State of VOS National PMO Meeting August 26-28 th Operations
Manager, Paula Rychtar 1 Slide 2 2 iVOS Database numbers: Slide 3 3
Eight classes of ships are in the international VOS scheme.
ClassDescription US VOS count Selected Sufficient certified met.
Instruments. Transmits regular, uses compliant e-logbook. Should
have at least: barometer, thermometer (SST), psychrometer and
barograph. 159 Selected (AWS) Equipped with an Automatic Weather
Station system using sufficient certified met. Instruments.
Transmits regular, uses compliant e-logbook. Should have at least:
barometer, thermometer (SST), psychrometer and barograph. 15
VOSClim Sufficient certified met. Instruments. Transmits regular,
uses compliant e-logbook. Should have at least: barometer,
thermometer (SST), psychrometer and barograph. Enters observations
in an IMMT (international Maritime Meteorological Tape) compliant
e-logbook. Includes delayed-mode groups and proven record of high
quality observations. 4 VOSClim (AWS) Equipped with an Automatic
Weather Station system using sufficient certified met. Instruments.
Transmits regular, uses compliant e-logbook. Should have at least:
barometer, thermometer (SST), psychrometer and barograph. Enters
observations in an IMMT (international Maritime Meteorological
Tape) compliant e-logbook. Includes delayed-mode groups and proven
record of high quality observations. 4 Supplementary equipped with
a limited number of certified meteorological instruments for making
observations. It transmits regular weather reports and enters the
observations in a meteorological logbook. 440 Supplementary (AWS) a
mobile ship station equipped with an AWS system comprising a
limited number of certified meteorological instruments and
reporting regularly. The AWS should at least measure air pressure.
12 Auxiliary a mobile ship station normally without certified
meteorological instruments, which transmits in a reduced code form
or in plain language, either on a routine basis or on request, in
certain data sparse areas and under certain conditions. 194
Auxiliary (AWS) a mobile ship station equipped with an AWS system
comprising non-certified meteorological instruments and reporting
regularly. The AWS should at least measure air pressure. 3 Slide 4
4 OTHER.. VOS Ancillary Pilot Project The VOS Ancillary Pilot
Project is an initiative aimed at allowing a greater number of
ships to join the global VOS scheme without some of the constraints
of being part of a national VOS fleet. The SOT Task Team on VOS
recruitment and Program Promotion (TT-VRPP) is looking towards a
way to accepting ships that cannot be recruited to join VOS in the
traditional way. This is due to a finite pool of certified and
calibrated ships met instruments or because of a lack of PMO
support. Many stipulations are attached to try and place quality
controls and responsibilities. NO country is assigned to this type
ship. ZZ will reflect that as recruiting country not assigned.
Compliant e-logbook software must be used. Number of active
Undesignated (ZZ) ships in our iVOS database: 155 Slide 5 5 VOS
Observations (worldwide) for the month of April 2014 Slide 6 6 VOS
observations with an overlay of VOSClim class ship observations
VOSClim fleet is a class of reporting ships within VOS that aims to
provide a high-quality Subset of VOS data in real-time and also in
delayed-mode, supplemented by an extensive array of metadata to
support global climate studies and research. VOSClim Slide 7 7 Port
Meteorological Officers 12 FTE, One PTE, Three Focal Point Alaska
Region: Three Focal Point PMOs Anchorage Anchorage Valdez (vacant)
Valdez (vacant) Kodiak (vacant) Kodiak (vacant) Western Region:
Three full time PMOs Seattle Washington Seattle Washington
Oakland/San Francisco CA (vacant) Oakland/San Francisco CA (vacant)
Los Angeles CA (vacant) Los Angeles CA (vacant) Pacific Region: One
part time PMO Honolulu Honolulu Central Region: One full time PMO
Duluth, MN Duluth, MN Eastern Region: Four full time PMOs New York
City New York City Baltimore, MD Baltimore, MD Norfolk, VA Norfolk,
VA Charleston, SC Charleston, SC Southern Region: Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville, FL Miami, FL Miami, FL New Orleans, LA (vacant) New
Orleans, LA (vacant) Houston, TX Houston, TX Slide 8 8 E-Logbook
Software currently in use by Active US VOS Ships AMVERSEAS version
8.00 or older*62975.7% AMVERSEAS version 9.150.60% TurboWin11714.7%
Manual (paper form B-81)809.6% *non compliant under WMO guidelines.
iVOS Database numbers: Slide 9 9 PMOs individual fleets (Active
reporting ships as of August 2014) PMO locationNumber of active
ships in their fleet Total onboard ship visits performed by PMO
over the last three months. (May, June, July) Anchorage, AK19921
Baltimore, MD3527 Charleston, SC320*(out to sea/cadet training)
Duluth, MN6541 Honolulu, HI30 Houston, TX6450 Jacksonville, FL4851
Kodiak, AK962 (vacant) Los Angeles, CA360 (vacant) Miami, FL7642
New Orleans, LA240 (vacant) New York, NY7697 Norfolk, VA15125 San
Francisco/Oak, CA90 (vacant) Seattle, WA5350 Valdez, AK00 (vacant)
Slide 10 10 VOS international commitments, activities and task
teams VOS Drifter Donation Program Task Team on Instrument
Standards (TT-IS) Ship Observations Team Task Team on Metadata for
WMO-47 (TT-Pub47) Task Team on Satellite Communications Systems
(TT-Satcom) Task Team on VOS recruitment and program promotion (TT-
VOSRPP) Task Team on Training (TT-Training) Slide 11 11 Three
issues per year, December, April and August. Going green and saving
money. International involvement Hyperlinks provide opportunity for
video, training tools and links to various NWS products. various
NWS products. Peer reviewed status Mariners Weather Log Slide 12 12
Thank you!
