OFS Chesapeake Bay Currents
| Provider: | Center for Operational Oceanographic Products (NOAA) |
| Model scope: | North America East Coast |
| Update frequency: | every 6 hours |
| Resolution: | 0.3nm, 0.6km |
| Model duration: | 48 forecasts starting at 1 hr, ending at 2 days |
| Parameters: | current, tide |
| GRIB model date: | Sat Feb 22 00:00:00 2025 UTC |
| Download date: | Sat Feb 22 02:05:12 2025 UTC |
| Download delay: | 2hr 05min |
Note: the Download delay is the amount of time required for the GRIB model to compute its forecast and then for the LuckGrib cluster to download the data and make it available. The LuckGrib delay is generally less than 10 minutes, the remainder of the delay is the model compute time.
Description
The following text has been taken from the OFS site which describes this model:
For decades, mariners in the United States have depended on NOAA’s Tide Tables for the best estimate of expected water levels. These tables provide accurate predictions of the astronomical tide (i.e., the change in water level due to the gravitational effects of the moon and sun and the rotation of the Earth); however, they cannot predict water-level changes due to wind, atmospheric pressure, and river flow, which are often significant.
To better serve maritime user community, an upgraded three-dimensional version of the Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast System (CBOFS) was developed by the NOAA/National Ocean Service/Office of Coast Survey in a joint project with the NOAA/NOS/Center for operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and the NOAA/National Weather Service/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations (NCO) using Rutgers University’s Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). CBOFS generates water level, current, temperature and salinity nowcast and forecast guidance four times per day. Aerial animations of the whole Chesapeake Bay as well as time series at particular stations or points of interest are available for over 58 locations for the five parameters (water level, currents, temperature, and/or salinity).
CBOFS runs on NOAA’s High Performance Computers (HPC) in a new Coastal Ocean Modeling Framework (COMF) developed by CO-OPS. As a result, CBOFS has direct access to National Weather Service operational meteorological products that it needs to run reliably.
The higher resolution and three-dimensionality of the new CBOFS along with the added current nowcast and forecast information and the additional reliability of running at NOAA’s HPC will further assist U.S. port authorities and mariners in efficiently navigating the Chesapeake Bay without compromising safety.
Grid
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/images/cbofs2_grid.pngThe Chesapeake Bay OFS model is calculated using a bathymetry following irregular grid which has over 94,000 grid nodes. The results of this computation are then sampled, by OFS, into a regular latitude / longitude aligned grid. The data on this regular grid are then converted to GRIB format by LuckGrib.
Additional information
For additional information, see: