A GODAE PRODUCT SERVER FOR THE PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION

Peter Hacker, Jim Potemra, Yanli Jia, Yingshuo Shen, Sharon DeCarlo

International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA

As the international community moves into the demonstration phase of near-real-time ocean data assimilation and the production of assimilation-based products, there is a need to get the products into the hands of a broad range of users, including research and application users.  The Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center (APDRC) at the IPRC, University of Hawaii, has implemented product server technology and procedures to allow web-based access to a broad range of atmospheric and oceanic products by the broad user community; and is implementing a regional, high-resolution ocean model, using operational model products as boundary conditions, for use in downscaling the operational model products for the nearshore regions of the Hawaiian Islands and other Pacific islands.  Our goals are to assist in the serving of global GODAE products to regional users, to help with the regional evaluation of the products, and to use the operational products to demonstrate and evaluate their utility as boundary conditions for mid-ocean, high-resolution regional models. 

In the GODAE context, the APDRC is implementing a GODAE Product Server for the Pacific Islands region.  We are doing this in partnership with a network of product providers, servers and users.  The October 2002 Workshop on the Potential Applications of Ocean Observations in the Pacific Islands (Fiji Workshop) recommended the establishment of a Pacific Islands Ocean Information System to facilitate access to and utilization of ocean products.  The products would be used to support decision making in four key areas:  public safety, climate adaptation, fisheries, and coastal resource management.  Needed ocean surface products (climatologies, nowcasts, forecasts) include temperature, salinity, sea level, currents, winds, and waves including storm surges.  The best available satellite and model-based products are needed in near-real-time for this activity.  In order to meet the user needs, the APDRC plans to contribute to:  the implementation of a Pacific Ocean information system; regional capacity building; identification of selected regional, operational products meeting the local users needs; rapid delivery of the products to regional operational users and general users; and user evaluation of the regional products including feedback to the product originators.  At the present time the APDRC serves a broad range of data sets and products, delayed-mode GODAE products, and the near-real-time, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) global surface-layer product.

The APDRC website is http://apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu/.

Weather secrets soon to be unlocked   (From Samoa Observer Sunday July 25)

SPREP APIA July 27-A vault containing reports of a hundred years of Samoa’s weather conditions could unlock some keys to the island states future prosperity.

" We lost some files during cyclone Ofa, there were documents just flying all over the place. But Samoa’s office is the only one in the region that has never been relocated. Research wise, this means the margin of error is quite small, and in our work, accuracy is what it’s all about," says Dean Solofa, the Met offices Senior Scientific Officer, Climate

"For Samoa data will help us make better predictions of our weather and climate patterns, and give some valuable pointers on how we can improve our economic development such as in agriculture and tourism," says Solofa.

"The majority of our Pacific islands have minute landmasses, whose people depend on weather sensitive activities like subsistence fishing, agriculture and tourism to put food on the table and to make a dollar. The need for everyone to have some idea of what’s on the horizon is obvious,"