Graeme Ball VOS Program Manager, Australia Chairman, Ship Observations Team PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg, Germany. Ship’s Metadata & WMO-No. 47

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 2 Outline  The need for ship’s metadata.  Operational Needs for WMO-No. 47 (Pub47).  Requirements of Pub47.  Planned changes to Pub47.  Introduction of new Pub47.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 3 The Need for Ship’s Metadata  Assessing the quality of observed data: Equipment types & exposure; Methods of observations; and Frequency of inspections & instrument performance checks.  Used in climate change investigations.  Used in research: Modeling the wind flow over ships; Comparing sensor types; and Comparing instrument models and manufacturers.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 4 Operational Needs for Pub47  Basis of a new monitoring report produced by UKMO.  Assists in determining the status of foreign ships.  Assists PMOs preparing to visit a foreign VOS ship.  Identifies potential ships: For VOS Recruitment; To participate in SOOP or ASAP; and To deploy drifting buoys or profiling floats.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 5 Pub47 Requirements  What ? Metadata for the entire national VOS fleet; and List of nationally defined shipping routes.  When ? Quarterly, ideally at the end of March, June, Sept & Dec.  How ? Comma delimited files in the 2002 format (ver. 2); and By to

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 6 Planned Changes to Pub47  Task Team on WMO-No 47, established at SOT-II (London, July 2003).  22 page proposal to ETMC-I (Gdynia, July 2004).  Recommendations and comments from ETMC-I presented at SOT-III (Brest, March 2005).  Final proposal from SOT-III to JCOMM-II (Halifax, September 2005).

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 7 ETMC-I Final Report  …. that mobile units, at least on a temporary basis shall be reported in Pub47.  …. fixed platforms should be subject to ODAS metadata requirements.  Basically supported all of the recommendations from the Task Team on WMO-No. 47.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 8 JCOMM-II Final Report  Noted with approval the changes developed and implemented by the SOT ……. to the contents of the existing code tables associated with WMO-No. 47.  ….. to implement modifications to the definitions and details of the fields (and format) of WMO-No. 47, and to initiate preparation …. of a version of …. XML for the future exchange of the metadata for WMO-No. 47.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 9 JCOMM-II Final Report  Noted with approval the adoption …. of a semi-colon delimited format for the immediate current exchange of the metadata for WMO-No. 47.  …. SOT would be the subsidiary body of JCOMM responsible for the future maintenance of WMO-No. 47, in consultation as appropriate ….

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 10 Changes to Existing Tables FIELDDESCRIPTIONCHANGE vsslType of vesselNew table selections. barmType of barometerNew table selections. thmE & hygEThermometer & hygrometer exposureDescriptions. barg Type of barograph or method of obtaining pressure tendency Field definition New table selection. vsslMType of meteorological reporting vesselRevised table selections. brmLBarometer location Description and new table selection. rteRoutesConsolidated global list. othI Other meterological/oceanographic instruments New table selections. vsslPDigital imageDescription. footnotesDescriptions. tscaleGeneral temperature reporting practiceRevised table selections. vsslDVessel dimensionsImproved descriptions.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 11 Changed Field Definitions FIELDFROMTO prSTTeleprinter and SatelliteSatellite system for transmitting observations chtvsslDAverage Cargo HeightMaximum Cargo Height above SLL

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 12 New & Deleted Fields NEW FIELDS WITH ASSOCIATED TABLES FIELDDESCRIPTION anmTType of anemometer freqScheduled observing frequency anSCSide indicator of the fixed anemometer from the centre line, if appropriate DELETED FIELDS AND ASSOCIATED TABLES FIELDDESCRIPTION phGrRadiotelephony and Radiotelegraphy

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 13 New Fields FIELDDESCRIPTION verVersion of the Pub47 format (this version = 03). anmMMake and model of the anemometer. awsMMake and model of the Automatic Weather Station. awsPName and version of the AWS processing software. awsCName and version of the AWS data entry/display software. logEName and version of the electronic logbook software. vosRRecruitment date of the current VOS participation. vosDDe-recruitment date of the last VOS participation. vclmRLast VOSClim recruitment date (since vosR). vclmDLast VOSClim de-recruitment date (since vosR). regCountry of registration. New semi-colon delimited format

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 14 Improved Documentation Vessel Dimensions LengthLength overall of the ship, ignoring bulbous bow BreadthMoulded breadth. Greatest breadth amidships FreeboardThe average height of the upper deck above the maximum Summer load line DraughtThe average depth of the keel below the maximum Summer load line Cargo heightMaximum height above the maximum Summer load line. Instrument height/depth Height above, or the depth below the maximum Summer load line, except for field 32 (anHD).

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 15 Vessel Layout Diagram

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 16 eXtensible Markup Language  XML is a text-based format, from the same family that includes HTML.  Widely used to transfer data, particularly metadata, via the internet.  The semi-colon delimited Pub47 file exchange will be retained until XML exchange is used exclusively by all VOS operators.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 17 Benefits of XML  Standard method of data exchange over the internet.  User-defined structure, flexible.  Data assembled logically in hierarchical groups.  Self-describing, readable in a web browser.  Sample XML file. Sample XML file

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 18 Introduction of New Pub47  Task Team on WMO-No. 47 to propose a consolidated list of shipping routes at SOT-IV (Rome, April 2007).  New version (Ver. 3) to be effective from 1 July 2007: Database structure at WMO; Semi-colon delimited file exchange; and XML file exchange.  Presentation of Pub47 metadata on WMO website: TBA by WMO.

PMO-III, March 2006, Hamburg. 19