DYCOMS-II Surface:  MPC Pacific Ocean Sea State Analysis Imagery (GIF)


1.0  General Information


The MPC Pacific Ocean Sea State Analysis Imagery (GIF) is one of 
several surface products collected as part of the Dynamics and 
Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus Phase II: Entrainment Studies
(DYCOMS-II) project field catalog operated by the University 
Corporation for Atmospheric Research/Joint Office for Science Support 
(UCAR/JOSS; http://www.joss.ucar.edu/dycoms/catalog/).
The images are produced by the Marine Predication Center (MPC) 
every three hours and include an analysis of the winds and waves
over the eastern Pacific Ocean.  The products cover the period from 
1 - 31 July 2001 and cover the region from about 25 - 70 N and 
110 - 180 W.  The products were acquired from the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Prediction Center 
(http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/graphictextA.shtml#graphicA)
All images are in GIF format.


2.0  Data Contact


Scot Loehrer (loehrer@ucar.edu)


3.0  Product Information


Manually produced analysis of sea state produced for 3 hour
intervals for offshore and adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean.
These graphics are used by the Marine Prediction Center for its 
24 hour "watch" on winds and sea state conditions in its regional 
area of responsibility. These graphics also provide guidance for 
National Weather Service Forecast Offices with coastal water 
responsibility on the west coast of the U.S.  The charts depict 
the analyzed significant sea state at 3 foot height contour 
intervals. The central value of signicant wave heights imply that
higher individual waves are possible. The analysis mainly 
emphasizes the area enclosed within the borders depicted on the 
graphic. The data comes from ships and buoys. In areas of sparse 
data, model guidance and continuity is used to make an estimate of
significant sea state. Reported sea state from buoys and ships is 
in feet and is colored in green.  Clockwise the station plot has 
sea state on the right side followed by the station ID, swell 
period in seconds, and swell direction in degrees. 

All products are in gif format.


4.0  Quality Control Procedures


     UCAR/JOSS conducted no quality checks on these data.


5.0  File Naming Convention


The file names are structured as follows:

surface_yyyymmddhhmm.seaanal.gif

Where surface is the data type
      yyyy is the four digit year
      mm is the two digit month
      dd is the two digit day
      hh is the hour (UTC)
      mm is the minute 
      seaanal is the name of the data set


6.0  References


None