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Marine weather broadcast service by GK2A satellite
2020/07/30
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With marine weather broadcast service by GK2A satellite,

get weather information more easily

even when you are offshore.



- Marine weather information used to be provided by radiofax to ships in coastal and offshore waters, but the KMA’s new weather broadcast service by GK2A satellite transmits the information even to the Pacific ocean.

- Domestically-produced satellite receivers are more affordable; KMA also plans to provide financial support for the receiver installation.

  

  

July 22, 2020 The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) has started marine weather broadcast service by GK2A satellite from July 23, 2020, which provides high-quality digital marine weather information to ships operating at sea.

The KMA‘s new marine weather broadcast service is a cutting-edge service that uses GK2A, Korea’s second geostationary meteorological satellite, to offer high-quality digital marine meteorological information.

  

Since 1966 KMA has been providing marine weather information by radiofax(Weather Fax), such as significant weather alert____s, typhoon track information and weather charts, that are necessary to ensure the safety of maritime activities.

Radiofax broadcast, however, has gradually become less useful because of the low quality of printed fax data, difficulties with providing new and more information, a limited distance of data transmission, and low data quality resulted from radio-frequency interference.

To increase the quality and usability of data and information, the satellite broadcast service now offers marine weather information in digital format such as video, texts and voice so that users can more easily utilize them on their smartphones, tablets and screens.

KMA’s marine weather broadcast service by GK2A is the world’s only public satellite service dedicated to providing weather information free of charge with an aim of ensuring the safety of ships. It transmits marine meteorological information to ships not only in coastal and offshore but in high seas where they could have difficulties maintaining maritime communication network.

The broadcast service is available for ships located within a 3,700 km radius of GK2A(East Asia and West Pacific). And it provides 15 types of 360 products, including surface analysis and forecast charts, wave analysis and forecast charts, satellite images.

Sea wind and ocean wave forecasts especially provide forecasts 4 days ahead in East Asia at 3-hours interval and 12 days ahead over the globe at 6-hours interval. This will allow ships operating not only in coastal and offshore waters but in high seas to use the forecasts for their safety and activities.

Through this new service, various domestic and overseas users are expected to easily receive and use marine weather information provided by KMA. Users can be equipped with a domestically-produced Small-scale Data Utilization Station(SDUS) with more affordable prices for receiving informations. In addition, KMA plans to provide financial support for the installation of the SDUS.

During the past year, KMA has tested the service cooperating with Korea Coast Guard, Korea-China Ferry, and Gisang 1(KMA’s marine observation ship). It now plans to expand the supply of SDUS to fishing and leisure ships, as well as East Asia

“With this new digital foundation for marine weather services, KMA will do our best to ensure people’s safety from natural disasters, as well as cooperating with East Asian countries, to evolve into an advanced country in the field of marine weather services,” said KMA Administrator KIM Jongseok.

  

APPENDIX: What is marine weather broadcast service by GK2A?


Appendix

 

What is marine weather broadcast service by GK2A?

  

What is marine weather broadcast service by GK2A

It is a new marine weather broadcast service that uses GK2A’s communication system to provide ships with various marine weather information in real-time, such as weather charts, satellite images, and various meteorological information.

It aims to support safe maritime activities by providing ships with stable weather information using GK2A’s communication system.

  

Differences between radiofax and satellite broadcast

Expanded broadcast range: 740 km 3,700 km

Increased number of products provided per day: 85/day 360/day

- Types of service products: 15 types including weather chart, satellite image, and typhoon information

- More products can be added to the service in the future, such as marine accident information, fisheries information.

Item

Radiofax broadcast

vs

marine weather broadcast services by GK2A

Transmission method

Analog broadcast (3-13MHz)

Digital broadcast (1.69GHz, L-band)

Broadcast range

740km on the sea

(East Sea, East China Sea)

3,700km on the sea

(East Asia, Western Pacific, etc.)

Content quality

Analog,

Printed in black and white

Data in digital format

such as color video, texts, voice, etc.

Emergency broadcast

Not available

Available with alarms and pop-ups

No. of content

85 products/d

360 products/d

Content expandability

Limited

Expandable, such as marine traffic safety, fisheries information, etc.

Broadcast time

19:27:00

(Impossible to use the off-air time)

4:11:46

(Easy to add content during the off-air time)

Content display media

Radio fax

Smartphone, tablet, printer,

widescreen monitor, etc.

Wave forecast map for Asia

+3 days ahead, at 12h intervals (12 images)

+3.6 days ahead, at 3h intervals (60 images)

Global wave forecast map

3 days ahead (00/12UTC)

(2 images)

+12 days ahead, at 6h intervals

(98 images)

Satellite fog imagery

Not available

Available at 03-12h (3h intervals)

Extra cost required

Fax papers

(up to 1.2M won per month)

None

Receiver price

3M 15M won

3M to 5M won

(when commercialized)



Marine weather broadcast range comparison

01


Fig. 1Marine weather broadcast range comparison

(Internet, radiofax, and marine weather broadcast service by GK2A)



Service quality comparison

02


Fig. 2Marine weather broadcast content (wave forecast map and satellite imagery)

comparison between radiofax (left) and satellite broadcast (right)





Main information service

15 types of weather maps with 360 images

   

Main information service

Number

1

Surface weather chart for East Asia (18/21/00/03/06/09/12/15UTC)

8

2

Edited surface weather chart for Asia (00/12UTC)

2

3

Edited 24-hour surface weather chart for Asia (00/12UTC)

2

4

500hPa weather chart for Asia (18/00/06/12UTC)

4

5

500hPa 24h/48h upper-air weather chart for Asia

4

6

Wave analysis chart (18/21/00/03/06/09/12/15UTC)

8

7

Sea surface wind and wave forecast chart for East Asia: +87hrs ahead (3 days and 15 hours) at 3h intervals (00/12UTC)

60

8

Global sea surface wind and wave forecast chart: +288hrs ahead (12 days) at 6h intervals (00/12UTC)

98

9

Average daily sea temperature chart (00UTC)

1

10

Sea surface temperature forecast chart (24/48/72 hrs)

3

11

Sea ice forecast and analysis chart (00/24/48)

3

12

Infrared satellite imagery (18/00/06/12UTC)

4

13

Satellite fog imagery (18/21/00/03UTC)

4

14

Typhoon information (When issued)

6

15

Satellite Images

143

Total

360



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