DATA BUOY COOPERATION PANEL

DATA BUOY COOPERATION PANEL

Thousands of ocean observing platforms worldwide are equipped with satellite transmitters, sending regular information via the various systems available to help scientists to understand the ocean environment, its impacts on the globe and predict climate change. On top of these data collection and location services, data is processed in real-time or near-real-time for dissemination to national meteorological services through the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) of WMO in order for those data to be assimilated by numerical weather prediction models, and used for operational applications. The different programs contributing to the IOC-WMO-UNEP-ICSU Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) have developed routines and tests to check the quality of data transmitting via satellite or any other means, before it is shared for use by the community. This document provides information about those tests recommended by the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel for buoy data and the mechanisms it has put in place to estimate the quality of the observations through automated quality control tests, and to ensure that the quantity of poor quality buoy data distributed on GTS by data processing centres is minimal. 2. BACKGROUND AND AUDIENCE FOR THIS DOCUMENT This report aims to summarise the Quality Control processes which need to be considered and followed by centres which plan to distribute drifting and moored buoy measurements, in real time, on the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) of WMO. It is assumed that the reader already has an extensive knowledge of the satellite systems being used to communicate between the platform and the ground station and their own data processing system.

It is also assumed that the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) of WMO is understood. This document, which draws on content from DBCP Technical Document No.2, DBCP Technical Document No. 3, and the Argos User’s Manual (http://www.cls.fr & http://www.argos-system.org/manual/), was compiled in August 2009 by the Technical Coordinator of the DBCP, Ms Hester Viola, and reviewed by DBCP experts at the 25th Session of the DBCP. Since then some content was updated and some information added to ensure that the document applies equally to any satellite telecommunications system. It was then reviewed by the DBCP Task Team on Data Management and other experts.This document aims to explain the elements to be considered by a data processing centre wishing to distribute marine or ocean data from drifting and moored buoys, in real-time, on the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). There is a requirement for real-time quality control checks on all data before it is distributed onto the GTS. The various real-time quality control tests which should be implemented are explained. This document should be useful for data processing centres which have direct access to data coming from a satellite telecommunications system being used by data buoys. Setting up these tests for individual buoys usually relies upon direct contact with the platform operators. The data processing centre will need to have established a link to a GTS uplink node (which is usually the National Meteorological or Hydrological Service).

Overview of the Global Telecommunications System The Global Telecommunication System (GTS), is a network run by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), to facilitate real-time data exchange between national meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic centres. National meteorological services rely on real-time data to initialize numerical weather prediction (NWP) models run to provide the basis for operational weather forecasts. The data are also essential for verifying the performance of NWP systems and monitoring changing weather conditions. The land station network is dense and the data of good quality, but there are not enough data from the oceans, particularly in data-sparse areas not covered by Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) reporting weather data. It is coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and is part of the WMO Information System (WIS). The data are formatted using WMO GTS code formats such as FM-18 BUOY or FM-94 BUFR. GTS bulletins containing messages coded according to WMO regulations are then produced and sent in real time via the GTS to operational meteorological and oceanographic centres. Variables measured at the same time for the same platform are grouped and encoded into single GTS reports (i.e. observations or groups of observations). GTS reports encoded using the same WMO code format are grouped into what are known as bulletins. Such bulletins are transmitted directly from the processing centre to a GTS uplink node for dissemination over the GTS.