OFS Gulf of Maine Currents
| Provider: | Center for Operational Oceanographic Products (NOAA) |
| Model scope: | North America East Coast |
| Update frequency: | every 24 hours |
| Resolution: | 0.6nm, 1.1km |
| Model duration: | 24 forecasts starting at 3 hrs, ending at 3 days |
| Parameters: | current, tide |
| GRIB model date: | Sat Feb 22 00:00:00 2025 UTC |
| Download date: | Sat Feb 22 03:22:14 2025 UTC |
| Download delay: | 3hr 22min |
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, a new three-dimensional Gulf of Maine Operational Forecast System (GoMOFS) 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). GoMOFS generates nowcasts (analyses of near present) and forecast guidance of water level, current, temperature and salinity out to 72 hours, four times per day. Aerial animations of the whole Gulf of Maine as well as time series at particular stations or points of interest are available for over 20 locations for the five parameters (water level, currents, temperature, and/or salinity). GoMOFS will assist U.S. port authorities and mariners in efficiently navigating the Gulf of Maine without compromising safety.
GoMOFS runs on NOAA’s High Performance Computers (HPC) in a new Coastal Ocean Modeling Framework (COMF) developed by CO-OPS. As a result, GoMOFS has direct access to National Weather Service operational meteorological products that it needs to run reliably.
Note: This data is only available with forecast data every three hours. There are extreme tidal flows in this model domain, and the highs and lows of the actual currents may not be captured in the GRIB data. You should exercise caution when using this data, and be sure to consult additional tide and current references.
Grid
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/images/gomofs_grid_plot.pngThe Gulf of Maine OFS model is calculated using a bathymetry following irregular grid which has over 800,000 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: