Help for NDBC Observation via an Interactive Map
- Overview
- Filter Stations and Owners
- Non-reporting Stations
- Station Labels
- Tropical Cyclones
- Show Observations
- Map View
- Mouse Coordinates
- Navigation
- Book Marking
Overview
The NDBC Observation Page is an interactive map displaying stations reported on the NDBC web site. The default display is a global map showing all established stations from the NDBC web site. The user can:
- select stations by program and/or operator;
- display labels identifying the station icons;
- display forecast track and cone of uncertainty for tropical cyclones;
- click a station marker for recent observations;
- change the default map;
- display the coordinates of the mouse pointer on the map;
- navigate to a location; and
- bookmark a favorite view.
Filter Stations and Owners
Filter stations by program and/or operator using the check boxes. Left click on the desired program check box to show only the stations from that particular program and left click on the owner check box to show only the stations belonging to that particular owner. For example the boxes checked below will display stations from NDBC Meteorological/Ocean Program and only the Moored Buoys. The selected Program and Owner filters will be highlighted as indicated below. Multiple selections may be checked for Programs or Owners and each selection will be highlighted. A vertical scroll bar will appear to the right for the displaying of additional programs or owners as necessary.
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Non-reporting Stations
Stations without recent observations are not initially shown on the map. Clicking the "Non-reporting Stations" options will show those stations on the map.
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Station Labels
Station identification labels may be displayed or hidden by selecting the "Labels" option located above the Programs and Owner filter selection boxes. The "Labels" option provides quick station identification without hovering over the station marker on the map. To avoid clutter, these labels are only displayed when the map is zoomed in to level six or greater.
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Tropical Cyclones
When the National Hurricane Center (NHC) or Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) issues advisories on tropical systems in the Atlantic, the Eastern Pacific or the Central Pacific, the NDBC web site will display an icon on the map at the storm's position. The icon is based on the type of storm as displayed in the legend below the map.
Clicking the storm icon will remove the storm icon from the map, display the five-day forecast storm track and cone of uncertainty for that storm on the map and center and zoom the map to show that information.
The user may obtain forecast information about the storm by clicking on the forecast points.
Zooming the map in past the third zoom level will also replace the storm icons with the NHC forecast tracks and cones of uncertainty. Zooming the map out to the third level or beyond will replace the storm tracks and cones of uncertainty with the storm icons.
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Clicking on a station icon will provide a pop-up window with the most recent meteorological observations. In the case of a tsunami station, a plot of the five-day water level will be displayed in the pop-up. The pop-up windows contain links for more detailed information. These links will open in a new tab/window.
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Map View
The default view of the map is the "oceans" map which displays under water features. The view may be changed by selecting a new map from the "Select Basemap" drop-down located near the top left corner of the map. The map type choices are:
- Oceans - Bathymetry, feature names and depths.
- Satellite - Satellite imagery with labels.
- Streets - Highway or street level data from the World Street Map.
- Topographic - Features from the World Topographic Map.
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Mouse Coordinates
The mouse cursor coordinates are displayed as latitude and longitude just above the bottom edge of the map as the cursor moves over the map area. This provides a quick reference for the cursor location.
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Navigation
- To quickly jump to a specific area of the map, click one of the region links to the right of the map.
- To pan (move the map), click and drag the map.
- To center and zoom the map on a location, double click the location on the map.
- To zoom the map in one level, click the "+" sign in the upper left corner of the map.
- To zoom out one level, click the "-" sign in the upper left corner of the map.
- To zoom to a specific user-defined area, hold Shift key and press the left mouse button while dragging a box around an area that contains the desired stations. Releasing the mouse button and the shift key will cause the map to zoom in to the selected area.
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Book Marking
To save a personalized view of the map, right click on the "right click on this link" located above the map and (depending on the browser) select either "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this link" or "Save Link As...". The browser will prompt to save the bookmark with an option of renaming the book mark. To return to this personalized view, select the saved bookmark from the favorites list/bookmarks and the map will reload with those personalized settings.
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