EMC Operational Wave Models
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Glossary
EMC Operational Wave Models
The content provided on this page supports model
development. These are not official NWS products and
should not be relied upon for operational purposes. This
web site is not subject to 24/7 support, and thus may be
unavailable during system outages.
Operationally generated graphics of the wave fields (no
spectra or source terms) are available from
Model Analyses and Guidance
Bulletin files are available from the
Production FTP/HTTPS server
Look for gfs.YYYYMMDD/CC/wave/station/bulls.tCCz/gfswave.stationID.bull
The EMC suite of operational ocean wave models are
based on the wave model WAVEWATCH III
using operational NCEP products as input.
Global Forecast System - Wave
The model is run four times a day: 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z. Each
run produces forecasts of every hour from the initial time out
to 120 hours, and then forecasts at 3-hour intervals out to 384
hours (this website only offers data out to 240 hours).
The global wave model consists of global and regional nested grids.
As background information, a list of selected
references
and a chronological list of
model changes
are
available. Finally,
validation data
are available for the production model
Global Ensemble Forecast System - Wave
The Global Ensemble Forecast System - Wave (GEFS-Wave) is a one-way
coupling of the GEFS atmospheric model with the WAVEWATCH III wave
model. This allows for an increase in frequency of the wind forcing
from 3 hours to 1 hour. This unified system has 30 members and the
wave model is initialized with the previous member's 6 hour forecast.
The wave model has a spatial resolution of 0.25 x 0.25 degrees. The
system runs four cycles per day (00, 06, 12 and 18Z). The wave
forecast has been extended from 10 to 16 days.
More information on the GEFS system is available
here
Great Lakes Waves
The model is
run four times a day: 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, and 18Z. Each run starts
with 9-, 6- and 3-hour hindcasts and produces forecasts of every 3 hours from the
initial time out to 84 hours.
The Great Lakes wave model consists of a single unstructured grid.
As background information, a list of selected
references
and a chronological list of
model changes
are
available.
Hindcast and Reanalysis Archives
There are two classes of WAVEWATCH III
hindcasts.
A thirty-year hindcast generated from the
NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis and Reforecast (CFSRR)
homogeneous dataset of hourly high-resolution winds. The time
period covers from 1979 through 2009. This is a true hindcast
generated with a single version of the model and a statistically
consistent forcing wind field, and is suitable for use in climate
studies.
A data set produced by rerunning the model from the
operational wind fields to produce best-estimate nowcast
datasets for the period Feb 2005 through May 2019.
This is a statistically inhomogeneous hindcast data set, because the
underlying models are periodically updated. Therefore this data set
should not be used for climate studies.
Detailed descriptions of the hindcasts and reanalyses,
with links to the datasets,
validation statistics from buoy match-ups, and visualizations of the
model data fields, can be found in the
WAVEWATCH
III
Hindcast and Reanalysis Archives
WAVEWATCH III
Model Description and GitHub Repository
We have moved to an open development paradigm using GitHub, which
means users and developers are no longer required to submit requests
for usernames and passwords to access our software package.
The WAVEWATCH III
project page is
here
The latest release is available
as a compressed tarball or zipfile from the project page.
To help users and developers navigate the new repositories, we have
created two sets of guidelines in GitHub to help you navigate our
community modeling framework, one for users and the other for
developers:
If you are a user
and would like to access the code for
applications and do not plan to engage in development work, see the
User Guide
If you are a developer
and would like to add a new feature to the
code, see the
Developer
Guide
The
WW3 GitHub wiki
hosts a description
of the model, its main features, output options, user
and developer guides, technical documentation and latest news.
WAVEWATCH III
Tutorials
Two
COMET
modules are available regarding WAVEWATCH III
and analysis of ocean swell:
Operational Use of WAVEWATCH III
Analyzing Ocean Swell
Registration is free for the courses.
Disclaimer
While GFS-Wave, GEFS-Wave, and the Great Lakes Wave are operational
models, we cannot guarantee the timeliness or accuracy of the model
data and figures offered on this site.
Please see our disclaimer for more information.
US Dept of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Weather Service
National Centers for Environmental Prediction
5830 University Research Court
College Park, MD 20740
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