OFS Northern Gulf of Mexico Currents
| Provider: | Center for Operational Oceanographic Products (NOAA) |
| Model scope: | North America |
| Update frequency: | every 6 hours |
| Resolution: | 0.6nm, 1.1km |
| Model duration: | 17 forecasts starting at 0 hr, ending at 2 days |
| Parameters: | current, tide |
| GRIB model date: | Fri Feb 21 21:00:00 2025 UTC |
| Download date: | Sat Feb 22 01:34:03 2025 UTC |
| Download delay: | 4hr 34min |
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.
A Northern Gulf of Mexico Operational Forecast System (NGOFS2) has been developed to serve the maritime user community. NGOFS2 was developed in a joint project of the NOAA/National Ocean Service (NOS)/Office of Coast Survey, the NOAA/NOS/Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), the NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS)/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations (NCO) and the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth using the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). NGOFS2 generates water level, current, temperature and salinity nowcast and forecast guidance four times per day. Aerial animations of the whole northern Gulf of Mexico as well as time series at particular stations or points of interest are available for 177 locations for the five parameters (wind, water level, currents, temperature, and/or salinity).
NGOFS2 runs on NOAA’s High Performance Computers (HPC) in a new Coastal Ocean Modeling Framework (COMF) developed by CO-OPS. As a result, NGOFS2 has direct access to National Weather Service operational meteorological products that it needs to run reliably.
NGOFS2 is based on a three-dimensional, high resolution model, and with the added reliability of running at NOAA’s HPC, NGOFS2 will assist U.S. port authorities and mariners in efficiently navigating the northern Gulf of Mexico without compromising safety.
Grid
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/images/NGOFS2_grid.pngThe Northern Gulf of Mexico OFS model is calculated using a bathymetry following irregular grid which has over 300,000 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: