and SST analyses. Both of these operational products have
unique schedules. GASP is integrated twice daily at 0 UTC and 12 UTC
while the analysis is performed every 6 hrs. SST is generated daily for the
local region and weekly for the global domain. A forecast is then produced
using NWP forecasts and fixed SST analyses (the boundary conditions of
the NWP).
The Bureau has recently implemented the Meteorological Archival and
Retrieval System (MARS) to serve as the primary meteorological database.
This system was developed by ECMWF and was designed for storage of
NWP output. The system supports two file formats Gridded Binary (GRIB)
and Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data
(BUFR). Neither of these two formats are widely used or supported outside
this community by other centres or software developers. The Bureau has
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