This nowCOASTâ„¢ time-enabled map service provides maps depicting the latest surface weather and marine weather observations at observing sites using the international station model. The station model is a method for representing information collected at an observing station using symbols and numbers. The station model depicts current weather conditions, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, air temperature, dew point temperature, sea surface water temperature, significant wave height, air pressure adjusted to mean sea level, and the change in air pressure over the last 3 hours.

This nowCOAST™ time-enabled map service provides maps depicting the latest surface weather and marine weather observations at observing sites using the international station model. The station model is a method for representing information collected at an observing station using symbols and numbers. The station model depicts current weather conditions, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, air temperature, dew point temperature, sea surface water temperature, significant wave height, air pressure adjusted to mean sea level, and the change in air pressure over the last 3 hours.

Last Revised: February 2016 Map InformationThis nowCOAST™ time-enabled map service provides maps depicting the latest surface weather and marine weather observations at observing sites using the international station model. The station model is a method for representing information collected at an observing station using symbols and numbers. The station model depicts current weather conditions, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, air temperature, dew point temperature, sea surface water temperature, significant wave height, air pressure adjusted to mean sea level, and the change in air pressure over the last 3 hours. The circle in the model is centered over the latitude and longitude coordinates of the station. The total cloud cover is expressed as a fraction of cloud covering the sky and is indicated by the amount of circle filled in; however, all cloud cover values are presently displayed using the "Missing" symbol due to a problem with the source data. Present weather information is also not available for display at this time. Wind speed and direction are represented by a wind barb whose line extends from the cover cloud circle towards the direction from which the wind is blowing. The short lines or flags coming off the end of the long line are called barbs, which indicate wind speed in knots. Each normal barb represents 10 knots, while short barbs indicate 5 knots. A flag represents 50 knots. If there is no wind barb depicted, an outer circle around the cloud cover symbol indicates calm winds.Due to software limitations, the observations included in this map service are organized into three separate group layers: 1) Wind velocity (wind barb) observations, 2) Cloud Cover observations, and 3) All other observations, which are displayed as numerical values (e.g. Air Temperature, Wind Gust, Visibility, Sea Surface Temperature, etc.).Additionally, due to the density of weather/ocean observations in this map service, each of these group data layers has been split into ten individual "Scale Band" layers, with each one visible for a certain range of map scales. Thus, to ensure observations are displayed at any scale, users should make sure to always specify all ten corresponding scale band layers in every map request. This will result in the scale band most appropriate for your present zoom level being shown, resulting in a clean, uncluttered display. As you zoom in, additional observations will appear.The observations in this nowCOAST™ map service are updated approximately every 10 minutes. However, since the reporting frequency varies by network or station, the observations for a particular station may update only once per hour. For more detailed information about layer update frequency and timing, please reference the nowCOAST™ Dataset Update Schedule.Background InformationThe maps of near-real-time surface weather and ocean observations are based on non-restricted data obtained from the NWS Family of Services courtesy of NESDIS/OPSD and also the NWS Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS). The data includes observations from terrestrial and maritime observing stations from the U.S.A. and other countries. For terrestrial networks, the platforms include but are not limited to ASOS, AWOS, RAWS, non-automated stations, U.S. Climate Reference Networks, many U.S. Geological Survey Stations via NWS HADS, several state DOT Road Weather Information Systems, and U.S. Historical Climatology Network-Modernization. For maritime areas, the platforms include NOS/CO-OPS National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON), NOS/CO-OPS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS), NWS/NDBC Fixed Buoys, NDBC Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN), drifting buoys, ferries, Regional Ocean Observing System (ROOS) coastal stations and buoys, and ships participating in the Voluntary Ship Observing (VOS) Program. Observations from MADIS are updated approximately every 10 minutes in the map service and those from NESDIS are updated every hour. However, not all stations report that frequently. Many stations only report once per hour sometime between 15 minutes before the hour and 30 minutes past the hour. For these stations, new observations will not appear until approximately 23 minutes past top of the hour for land-based stations and 33 minutes past the top of the hour for maritime stations.Time InformationThis map service is time-enabled, meaning that each individual layer contains time-varying data and can be utilized by clients capable of making map requests that include a time component.In addition to ArcGIS Server REST access, time-enabled OGC WMS 1.3.0 access is also provided by this service.This particular service can be queried with or without the use of a time component. If the time parameter is specified in a request, the data or imagery most relevant to the provided time value, if any, will be returned. If the time parameter is not specified in a request, the latest data or imagery valid for the present system time will be returned to the client. If the time parameter is not specified and no data or imagery is available for the present time, no data will be returned.This service is configured with time coverage support, meaning that the service will always return the most relevant available data, if any, to the specified time value. For example, if the service contains data valid today at 12:00 and 12:10 UTC, but a map request specifies a time value of today at 12:07 UTC, the data valid at 12:10 UTC will be returned to the user. This behavior allows more flexibility for users, especially when displaying multiple time-enabled layers together despite slight differences in temporal resolution or update frequency.When interacting with this time-enabled service, only a single instantaneous time value should be specified in each request. If instead a time range is specified in a request (i.e. separate start time and end time values are given), the data returned may be different than what was intended.Care must be taken to ensure the time value specified in each request falls within the current time coverage of the service. Because this service is frequently updated as new data becomes available, the user must periodically determine the service's time extent. However, due to software limitations, the time extent of the service and map layers as advertised by ArcGIS Server does not always provide the most up-to-date start and end times of available data. Instead, users have three options for determining the latest time extent of the service:Issue a returnUpdates=true request (ArcGIS REST protocol only) for an individual layer or for the service itself, which will return the current start and end times of available data, in epoch time format (milliseconds since 00:00 January 1, 1970). To see an example, click on the "Return Updates" link at the bottom of the REST Service page under "Supported Operations". Refer to the ArcGIS REST API Map Service Documentation for more information.Issue an Identify (ArcGIS REST) or GetFeatureInfo (WMS) request against the proper layer corresponding with the target dataset. For raster data, this would be the "Image Footprints with Time Attributes" layer in the same group as the target "Image" layer being displayed. For vector (point, line, or polygon) data, the target layer can be queried directly. In either case, the attributes returned for the matching raster(s) or vector feature(s) will include the following:validtime: Valid timestamp.starttime: Display start time.endtime: Display end time.reftime: Reference time (sometimes referred to as issuance time, cycle time, or initialization time).projmins: Number of minutes from reference time to valid time.desigreftime: Designated reference time; used as a common reference time for all items when individual reference times do not match.desigprojmins: Number of minutes from designated reference time to valid time.Query the nowCOAST™ LayerInfo web service, which has been created to provide additional information about each data layer in a service, including a list of all available "time stops" (i.e. "valid times"), individual timestamps, or the valid time of a layer's latest available data (i.e. "Product Time"). For more information about the LayerInfo web service, including examples of various types of requests, refer to the nowCOAST™ LayerInfo Help DocumentationReferencesNWS, 2013: Sample Station Plot, NWS/NCEP/WPC, College Park, MD (Available at http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/stationplot.shtml).NWS, 2013: Terminology and Weather Symbols, NWS/NCEP/OPC, College Park, MD (Available at http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/product_description/keyterm.shtml).NWS, 2013: How to read Surface weather maps, JetStream an Online School for Weather (Available at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/synoptic/wxmaps.htm).