Data Ingest: NOAAPORT

The WXP ingestor cannot directly read the NOAAPORT data stream but it can process the data from it assuming it is reformatted into standard WMO header/product configuration. The Unisys Gateway Server is one potential reformatting solution.

This data feed provides data in a variety of formats. NOAAPORT is divided into 4 channels:

NWSTG - This is essentially the Family of Services (FOS) data. It contains data from the Domestic, Public and International services as well as the binary GRIB products from the High Res. service.
GOES East - This is an array of satellite images in various predetermined projections from the GOES East satellite. There are composites east/west images on this channel..
GOES West - This is an array of satellite images in various predetermined projections from the GOES West satellite. There are composites east/west images on this channel..
Extra - This is reserved for non-standard operational and research oriented products.

WXP expects the data to be in the WMO header/product format:

   [SOH][CR][CR][LF]
   seq[CR][CR][LF]
   header[CR][CR][LF]
   data..........
   [CR][CR][LF][ETX]
   [SOH]...

Where:

seq -- A sequence number which is incremented one for each successive bulletin.
header -- The WMO header information describing the type, origin and observation time of the data.

NOAAPORT replaces the first two lines of the WMO header format with a NOAAPORT specific header and at this time, WXP cannot decode and use this.

NOAAPORT provides data in a variety of formats:

TEXT Format

This is standard type of product from the old family of services where the data section is a ASCII text product. This is either formatted text such as a METAR observation or MOS product or unformatted, human readable, text such as a public forecast.

GRIB Format

The second format is the GRIB format (binary grid) for gridded data transmission such as gridpoint data from the forecast models. The GRIB format is a binary data format where all gridpoint data is packed into its most efficient form. The GRIB format is laid out into six sections:

Indicator block: the characters "GRIB" plus product size.
Product definition block: this block describes all data contained in the product
Grid definition block: this block describes in detail the layout of the grid (OPTIONAL)
Bit map block: this block is used to define where valid data is located is a sparse grid (OPTIONAL)
Binary data block: binary packed gridpoint data
End of record block: the characters "7777"

BUFR Format

The third format is BUFR format. This is a binary format for storing non-gridded data such as soundings and wind profiler data. The BUFR format is laid out into the following sections:

Indicator block: the characters "BUFR" plus product size.
Identification block: this describes the contents of the product
Data description block: this describes the type and format of data contained in the product
Data section: the packed data
End of record block: the characters "7777"

Redbook Format

This format is a binary metafile format for graphical type products that cannot be placed in either GRIB or BUFR format.

Image Format

This format is a GRIB like format for satellite imagery. It is laid out in two sections:

Product definition block: this block describes all data contained in the product as well as the projection/navigation
Binary data block: binary pixel/image data

Last updated June 13, 2020

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