4/27/2004 Fred Branski April 27, 2004 NOAA/NWS Telecommunication Gateway GTS System

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway The Primary Data Communications Switching Facility of the NWS Operated 24 X 7 by the Telecommunication Operations Center Which is Part of the Office of the Chief Information Officer Housed in a Highly Resilient Facility with Dedicated Power and Environmental Systems

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway Serves the U.S. Public, Government and Commercial Hydrometeorological, Oceanographic, Climatological and Emergency Management Communities Critical Acquirer and Provider of Data and Products to and from Many Systems and Agencies

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway The Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) and NOAAPort Network Control Facility (NCF) The ASOS Operations and Monitoring Center (AOMC) Aggressively Pursuing an Alternate Operational Facility

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway ICAO - The Communications Portion of the Washington World Area Forecast System (WAFS) Center Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network (AFTN) Switch OPMET Data Bank Server Critical to the Aviation Community for Acquiring and Providing Timely Data and Products

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway WMO - The Communications Portion of the Washington World Meteorological Center Regional Telecommunication Hub (RTH) for WMO Region IV Provides the Path for U.S. Meteorological and Related Products to the Rest of the World and for their Products Back into the U.S.

4/27/20047 NWSTG Structure & Function Components 3 Mainframes – Active, standby, test & development >70 Unix servers (HTTP, FTP, File server, communications, data processing) >2 terabytes of online storage >160 point-to-point communication circuits 7 internal networks

4/27/20048 NWSTG Structure & Function

4/27/20049 NWSTG Structure & Function Message Processing Data input from various sources Data is identified by WMO or AWIPS heading Data stored in a receive queue along with information retrieved from a switching directory (>130,000 entries) Some data selected for processing which may generate new products Data written to transmit queue(s) based on switching directory information Data sent to destination(s)

4/27/ NWSTG Structure & Function Message Processing >850,000 messages received daily >8.5 billion bytes received daily

4/27/ WMO Global Telecommunication System Main Trunk Network

The Improved MTN (IMTN) The planned IMTN configuration should be achieved in 2004 Exeter Sofia Cloud II Melbourne Buenos Aires Tokyo Beijing New Delhi Nairobi Cairo Toulouse Dakar Algiers Moscow Washington Brasilia Offenbach Jeddah Prague Frame Relay Frame Relay by BT Ignite by BT Ignite Frame Relay Frame Relay by Equant by Equant Cloud I Cloud I

4/27/ MTN Connectivity in RAII &V (slide from Hiroyuki ICHIJO (JMA)

Specific characteristics of IMTN data- communication clouds Cloud I Frame Relay Melbourne Tokyo 1.5Mbps Washington 256kbps Bracknell 256kbps Access circuit 1.5Mbps 32kbps 16kbps CIR= 768kbps 32kbps 64kbps 32kbps PVC Flexibility of establishing logical connections (PVC) Asymmetric bandwidths (CIR: Committed Information Rate)

4/27/2004 Observations $Over 450,000 Observations Distributed Daily $ 152,000 Surface Observations $ 3,100 Upper Air Observations $ 4,700 Ship Reports $ 46,000 Aircraft Reports $ 48,000 DCP Reports $ 200,000 Satellite Reports $ Observations from 33,000 Places

4/27/2004 Model Output $Over 96,000 Model Products Distributed Daily $ 9 NCEP Models Run Daily $ Hurricane, Volcanic Ash and Hydrological Dispersion Model as Needed $ EPA Air Quality Forecast $ Also from Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, NWS River Forecast Centers, DoD and ECMWF

4/27/2004 Text Products $Over 36,000 Text Products Distributed Daily $ 23,800 NWS Produced Text Products $ 7,000 other U.S. Agency Text Products $ 5,300 International Text Products

4/27/2004 Pictorial Products $Over 2,000 Pictorial Products Distributed Daily $ Most in Red Book Graphic Format $ OFCM Standard FCM-S2 $ CCITT T4 Fax and GIF products also

4/27/ Data Input to the NWSTG NWS (ASOS, WFOs, NCEP National Centers) – observations, guidance, forecasts, watches & warnings, national products FAA (ASOS) – aviation observations & intnl data DoD (FNMOC, AFWA) DoT (Coast Guard) – marine reports Other Government and Scientific Sources (NOS, OAR, USDA, Scripps Institute, SeaKeepers, etc.) – observations FEMA, DoA, EPA ICAO (ISCS, AFTN) – aviation data WMO (GTS MTN, Other GTS) – meteorological and hydrological data Commercial community

4/27/ Data Input to the NWSTG Data Input Methods IP Sockets X.25 Asynchronous FTP – – Web -

4/27/ Data Input to the NWSTG

4/27/ Data Input to the NWSTG

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push Broadcast, multicast, and point-to-point data dissemination: NOAAPORT NWWS - NOAA Weather Wire Service EMWIN – Emergency Manager’s Weather Information Network ISCS – International Satellite Communications System FOS – Family of Services

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push ISCS – International Satellite Communications System Supports two data dissemination requirements for – –ICAO World Area Forecast System (WAFS) – –WMO Regional Meteorological Telecommunication Network for Region IV (North America) supporting two-way communication (RMTN/GTS) C-band satellite coverage for – –US area of responsibility - 30°W to 120°E – –European area of responsibility - 100°E to 30°W (SADIS)

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push ISCS – International Satellite Communications Data includes aviation weather and other meteorological, hydrological, and climatological products Six data streams – –WAFS Text, GRIB, and Facsimile – –RMTN Text, GRIB, and Facsimile Volume: >630MB/day >180,000 Products/day More Information at – – – –

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push International Satellite Communications System

ATLANTIC OCEAN REGION (AOR)  The AOR portion of the successor ISCS will be centered around the WorldCom shared Master Satellite Hub, in Andover, Maine.  The Master Satellite Hub will be linked via a 64 Kbps (128Kbps bursting) terrestrial (redundant) circuit to the National Weather Service Telecommunications Gateway (NWSTG) in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The NWSTG will continue to serve as the central point of data entry into the ISCS.  All ISCS data originating at the NWSTG will be transmitted, using TCP/IP network protocol, over to the WorldCom Andover facility for broadcast to all ISCS AOR sites.

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push International Satellite Communications System RMTN two-way sites shown in orange

ISCS WAFS – Pacific Ocean Region

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push EMWIN – Emergency Managers Weather Information Network Hemispheric direct broadcast using GOES East/West Data includes a watches & warnings, forecasts, graphics, satellite imagery Volume: >85MB/day Used to distribute data to Emergency Managers More Information at – –

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push EMWIN – Satellite Footprint

4/27/ EMWIN Architecture

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push NOAAPORT AWIPS satellite broadcast network (SBN) C-band satellite covering the entire US Data includes NCEP model products, satellite imagery, observations, forecasts, watches & warnings Volume: >23 GB/day >2,000,000 Products/day Used to distribute data to – –NWS field offices (WFOs and RFCs) – –Commercial Users with NOAAPORT Receiver Systems More Information at

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push AWIPS Network Control Facility (ANCF) NOAAPORT (SBN) 3.5 T1 Circuits: NCEP/NWSTG Data GOES East GOES West Non-GOES Imagery/DCP 140+ AWIPS Field Sites NOAAPORT Receive System (NRS) Weather and Forecast Products Satellite Imagery Americom 4 C-Band Master Ground Station (MGS) 4 T1 Circuits Source: NGIT AWIPS Briefing, L. Klet

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push NWWS – NOAA Weather Wire Service Nationwide satellite distribution system for text products C-band and Ku-band satellite covering the entire US Data uplinked from 14 WFOs/RFCs, 6 National Centers Data includes forecasts, watches & warnings Volume: >8 GB/day Used to distribute data to – –Media – –Emergency Managers More Information at – – – –

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push NWWS – System Data Flow Source: Detailed NWWS Data Collection Flowchart

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push FOS – Family of Services (Push) Point-to-point and multicast communication services Serves commercial customers on a cost recovery basis More information at – – FOS Offerings Public Product Service Domestic Data Service International Data Service High Resolution Data Service Radar Product Service Server Access Service (not push)

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push FOS – Family of Services (Push) Public Product Service (PPS) – –9.6 kbps, asynchronous transmission – –All Watches & Warnings, selected forecast, hydrologic, and agricultural products – –Volume: >14,000 product/day, >60MB/day Domestic Data Service (DDS) – –9.6 kbps, asynchronous transmission – –Observations and forecasts for the CONUS – –Volume: >35,000 product/day, >55MB/day

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push FOS – Family of Services (Push) International Data Service (IDS) – –9.6 kbps, asynchronous transmission – –Worldwide observations and forecasts – –Volume: >42,000 product/day, >35MB/day High Resolution Data Service (HRS) – –56 kbps, X.25 transmission – –Model-derived forecasts and analyses (mostly GRIB) – –Volume: >62,000 product/day, >315MB/day Detailed information about PPS, DDS, IDS, and HRS products are available at

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push FOS – Family of Services (Push) Radar Product Service (RDS) – –1.5 Mbps, IP Multicast transmission – –WSR-88D Level III products – –Volume: >800,000 product/day, 8 to 11GB/day Detailed information about RPS is available at Detailed information about PPS, DDS, IDS, and HRS products are available at

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Push Products Provided via Push Content managed by the Data Management group in the Operations Support and Performance Branch Changes made on a daily basis in response to operational requirements and customer requests Products identified in the NWSTG (the Switching Directory) listed at Products pushed via FOS, ISCS, NOAAPORT, and EMWIN listed at

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull Servers provide access to stored data through various server protocols FTP – Access to data files via anonymous FTP at ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov (since 1993!)ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov FTPMail – based FTP for clients without the ability to establish interactive sessions HTTP – Access to data files via (since 1994!) FOS Server Access Services – FTP access through a dedicated connection

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull FTP – Access to data files via anonymous FTP at ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov including ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov NCEP model output Product files (multiple messages or bulletins per file) WSR-88D Level III products Satellite products Facsimile products See for more informationhttp://weather.gov/tg/dataprod.html

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull FTPMail – based FTP Access to all FTPable products on ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov an FTP command sequence to Used primarily in the maritime community to retrieve products via satellite services See for usage detailshttp://weather.gov/tg/ftpmail.html

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull HTTP – Access to data files Access all the products at ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov without FTP overhead at ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.govhttp://weather.noaa.gov/pub Provides more browsable alternative to FTP Application-based HTTP file transfers are often faster than FTP Traditional interactive Web services include – – – – – –

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull FOS Server Access Services (SAS) – FTP access through a dedicated connection SAS customers establish a point-to-point connection with and NWS router Customer router hosting at the NWSTG for balanced multiple-circuit connections 64Kb, T1, multiple-T1, and T3 connections Access to a non-public anonymous FTP server holding the same data as ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull File Formats Single product files: Multiple product files: See for a description of how products are delimited within a filehttp://weather.gov/tg/fstandrd.html Non-headed product files: grid_DF.bb/fh.0000_tl.press grid_DF.bb/fh.0000_tl.press CWA-specific, Zone-specific or named files:

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull Directory Structures Descriptive directory naming: See Encoded Directory naming: 21.txt /PT.grid_DF.bb/fh.0000_tl.press 21.txt /PT.grid_DF.bb/fh.0000_tl.press See the Directory and File Naming Standards document at to understand how to decode

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull Directory Structures – decoding example SL.us – server location: United States (us), NWSTG (008), Server 1 (01) DF.af – data format: WMO bulletins of alphanumeric data as GTS exchanged (ASCII) DC.sflnd – data category: Surface data (land) DS.metar – data subcategory: Aviation – METAR sn.0021.txt – sequence number file (21 st in the sequence) containing text data

4/27/ NWSTG Data Dissemination - Pull Directory Structures – decoding example /PT.grid_DF.bb/fh.0000_tl.press SL.us – server location: United States (us), NWSTG (008), Server 1 (01) ST.opnl – status of data files: operational MT.eta – model type: Eta Forecast Model CY.00 – cycle of run: 00 UTC RD – reference date: January 08, 2004 PT.grid – product type: gridded DF.bb – data format: WMO bulletins of binary fields in GRIB as GTS exchanged fh.0000 – forecast hour 0000 UTC tl.press – type of level or layer: pressure

4/27/2004 KWBC Weather Bureau Communications Began as a manual data collection and distribution center in World War II Teletype Circuits IBM 360 Computers 104 Ckts, one at 3.6k bps HDS 9060 Computers T1 to NMC (NCEP) IBM 9672, 1 IBM IBM 6000/F50 servers 2 IBM 6000/H50 servers 10 Mbs Ethernet to NCEP ATM and multiple T1s Today?

4/27/2004 A View of the Past

4/27/ Your Data and Product Advocates Data Management Staff P Fred Branski - Team Leader, Data Management (301) ext 146 P Julie Hayes - Family of Services Manager (301) ext 120 P Walter Smith - Senior Data Manager (301) ext 139 P Richard Robinson - Data Manager (301) ext 179 P Sharon Abbas – Data Manager (301) ext 120 P Tom King – Statistics Analysis and Support (301) ext 110 P KWBC Communication Control Center (CCC) - Tech Control <Point of contact 24 hours every day  Phone: (301) < Fax : (301)

4/27/2004 National Weather Service Telecommunication Gateway GTS System Questions / Discussion