NOAA Notice - Disconuation of condensed offshore marine forecast.

[mvweebles]

FYI - somehow I ended up as one of the informal marine user community for NOAA. I received the following notice and am forwarding in it's entirely (PDF attachment not included)

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Dear Blue Water Mariners,

After nine months of scoping out the proposal, asking you all informally, getting approval for requesting public comment, summarizing/responding to public comments, creating the discontinuance paperwork, and getting approval from National Weather Service Headquarters, we will be issuing our last VOBRAs at 0920Z on Tuesday, January 6th. This particular Service Change Notice was specific to our (and the Ocean Prediction Center's) VOBRAs - our condensed versions of our Offshore Zone forecasts. (See attached.)

Due to the dramatic increase of high speed internet access over the high seas, the number of users of radio-based technology are dwindling quickly. Only ten comments were received in response to reaching out to our mariner contacts, a public comment notice, and a request for feedback inserted into the VOBRA products themselves during the May and June comment period. The tiny amount of use of our VOBRA products indicated that we could eliminate them without causing significant harm to the high seas marine community.

Given the extremely limited number of comments received, this confirms to me - at least for these long-range voice broadcasts - that mariners over the high seas are moving away from radio-based technology to get weather forecasts. To remain critical for mariner's decision making for safe and efficient vessel route planning, we need to move to a fully digital approach to our forecasts.

Fortunately, due to efforts across the National Weather Service and the National Ocean Service, we are steadily making progress toward getting our winds, waves, and hazard grids - including polygons of warnings - into mariners' Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) through the S-100/400 efforts. This is our "holy grail", required by the International Maritime Organization to be ready to be deployed by 2029. We will get there!

Best regards,
chris
***************************************************************************

Christopher W. Landsea, Ph.D.
Chief, Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch

NOAA/NWS/NCEP/National Hurricane Center
11691 S.W. 17th Street
Miami, Florida 33165
Chris.Landsea@noaa.gov P: 305-229-4446

 

[tpbrady]

They shouldn’t abandon radio based services, they should transition them away from being voice based. The data capacity of the VHF voice channels eliminates the need for a “condensed” forecast and can make it almost real time. Marine VHF and NOAA weather radio have barely changed since first introduced more than 60 years ago (DSC has more or less been a flop and AIS worked pretty well, but it is digital communications). When it comes to communications more methods are better than less. Broadband is a tremendous improvement off shore, but it has failed in the past and will fail again in the future. What is the alternative?

 

[rslifkin]

They shouldn’t abandon radio based services, they should transition them away from being voice based. The data capacity of the VHF voice channels eliminates the need for a “condensed” forecast and can make it almost real time. Marine VHF and NOAA weather radio have barely changed since first introduced more than 60 years ago (DSC has more or less been a flop and AIS worked pretty well, but it is digital communications). When it comes to communications more methods are better than less. Broadband is a tremendous improvement off shore, but it has failed in the past and will fail again in the future. What is the alternative?

Weatherfax still exists, and if you have HF / SSB equipment then it's still possible to use things like a PACTOR modem to get low speed data connections to receive a weather forecast. So there are still radio based backups to Starlink and other satellite services.

 

[Frosty]

Well that was a personable notice, wasn't it?

I don't remember a VORBA, although we did get all of our weather info over HF radio (mainly weatherfax). But back then it was kind of a mystery as to what was even offered so we were pretty happy just to know the weatherfax times (remember how you had to be there to retrieve them at a very specific time of day? Gather 'round the radio!)

 

[mvweebles]

The broadcasts just aren't used anymore due to Starlink. Mind you, there are only the high seas condensed broadcasts, not the full forecasts. NOAA issues a request for comment and received 10.

Personally, I don't mind seeing orphan services get retired.

Peter

 

[tpbrady]

I agree that HF weatherfax is still available but not cheap or easy to implement. It’s also an analog service like HF teletype. The Pactor modem is comparable technology in amateur radio that the NWS and USCG should start planning to deploy on some of their VHF spectrum. The marine electronics industry would be tickled pink to be able to sell new radios with it included.

 

[Diep]

I suppose it makes sense, but I am going to be bummed if by the time we get WAY out there all the weather and navigation info is all just ported to the MFD in real time while AI takes care of the routing. Might as well send a drone out and just stream the whole experience back to a comfy seat on the couch...

Are the cruiser nets are all but gone these days too? Instagram is probably also supplanting VHF these days.



I'd probably be happy for all the info and use the internet like crazy out there. But in the meantime I'll keep yelling at the clouds on an internet platform that was hot 20 years ago...

 

[sjisailor]

Are the cruiser nets are all but gone these days too? Instagram is probably also supplanting VHF these days.

I haven't used the cruising nets as such but I can say that the Puget Sound Boaters Net is active and meets every morning. To participate you need to be a Ham of course. It is supremely useful for (mostly *land* but with attention to the water) conditions roughly Gig Harbor to Victoria, depending on who calls in. Boaters’ Net