[NCEP.List.Jifmemo] jif_memo_071102

Fri Nov 2 15:14:35 EDT 2007

                                    November 2, 2007 

MEMORANDUM FOR:    Distribution E 

FROM:		      John H. Ward 
		      Chief, Production Management Branch 

SUBJECT:	      Changes to the NWS Production Suite

1.  NCO is redesigning the Job Implementation Form (JIF) to incorporate features from the Request for Change (RFC) Form and enhanced capabilities required by the modified change control process tentatively scheduled for implementation on Monday, 26 November.  Additional information will be provided at a later date.    

2.  The annual December moratorium on changes to the Production Suite will begin at close of business on Tuesday, 18 December and will end on Tuesday, 8 January.  Any request for changes to the Production Suite must be received by Wednesday, 28 November in order to be considered for implementation prior to the moratorium. 

3.  All NCEP model derived GRIB1 data currently residing on the NCEP and TOC FTP servers will be removed on 28 January 2008.  Equivalent GRIB2 data sets are available on both servers.  NOAAPORT data will not be impacted by this change. 

NCEP provides software to convert GRIB2 formatted data back into GRIB1. Please use the link below to obtain the software utility to convert formats: 

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/codes/GRIB2/ 

Information regarding product equivalents for GRIB1 and GRIB2 on the NWS FTP TOC servers (tgdata.nws.noaa.gov and tgftp.nws.noaa.gov) and NCEP ftp server (ftp.ncep.noaa.gov) can be found via the link below: 

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/docs/GRIB1_to_GRIB2.shtml 

Please direct all questions concerning the software codes to the 
following NCO PMB Dataflow Helpdesk: NCEP.PMB.Dataflow at noaa.gov 

4.  Upcoming major changes to NCEP's production suite and details on any product or timing changes associated with upcoming implementations can be viewed at the following website: 

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/changes/ 

Test data for each of these proposed changes should be available six weeks prior to implementation.  Anyone wishing to receive formal notice of the final pre-implementation testing and the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed changes can subscribe to the Model Evaluation mailing list via: 

https://lstsrv.ncep.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/ncep.list.modelevalinfo 

5.  Maintenance of subscriptions to the JIF memo mailing list can be performed via a new list server at: 

https://lstsrv.ncep.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/ncep.list.jifmemo

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    The following crisis item was implemented this past week:

    1083.  DATAFLOW - System CCS.  (Freeman, NP11).  The cleanlist defines directory thresholds for DBNet cleanup.  The cleanlist has been updated to purge the BTG_push/outputq queue while the BTG is down.  The BTG host, tgs06, is down until 5, November due to system problems.  Done at 12Z on 26 October.

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    The following items will be implemented at 12Z on Tuesday, 6 November:  

    1084.  BUFR_TRANGOESSST - IBM Job JIGOES_SST.  (Katz, NP2).  This program encodes 24-hour averaged GOES SST data into BUFR for ingest into /dcom.  The range of longitudes for the GOES SST data is being corrected to lie between -180.0 degrees and -30.0 degrees, instead of +180.0 degrees and +330.0 degrees.  This change corrects error in the EOS SST encoder.

    1085.  DATAFLOW - SCRIPT - IBM Job AEROSOL.  (O'reilly, NP11).  Job script JIAEROSOL.sms.prod initiates the job that ingests the latest weekly and monthly NESDIS aerosol gridded data files into the /dcom database on the NCEP CCS machines.  New script ingest_avhrr.sh files NESDIS GVF in the /dcom database on NCEP CCS machines.  Script JIAEROSOL.sms.prod is being modified to begin pulling NESDIS weekly global GVF (green vegetation fraction) files from the DDS server.  It initiates new script ingest_avhrr.sh to perform the filing in the /dcom database in the appropriate location.  This change is in response to a request from EMC.  EMC requires this NCO action in order to begin testing GVF in GFS real-time parallel testbeds.

    1086.  DATAFLOW-SCRIPT - IBM Job jrun_historyXX.  (Cooke, NP11).  The run history scripts archive model data to HPSS.  The run history scripts are being modified to check to see if the index file for a tar exists instead of the actual tar file.  When a run history job fails due to exceeding its wall clock limit, it is possible that the tar file being sent is not complete. When the job is restarted, it only checks to see if a tar file exists on HPSS.  If true it will not resend.  By checking for the index file there is no chance that the partial tar will not be resent.

    1087.  DATAFLOW-PMB - System WOC.  (Cooke, NP11).  The exec_table defines executable actions to be taken in response to an alert.  The exec table is being modified to begin sending GRIB2 versions of GFS 1.0 degree and 2.5 degree data to CONDUIT.  The users of CONDUIT are migrating towards GRIB2 instead of GRIB1. Currently the GFS 1.0 and 2.5 degree datasets are being sent in GRIB1 format only.  This change will run in parallel with the GRIB1 data for an expected two week period.  After that time the GRIB1 dataset into COUNDUIT will be discontinued.

    1088.  DATAFLOW-SPC - System ncosrv.  (Freeman, NP11).  Spider downloads and optionally remaps McIDAS images from NESDIS Spider servers.  The ncosrv Spider configuration is being updated to download the experimental blended Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product.  The blended total precipitable water product is a unique "all-weather" product that is not limited by the presence of clouds and precipitation.  By combining measurements over oceans from microwave sensors on polar orbiting satellites with GPS measurements over the CONUS, the blended TPW product provides a timely and accurate mosaic of the total precipitable water field, which is an important input for severe storm forecasters at the SPC. 

    1089.  DATAFLOW-AWC - System NCOSRV.  (O'reilly, NP11).  The DBNet parsing.tbl defines actions to be taken in response to an alert.   The parsing.tbl is being modified to begin sending SREF parallel alerts to AWC.  AWC has requested access to this data so they may participate in the evaluation of this data.

    1090.  DATAFLOW - PMB - System CCS.  (O'reilly, NP11).  The parsing.tbl defines actions to be taken in response to an alert. The scp.tbl defines files to be pushed to remote sites.   The tables are being modified to begin sending the parallel CFS to the NCEP ftp server.  This change is to disseminate the parallel CFS to the end users to enable them to evaluate the data prior to implementation into production.

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    The following items will be implemented at 12Z on Wednesday, 7 November:  

    1091.  DATAFLOW - SCRIPT - IBM Job RTMA_POST.  (O'reilly, NP11).  Script exrtma_post.sh.sms estimates the analysis error for the RTMA and converts the output into GRIB1 and GRIB2 format.  The script is being modified to uncomment DBNet alerts for files rtma.tccz.2dvaranl_ndfd.grb2 and rtma.tccz.2dvarges_ndfd.grb2.  This change is to begin alerting and distributing RTMA output to the NCEP ftp server.

    1092.  DATAFLOW-SCRIPT - IBM Job jrun_historyXX.  (Cooke, NP11).  The script rhist_savenam.sh archives NAM data to HPSS.  The script is being modified to begin sending NAM GOESLL output files to the HPSS permanent archive.  With the latest NAM upgrade new GOESLL datasets will start to be generated. The centers have requested that the output files be added to the HPSS archive.

    1093.  DATAFLOW-CONDUIT - System WOC.  (Cooke, NP11).  The parsing.tbl defines actions to be taken in response to an alert. The exec_table defines executable actions to be taken in response to an alert.  The parsing and exec tables are being modified to begin sending GDAS analysis data through the LDM CONDUIT feed.  There is an open request from the CONDUIT group to get the GDAS analysis data added to the LDM CONDUIT feed.

    1094.  DATAFLOW - PMB - System CCS.  (O'reilly, NP11).  The parsing.tbl defines actions to be taken in response to an alert. The scp.tbl defines files to be transferred to remote sites.  The DBNet parsing.tbl on the CCS is being modified to begin sending hourly RTMA output to the WOC Disk server.  Users have requested access to our CONUS RTMA grids.  Additionally, these files are slated to replace the RUCS files currently on the NCEP ftp server.