NIDS according to Gilbert-WX-TALK Digest - 5 Nov 2000 to 6 Nov 2000 (#2000-286) (fwd)

FYI

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Date: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 12:04 AM -0600
From: Automatic digest processor <address@hidden>
To: Recipients of WX-TALK digests <address@hidden>
Subject: WX-TALK Digest - 5 Nov 2000 to 6 Nov 2000 (#2000-286)

There are 4 messages totalling 190 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. BIG radar news! (3)
  2. More radar news...

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Date:    Mon, 6 Nov 2000 18:06:45 -0600
From:    Gilbert Sebenste <address@hidden>
Subject: BIG radar news!

First, let's start with this...

NOUS40 KWBC 061549
FOS/NOAAPORT NOTICE NO. 1822          NOVEMBER 6... 2000

ATTENTION  FAMILY OF SERVICES SUBSCRIBERS/NOAAPORT USERS

SUBJECT    COMPRESSED TEST RADAR PRODUCTS NOW AVAILABLE
           ON NOAAPORT

THIS IS A FOLLOW UP TO FOS/NOAAPORT NOTICE NO. 1708
DATED JUNE 15... 2000.

AFTER THE JANUARY 1... 2001 TERMINATION OF THE NEXRAD
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION SERVICE /NIDS/ AGREEMENT...
THE NWS WILL BEGIN BROADCASTING RADAR PRODUCTS OVER
NOAAPORT WITHOUT DATA ENCRYPTION AND IN A COMPRESSED
FORMAT /COMPRESSION FORMAT DETAILS BELOW/.  TO ALLOW
NOAAPORT USERS TO PREPARE AND TEST THEIR SYSTEMS FOR
THIS CHANGE... NWS HAS BEGUN BROADCASTING OVER NOAAPORT
THE FOLLOWING SIX WSR-88D PRODUCTS FOR LA CROSSE...
WISCONSIN /ARX/ IN THE UNENCRYPTED... COMPRESSED FORMAT

NEXRAD    WMO HEADER     PRODUCT
HEADER
19/R      SDUS53 KARX    BASE REFLECTIVITY - 124 NMI
                         RANGE
          N0RARX         /LOWEST ELEVATION ANGLE/
27/V      SDUS53 KARX    BASE RADIAL VELOCITY - 124 NMI
                         RANGE
          N0VARX         /LOWEST ELEVATION ANGLE/
37/CR     SDUS53 KARX    COMPOSITE REFLECTIVITY - 16
                         LEVELS...
          NCRARX         124 NMI RANGE
56/SRM    SDUS53 KARX    STORM RELATIVE MEAN RADIAL
                         VELOCITY
          N0SARX         /LOWEST ELEVATION ANGLE/
57/VIL    SDUS53 KARX    VERTICAL INTEGRATED LIQUID
          NVLARX
80/STP    SDUS53 KARX    SURFACE RAINFALL ACCUMULATION-
          NTPARX         STORM TOTAL

THE RADAR PRODUCT COMPRESSION ALGORITHM USED IS BASED
ON THE ZLIB COMPRESSION LIBRARIES.  THESE LIBRARIES AND
DESCRIPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESS

FTP/COLON///FTP.FREESOFTWARE.COM/PUB/INFOZIP/ZLIB

A DOCUMENT DESCRIBING THE RADAR PRODUCT COMPRESSION
APPROACH IS  ACCESSIBLE UNDER THE WHAT S NEW HEADING
ON THE NOAAPORT HOME PAGE... ADDRESS

HTTP/COLON///WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/NOAAPORT/HTML/NOAAPORT.SHTML

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

MR. MICHAEL CARELLI... NWS NIDS ADMINISTRATOR
AT 301-713-1724  EXT. 184
OR EMAIL MICHAEL.CARELLI/AT SYMBOL/NOAA.GOV
END

------------------------------------------------------

Now...I have learned that the National Weather Service will make their
radar products available in GIF format via FTP or via the Web starting
January 1, 2001. All you people with links to "live radar sites" have your
work cut out for you on 1/1/2001! That's all I can say for now, but trust
me, you're gonna love it. Spotting and storm chasing next season is going
to be great with tons of free, real-time NWS doppler radar data on the
web!

*******************************************************************************
Gilbert Sebenste                                                     ********
Internet: address@hidden    (My opinions only!)                     ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University                      ****
E-mail: address@hidden                                 ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu                                      **
Work phone: 815-753-5492                                                *
*******************************************************************************

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Date:    Mon, 6 Nov 2000 18:41:08 -0600
From:    "Steve M. Kile" <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: BIG radar news!

On 11/6/2000 Gilbert Sebenste wrote:

> Now...I have learned that the National Weather Service will make their
> radar products available in GIF format via FTP or via the Web starting
> January 1, 2001. All you people with links to "live radar sites" have your
> work cut out for you on 1/1/2001! That's all I can say for now, but trust
> me, you're gonna love it. Spotting and storm chasing next season is going
> to be great with tons of free, real-time NWS doppler radar data on the
> web!


I too am excited about the possibilities with the termination of the NIDS
agreement however I think it is important not to become too optimistic.
The NWS will initially not be offering any animation or mosaics.  It really
isn't too practical for the average home computer user to be trying to FTP
megabytes of radar data every few minutes, then decompressing the files and
trying to view them in whatever format (I'm not so sure it will be GIF's)
the NWS uses.

Finally, look at the reliability of the NWS communication circuits and
computer systems.  There isn't a day that something isn't broke.  I think
I'll keep my Kavouras and WeatherTap just a little longer.

Steve

--
Steve M. Kile, AB0NV
stevek(at)visi.com

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Date:    Mon, 6 Nov 2000 18:55:20 -0600
From:    Gilbert Sebenste <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: BIG radar news!

On Mon, 6 Nov 2000, Steve M. Kile wrote:

> I too am excited about the possibilities with the termination of the NIDS
> agreement however I think it is important not to become too optimistic.
> The NWS will initially not be offering any animation or mosaics.  It really
> isn't too practical for the average home computer user to be trying to FTP
> megabytes of radar data every few minutes, then decompressing the files and
> trying to view them in whatever format (I'm not so sure it will be GIF's)
> the NWS uses.

No, there will be GIFs available too, that is for sure! Mosaics,
no. Animations, I don't know.

> Finally, look at the reliability of the NWS communication circuits and
> computer systems.  There isn't a day that something isn't broke.

Well, if the NWS breaks after January 1, they take Kavouras and everyone
else with them. That's because they will unplug from the radar sites
directly, and solely fly with the NWS feed.

*******************************************************************************
Gilbert Sebenste                                                     ********
Internet: address@hidden    (My opinions only!)                     ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University                      ****
E-mail: address@hidden                                 ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu                                      **
Work phone: 815-753-5492                                                *
*******************************************************************************

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Date:    Mon, 6 Nov 2000 19:18:36 -0600
From:    Gilbert Sebenste <address@hidden>
Subject: More radar news...

I just learned that there will be Javascript animations of the radar
products on the web sites! So, there ya go. Of course, you'll still need a
radar vendor for mosaics, but with Accu-Weather giving them away in
real-time now (with others that may follow), I think we'll see real-time
stuff on all the sites, with banner ads. I wonder what WSI, Accu-Weather
and the others will do? Suspicion: make the NIDS stuff free and banner ad
those mothers like crazy for profit. Something's going to have to give...

*******************************************************************************
Gilbert Sebenste                                                     ********
Internet: address@hidden    (My opinions only!)                     ******
Staff Meteorologist, Northern Illinois University                      ****
E-mail: address@hidden                                 ***
web: http://weather.admin.niu.edu                                      **
Work phone: 815-753-5492                                                *
*******************************************************************************

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End of WX-TALK Digest - 5 Nov 2000 to 6 Nov 2000 (#2000-286)
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