RUC backup procedures

Operational -- NCEP/NWS/NOAA (Camp Springs, MD, Gaithersburg, MD).
NCEP runs and supports all NWS operational weather prediction models, including the RUC. Fully supported with 24/7 staff.
Current status of the NCEP Production Suite, including RUC
Current forecast products from operational RUC
Level 1 backup -- NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory (Boulder, CO).
Two different cycles are run in parallel at FSL on different disk systems and different parts of FSL's supercomputer (Jet) to give maximum reliability. There has been 100% reliability for backup RUC runs every hour for April-September (current) 2003. The FSL backup RUC uses an independent source of observations from the operational NCEP RUC. Grids from RUC20 are transferred hourly to NWS Telecommunications Gateway but only used in event of an outage at NCEP.
Current forecast products from FSL backup RUC
NCEP runs a small suite of backup processing on a single workstation, located offsite at the NWS Telecommunications Gateway. This workstation receives model output data from FSL, AFWA, Navy FNMOC, and the UKMET. The NCEP backup processing on this workstation reformats the data to produce NCEP look-alike products for the RUC, RSAS, Eta, and GFS models. It then transmits these data to both internal and external users of NCEP products.
Further information on the NCEP backup procedures, type of products available, and their approximately delivery times may be found at: http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/docs/ncep_backup.shtml
Example data sets from the NCEP backup partners (NOAA/FSL, DOD/AFWA, and DOD/FNMOC) can be found at: ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf_backup/
Human monitoring
-- NCEP Computing Operations (NCO) supports a 24/7 position called the Senior Duty Meteorologist (SDM). This person watches the job flow of all NCEP operational models, and immediately uses correction or investigation procedures in case of any problem. The SDM also manages some monitoring of input observational data to the NCEP models.
NCEP/NCO/SDM status messages

A wide variety of users in the NWS and other government agencies and the private sector access NCEP data on an hourly basis. The NWS users (and some others) are able to directly contact the Senior Duty Meteorologist at NCEP in the event of any model problem.
Overlapping RUC runs
-- Since the RUC runs hourly out to at least 3h projections (and 12h projections every third hour) with hourly output fields, there are forecasts from previous hourly cycles that can be used to provide information in the event of an outage. This allows users to survive a few hours of outages, even if the operational RUC at NCEP and backup at FSL both failed to provide products for such a period. [This has not occurred since the RUC began to run an hourly cycle in 1998.]

Please credit the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory, RUC development group, if you wish to use any pictures from this web site.

19 September 2003 - Stan Benjamin - NOAA/FSL