NOAA Magazine Online (Story 70)

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NOAA’s NATIONAL DATA BUOY CENTER BUSY WITH GROWING ROLE

NDBC 6-meter boat-shaped buoy following deployment by the U.S. Coast Gaurd Cutter SYCAMORE off Cape Suckling, Alaska. December 13, 2002 — NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center, with headquarters at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi, is the agency’s focal point for the nation’s automated marine systems operation and development. NDBC, which was established in 1970 when NOAA was created, is a part of the NOAA National Weather Service.

NDBC’s basic mission is to operate and maintain floating moored buoys and stationary platforms in support of NOAA’s marine warning and forecast program. However, several other U.S. agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, support NDBC stations for special monitoring programs under memoranda of agreement. Even some state and private groups provide funding for a few stations. NDBC’s network includes approximately 75 buoys and 60 fixed platforms in the Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN).

The stations are located in the coastal zone and open ocean from the Bering Sea to the tropical Pacific eastward to the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. NDBC’s user-friendly Web page shows the extent of NDBC’s network and station pictures. Most importantly, the page provides online marine observations less than 30 minutes old and up to 30 years of archived data for use by mariners and scientists.

NDBC’s most important partner in getting the job done is the U.S. Coast Guard, whose ships often provide transportation to replace or repair NDBC stations. Effective cooperation and sound engineering have permitted NDBC to perform impressively since spring 2002. Some 92.5 percent of all possible moored buoy data were delivered in real-time after automated quality control; and C-MAN stations delivered an impressive 97.4 percent.

In addition, NDBC manages the NWS Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program, which obtains weather observations from ships underway. Some 900 vessels are members of the NWS VOS program.

Under the leadership of Paul F. Moersdorf, who became director in February 2000, NDBC is increasing its role in NOAA activities in the world’s oceans. “When I arrived at NDBC, I emphasized to the employees that the ‘N’ in NDBC says ‘National,’” Moersdorf said. “There’s too much talent here to not be a resource to all of NOAA and, for that matter, anyone wanting to monitor and understand the marine environment.” As a result, NDBC’s new strategic plan reflects its increased emphasis on ocean monitoring, in addition to its existing atmospheric mission. A yellow NDBC 3-meter discus buoy stands alongside a PMEL DART buoy at NDBC's buoy preparation facility in southern Mississippi.

Moersdorf’s arrival coincided closely with important changes in NOAA. NOAA’s NWS reorganized and created the Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services. Better climate services would be difficult to achieve without better ocean monitoring. Soon after, Moersdorf and Eddie Bernard, director of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, began a dialogue and initiated a two-year transition of operation of PMEL’s Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis array to NDBC. DART is a buoy-based warning network that identifies subtle pressure signals speeding across the open Pacific that can grow into large, life-threatening waves called tsunamis in shallow coastal waters.

In early 2002, when Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.) was appointed new undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, he established a NOAA Program Review Team (PRT), which recommended sweeping changes in the agency, including many that applied to NOAA’s observing systems. As a result, NDBC and PMEL have drafted a multi-year plan to transfer the operation of PMEL’s portion of the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array to NDBC. TAO includes 59 moored buoy systems across the equatorial Pacific and is part of the world renowned TAO/TRITON array that is the primary source of information for monitoring the El Niño/La Niña phenomena. El Niño/La Niña have significant effects on climate variability and seasonal-scale weather around the world. PMEL’s award-winning Web site provides details on TAO/TRITON and other research programs. The final decision on whether the transfer will occur will be made early in 2003.

In June, NDBC began to receive, process, quality control and distribute observations from non-NDBC stations for the first time. While regional marine observing systems have been providing useful data on individual Web sites for several years, the data were not provided in a consistent format for centralized processing and distribution for use in NOAA operations. A software “kit” developed by NDBC has been distributed to several regional operators and, with relatively minor assistance from NDBC, they are able to use the kit to convert their observations into standard data formats that can be entered into computer models to produce better short-range analyses and forecasts. The first successful application was with Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, followed by the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System and the University of South Florida’s Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System. NDBC’s goal is to double the number of marine observations available to NWS from these sources by the end of 2003 at no additional cost to NOAA.

Late September through October 2002 was even more eventful than usual at NDBC. Within one week, Tropical Storm Isidore and Hurricane Lili came ashore less than 80 miles away from NDBC’s facilities forcing a shut-down of SSC to all but essential personnel. Key NDBC personnel came to work to make sure observations kept flowing. Huge public interest led to record-breaking volume on NDBC’s Web page that exceeded 1.1 million hits in a single day — and nearly three million between Oct. 1-3, 2002. NDBC’s information systems team made adjustments to handle the huge volume of Web traffic. Lili’s eye wall passed directly over an NDBC buoy in the central Gulf of Mexico (station number 42001) producing NDBC records: for the highest average wind speed of 113 mph and wicked wind gusts to 149 mph.

During mid-October, NDBC representatives played major roles in the annual meeting of the eighteenth session of the World Meteorological Organization/International Oceanographic Commission (WMO/IOC) Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP). The DBCP is composed of approximately two dozen operators of ocean monitoring systems — such as moored buoys, drifting buoys, and floats, which provide sub-surface temperature and salinity profiles. The WMO/IOC DBCP fosters international cooperation and information exchange in order to advance scientific and operational goals. NDBC personnel led the scientific and technical workshop and provided a briefing to the DBCP members concerning possible changes in NOAA that are of great interest.

Finally, NDBC was a key player in the organization of the annual Marine Technology Society/Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers OCEANS Conference held in nearby Biloxi, Miss. OCEANS drew approximately 2,100 participants, many of them scientists and engineers interested in all aspects of ocean activities. An NDBC employee chaired the technical sessions that included approximately 440 presentations, while many other employees led technical sessions, presented papers, and manned the NDBC display. Many OCEANS participants took the opportunity to arrange visits to NDBC, including visitors from Japan and the Netherlands.

Vice Admiral Lautenbacher attended part of OCEANS and led the plenary session on Homeland Security. He then visited NDBC and arranged an all-hands meeting for NOAA personnel and managers of contracts at SSC. After a brief tour of NDBC’s buoy production facility, Vice Admiral Lautenbacher gave an animated, up beat assessment of NOAA’s new direction. He spent several minutes after his briefing talking one-on-one to NOAA employees. His visit ended with a tour of the NESDIS’s National Coastal Data Development Center, also located at SSC.

NDBC’s employees are optimistic for the future. Operational ocean monitoring presents great technical challenges, but the benefits to society are great. “This is a great time to be part of NOAA,” Moersdorf said.

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA National Data Buoy Center

NOAA National Weather Service

NDBC basic mission

NOAA Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program

Paul F. Moersdorf (NDBC director)

NOAA Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services

NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

NOAA/PMEL Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis array

NOAA Tsunamis Theme Page

NOAA observing systems

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array

NOAA E l Niño/La Niña Page

NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

Tropical Storm Isidore