Last modified October 26, 2006.
The NCEP superstructure ice accretion forecast system was developed by applying statistical algorithms developed by Overland and Pease at the Pacific Marine Environmental Research Laboratory in the mid- 1980s. The algorithm relates icing to wind speed, freezing point of sea water, air temperature, and sea surface temperature. The method is designed for trawlers in the 20 to 75 meter length range, underway at normal speeds in open seas and not heading downwind. There are three categories: light - 0.1 to 0.8 inches of ice accretion/ 3 hours (aqua on chart); moderate - 0.8 to 2.4 inches/3 hours (dark blue on chart), and heavy - greater than 2.4 inches/3 hours (red on chart). It is currently available on a 1 deg x 1 deg grid Globally, North Atlantic , North Atlantic, Baltic and North Seas, and Arctic Ocean over Europe, Pacific, and The Southern Hemisphere. The animations and still figures are in gif format; the animations are on the order of 1 Mb, while the stills are on the order of 15k each. Model output is available throughout the year.To ftp data, go to the links listed below. The GRIB binary data file contains 57 records: one for each projection from 00 to 168 hours at 3-h intervals on a 1 deg x 1 deg global grid. gif image files are also available. Please send questions and comments to ncep.emc.marine.meteorology@noaa.gov
See "About the NCEP Global Vessel Icing Guidance" to find out the differences between the new and old versions of this product.
Table 1. Animation selection table. Each animation has 57 frames with forecasts from 00- through 168-h at 3 hour intervals. The animation has a size of about 1 Mb and takes about 6 minutes to download with a 28.8 K modem.
Model Cycle (UTC) |
Global Animations |
Atlantic Animations |
Pacific Animations |
Scandinavian Animations |
S. Hemisphere Animations |
0000 |
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0600 |
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1200 |
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1800 |
Table 2. Individual forecast selection table. Within each depiction column are the numbers 00, 06, 12, and 18; these are the model run times for the projection hour.
Projection Hour |
Global Depiction |
Atlantic Depiction |
Pacific Depiction |
Scandinavian Depiction |
S. Hemisphere Depiction |
00 |
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03 |
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06 |
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09 |
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12 |
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15 |
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18 |
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21 |
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24 |
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30 |
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36 |
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42 |
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48 |
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54 |
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60 |
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66 |
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72 |
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84 |
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96 |
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108 |
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120 |
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132 |
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144 |
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156 |
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168 |
