1. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi
U.S. PORT METEORLOGICAL OFICERS MEETING
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi
Sarah North – August 2014
© Crown copyright Met Office

2. E-SURFMAR VOS Activities
Scope of presentation
What is E-SURFMAR and how does it work
How well are we performing and how good is our VOS data
Which operational tools do we use to maintain our VOS fleets
What are our plans for automation
What’s in the pipeline
How can we work together in the future

3. EUMETNET is a grouping of 31 European National Meteorological Services
EUMETNET's mission statement is:
"To help its Members to develop and share their individual and joint capabilities through cooperation programmes that enable enhanced networking, interoperability, optimisation and integration within Europe; and also to enable collective representation with European bodies in order that these capabilities can be exploited effectively."

4. E-SURFMAR (Surface Marine Observation Programme)
E-SURFMAR is an “optional” EUMETNET programme
Its main objectives are to coordinate, optimise and progressively integrate European activities for surface observations over the sea in support of Numerical Weather Predictions.
The current Programme Manager is Pierre Blouch from Météo-France.

5. E-SURFMAR Components Shipborne AWS (National and EUCOS fleets)
Conventional VOS (National fleets)
Moored buoys (National networks)
Drifting buoys (EUCOS network)

6. E-SURFMAR Membership 1. RMI (Belgium) 11. MeteoLux (Luxembourg)
2. DHMZ (Croatia)
12. KNMI (Netherlands)
3. DMI (Denmark)
13. Met.no (Norway)
4. FMI (Finland)
14. IMPA (Portugal)
5. Meteo France (France)
15. RHMMS (Serbia)
6. DWD (Germany)
16. AEMet (Spain)
7. HNMS (Greece)
17. SMHI (Sweden)
8. IMO (Iceland)
18. MeteoSwiss (Switzerland)
9. Met Eireann (Ireland)
19. UKMO (United Kingdom)
10. USAM (Italy)

7. Observations Programme
Operational Service E-AMDAR
Operational Service Management E-AMDAR
E-AMDAR Expert Team
Operational Service E-ASAP
Operational Service Management E-ASAP
E-ASAP Expert Team
Operational Service E-SURFMAR
Operational Service Management E-SURFMAR
E-SURFMAR Expert Team
Operational Service E-PROFILE
Operational Service Management E-PROFILE
E-PROFILE Expert Team
Operational Service E-GVAP
Operational Service Management E-GVAP
E-GVAP Expert Team
Project OPERA
Project Management OPERA
OPERA Expert Team
Observations Programme Management
Observations Scientific Expert Team (Obs-SET)
Observations Programme Advisory Group (OPAG)

8. E-SURFMAR Requirements
Implement an optimum overall surface marine network design, and to regularly revise it according to data user's requirements.
The first design study (2004) led to an operational network of about 100 drifting buoys measuring air pressure and sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic
Financial and technical support for the operation of 4 moored buoys as a baseline for the calibration and the validation of satellite-derived wind and wave observations.
Support for VOS activities in order to better coordinate and harmonise practices. This support includes compensation observations and communications.
Operation of Shipborne Automated Weather Stations (S-AWS) in support of the network design and, in parallel, the automation of the observation aboard ships through the development of such stations.

9. E-SURFMAR Tasks Ordering/Delivery/Deployment of drifting buoys
Managing participating members compensations
Evaluate and implement cost effective communication systems for S-AWS, VOS and buoys.
Install/operate S-AWS aboard E-ASAP ships.
Facilitate technical information exchange
Tendering for EUCAWS with common specifications.
Monitoring the availability, timeliness and quality of the data and resolving problems.
Working closely with JCOMM Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) and Ship Observations Team (SOT).

10. E-SURFMAR Data ( within Eumetnet area )
Conventional VOS
S-AWS
Drifting buoys
Moored buoys

11. E-SURFMAR Data
Eumetnet
Non-Eumetnet

12. VOS and S-AWS Targets & Performance (2014-Q1)
Difficult to reach this target
Still too high despite efforts (QC feedbacks)
To be reached in 2017
Decreasing performance ? Needs investigation

13. E-SURFMAR Conventional VOS
Target for : 250 obs/day
Operated by E-SURFMAR participants (national fleets)

14. E-SURFMAR Shipborne AWS
Target for :1,600 obs./day (Excluding 400 obs./day provided by E-SURFMAR S-AWS )
graph includes S-AWS operated by participants (national fleets) and by the programme (E-SURFMAR fleet)

15. E-SURFMAR Drifting Buoys
Number of operating buoys close to the target of 100
The problem of short lifetimes has been fixed at Metocean
Lifetime problems
Average number of observations received every day from the drifting buoys
Thanks to Iridium, more than 90% of the observations are now distributed onto the GTS within 50 minutes after the obs. time

16. E-SURFMAR – national fleet observations
Germany
France
United Kingdom
The Nertherlands

17. Data Quality – Pressure RMS
Manned VOS
S-AWS ?
Present target: 1.0 hPa
Requested: 0.8 hPa
Observations carried out by EUMETNET ships
inside the EUMETNET area

18. E-SURFMAR Data Timeliness - HH+50’
Manned VOS
S-AWS
Target: 90%
Observations carried out by EUMETNET ships
inside the EUMETNET area
Requested target (Obs-SET): having more than nn% of observations available onto the GTS within 15 minutes after the observation time. Unrealistic for manned VOS, to be considered for S-AWS

19. E-SURFMAR - Data Quality Tools
Automatically generated QC reports

20. E-SURFMAR - Metadata http://surfmar.meteo.fr/doc/vosmetadata_v6/
An online database was developed within E-SURFMAR to manage VOS metadata (WMO Pub47 format).
It contains almost all VOS metadata available in the world (permanently updated) and links to monitoring and performance assessments

21. E-SURFMAR – Metadata Database – recent/planned developments
Inspection reports
Ability to directly fill up the inspection reports online added. (report is prepared with metadata available in the database already filled in) . Done for VOSP001 at present only for the moment.
ZZ fleet (Ancillary VOS)
Authorized users can create VOS records under ZZ country.
Inclusion of Offshore Platforms
Rigs and platforms can now also be added using vsslM=90 (manned) or 95 (AWS)
AIS Locations : link configurable and available for each VOS
Link to marinetraffic.com position and tracks when MMSI number added
Monitoring reports by
Ability to automatically send monitoring reports by
A facility to request a report by is also being developed e.g. By mailing and specifying the call sign in the subject line [e.g. [obs report] : Call_Sign] you may automatically receive an Observations Monitoring Report for a given SHIP :
J.Pierre KERSERHO, E-SURFMAR
METEO-FRANCE

22. E-SURFMAR – Metadata Database – recent/planned developments
Observations Trajectory
From the results of a query in the database, click on the 'Google maps' icon and consult in google map the trajectory of the Ship over the last 15 days of Observations received. Application will ask for login and password. Window will close automatically with the mouse position
Access Observation Counters and Last Positions Map
Possibility to count observation counters for listed VOS or to display the map their latest positions. E.g. if the contact form is filled up with company names, the user may do a query for a given company. The observation counters will provide the numbers of observations for this company and the last positions for its VOS.
More exported files from ESURFMAR VOS DATABASE
Daily export of VOSClim metadata available at ftp://esurfmar.meteo.fr/pub/Pub47
J.Pierre KERSERHO, E-SURFMAR
METEO-FRANCE

23. Dirkzwager AIS

24. E-SURFMAR – TurboWin electronic logbooks

25. E-SURFMAR – TurboWin electronic logbooks
TurboWin 5.5 (November 2014)
Selected wind speed visualization
Update of applied checks
Volcanic Ash reporting form
TurboWeb/TurboWin+
TurboWeb is primarily meant for ships with an internet connection
Can also be used as a standalone program
Will interface to sensor data from the EUCAWS ( but also allow manned visual elements to be added)
Can link to Vaisala 220/330 barometers to provide barograph chart
insert manually observed data

26. Growth in use of electronic logbooks

27. E-SURFMAR Automation – Current Ship AWS
Country
Stations according to Pub47 metadata
Onto GTS in April 14
Remark
France
56 Batos 4 Minos
2 OceanoScientific
50 2 2
BATFRnn & FVNM MINFRnn
OSCFRnn
Germany
17 Milos ship’s own systems
17 2
… DBBH and DBLK
Norway
5 developed by met.no 5
Research Vessels
Spain
1 Maws 410
Esperanza del Mar
E-Surfmar
11 BaTos 18 BaRos
11 16
BATEUnn BAREUnn
Sweden
4 ? 4
SBPQ, SDIA, SKEC, SMLQ,
United Kingdom
36 Amos 1 BaTos 3 Minos
29 1 3
AMOUKnn
BATUK01 MINUKnn
Total
159 stations
142
(136 in March 2013)

28. E-SURFMAR S-AWS Fleet

29. E-SURFMAR - BaTos AWS Fleet
Station
Ship’s name
GTS since
ASAP
Installed by
Remarks
BATEU00
Mary Arctica
2006/02/07
Yes
DMI
In operation
BATEU01
Toronto Express
2006/05/12 No
Met Office
BATEU02
Celtic Explorer
2006/06/19
Met Eireann
BATEU03
Celtic Voyager
2011/01/22
BATEU04
Nuka Arctica
2011/01/07
BATEU05
Irena Arctica
2007/02/08
BATEU06
Montreal Express
2007/08/02
BATEU07
Mississauga Express
2009/12/09
Meteo-France
BATEU08
Naja Arctica
2010/12/17
BATEU09
Urania
2011/03/24
BATEU10
Cap Finistère
2013/10/08
BATEU11
Spare
BATEU12
P, T, U, V + SST (optional) and visual observations
Status on May 16th, 2014

30. E-SURFMAR - BaRos S-AWS Fleet
Station
Ship’s name
GTS since
ASAP
Installed by
Remarks
Cyprus moored buoy
2013/07/23 No
UCY (Cyprus)
In operation
BAREU00
Atlantic Compass
2008/03/27
Yes
DWD
BAREU04
Atlantic Companion
2008/12/12
BAREU08
Liverpool Express
2009/04/03
BAREU11
Dublin Express
2010/02/03
BAREU12
Atlantic Conveyor
2011/11/03
BAREU13
Ottawa Express
BAREU14
Atlantic Cartier
2013/12/09
BAREU51
La Superba
2010/12/20
ENEA (Italy)
BAREU58
Thomson Majesty
2011/02/21
MOA (Cyprus)
BAREU60
Dubrovnik
2011/03/18
DHZ (Croatia)
BAREU62
Daniel A
2011/09/26
BAREU65
Aegean Dignity
2012/04/02
HNMS
BAREU66
Excellent
2013/06/04
BAREU67
Hilde A
2013/07/04
BAREU70
Marguerite A
2013/02/03
BAREU71
Sete Citades
2013/05/08
Meteo-France
BAREU72
Natalia A
BAREU74
Ayse A
2014/05/03
Sea Level
Pressure only
Status on May 13th, 2014

31. E-SURFMAR BaRos S-AWS 7 installed on E-ASAP containers
10 on ships plying in the Mediterranean Sea
One on a Cyprus moored buoy in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea
4 are BaRos+ systems (Meteo-France upgrades) – one with Vaisala WXT520, 2 with Gill MetPak-II
The most recent on a ferry plying between Portugal and Azores reports wind data.

32. E-SURFMAR EUCAWS development
European
Common
Automatic
Weather
Station
A common AWS for European countries:
Automation of European Fleet
Standardisation of systems – easier maintenance
Higher quantities, lower prices
Adaptable to many sensor types
Countries planning to participate –
Germany (200),Netherlands (50) France (40), Ireland (5), Sweden (5) 32

33. EUCAWS - Functionality

34. Data Acquisition & Transmission
EUCAWS will be able to acquire:
Pressure
Temperature
Humidity
Wind
SST
Heading (compass)
Navigational data (GPS)
Connection with TurboWin to add visual observations
Designed to be adaptable to a variety of sensors and multisensors
Iridium Transmission - Port mode, Area mode, Trigger mode
E-SURFMAR data format #100
Only one processing centre to decode encode FM13 or BUFR messages

35. EUCAWS - Design Rack containing : CU board Power board Analog board
Digital board
Iridium board
GPS board
Power supply unit
NMEA output
Barometer
Sensor connections
I/O Protection
Size : 46 x 55 x 26 cm
Weight : 16 kg

36. EUCAWS - Site Acceptance Test
On ship Armorique (Roscoff-Plymouth)
3 systems to be prototype tested
Factory Acceptance Test
Site Acceptance Test
Acceptance period lasts until June 2015 36

37. AMOS - Autonomous Marine Observing System
Easy to install ( ~2 hours)
Two systems depending on ship requirements – 24 V (<2 Amp peak draw ) or solar cells
Basic parameters temp, pressure, humidity only ( but expandable)
Uses Vaisala 330 Barometer or Druck Barometer
Rotronic Hydroclip temperature/humidity sensor
Based on the proven CR1000 data logger
Iridium Communications B Transceiver module with GPS antenna
Hourly observations – on GTS
Simple legal document signed by Captain or shipowner
© Crown copyright Met Office

38. Recent AMOS locations (May 2014)
© Crown copyright Met Office

39. AMOS Data Quality – RMS Pressure
© Crown copyright Met Office

40. International Growth in Automation

41. Other Issues being considered by E-SURFMAR
Uniform Recruitment and Inspection reports for VOS & AWS
Future E-PMO Workshops
Contingency planning and backup (avoiding single points of expertise)
National and E-SURFMAR links with major shipping companies
Recruitment to the VOS Ancillary Pilot Project & future use of WOW
Harmonization of meteorological instruments & Replacement of mercury
Future use of the Marine Observer’s Log – Wikilog
Differences in real time and delayed mode data
Third party data sources   

42. Other Issues being considered by E-SURFMAR
Need for data blocking procedures
Future of SAC Code 41
Rollout of the half compression SACs and for manual VOS
Code formats for TurboWin
Migration to BUFR - Status of the VOS template
Ship Security - Call sign masking & encryption
E-SURFMAR data format for sending VOS and S-AWS observations ashore
Weather messages over AIS
International participation – IMO, WMO, JCOMM
© Crown copyright Met Office

43. E-SURFMAR– Memoranda of Understanding
MoU – Inspection of manually reporting and automated VOS by PMOs or technicians from other E-SURFMAR National Meteorological Services
MoU’s between Meteo France and other members for data collection and processing
MoU with NOAA – Coordination Annex

44. E-SURFMAR/NOAA - possible collaboration areas
Manual VOS and AWS inspections
Drifting buoy deployments
TurboWin software development
AWS development
Metadata database development
AIS tools
Uniform inspection forms
Ancillary/support fleet developments
Liaison with major shipping companies
PMO training/secondments/procedures/work instructions

45. Questions
Real World
Perfect World
© Crown copyright Met Office