Response:

(a) Overview: The National Weather Service (NWS) Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) is a dissemination service operating 24-by-7 to provide timely alerts, watches, warnings, forecasts and observations from NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs), River Forecast Centers (RFCs), NWS National Centers (e.g., National Hurricane Center), and other US Federal and International partners. It is intended to be used by US local, state and federal level emergency management organizations; WMO Regional Association IV (RA-IV) member states and geographically included countries in support of emergency management related activities; the media; educational institutions; and the public at large.

(b) Purpose: EMWIN supports the NWS mission to prevent the loss of life and property, and enhance the national economy through the timely dissemination of climate, weather and water alerts, watches, warnings, forecasts and observations. EMWIN also supports the NWS execution of its responsibilities as the WMO RA-IV Regional Telecommunications Hub (RTH) and Global Information System Centre (GISC), to extend the Global Telecommunications Services (GTS) to RA-IV member states and the other geographically included countries.

(c) Broadcast Service Implementation: The EMWIN broadcast service uses two methods to make products available:

(c.1) Satellite Broadcast: The NESDIS HRIT/EMWIN broadcast from the GOES-East and West tes lable for reception by anyone located within the respective satellite's broadcast footprint operating the appropriate receiving equipment. Additional information on the HRIT/EMWIN receiver and associated equipment is available from NESDIS.

(c.2) File Server: The EMWIN FTP file server makes aggregated product files in .zip format available for anonymous download over the public Internet - it does not require a user account:

Response:

(a) Satellite Broadcast: A High Rate Information Transmission (HRIT) compliant receiver and associated ground terminal equipment is needed to receive the EMWIN product streams on the NESDIS HRIT/EMWIN broadcast from the GOES-East and West satellites. Additional technical information on the HRIT/EMWIN receiver and associated equipment is available from NESDIS: https://noaasis.noaa.gov/GOES/HRIT/about_hrit.html

The HRIT/EMWIN broadcast contains multiple virtual channels with unique content - the EMWIN portion of the broadcast is found on the following three Virtual Channel IDs (VCID):

* - Text product priorities are listed in the EMWIN_Text_Product_Catalog_210525-1448

(b) File Server. A computer with Internet access is needed to download files from the EMWIN FTP file server: https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/CU.EMWIN/DF.xt/DC.gsatR/OPS/

Downloading files can be accomplished using a web browser Graphical User Interface (GUI) or an FTP command line interface. Commercial applications or scripts which automate either of these methods may be used as well. The latest text and image products are aggregated in time sequenced files on the file server. Additional details are available in the eEMWIN FTP Service Description v1.1

Response:

(a) The EMWIN broadcast consists of US and International WMO bulletins in text file format; and images or picture files in JPG, GIF and PNG file formats.

(b) Text bulletin and image files larger than 5.0 Kbytes in size are compressed into .zip file format prior to broadcast and must be unzipped to return them to their native file format (.txt, .png, etc.)

(c) Text Bulletins - The identity of text bulletins referenced by their WMO header information (notes 1,2) may be found in the EMWIN_Text_Product_Catalog_210525-1448

(d) Image Files - a listing of each unique image file with its title, WMO header, and representative picture may be found in the EMWIN Image Product Catalog.

Notes:

• Additional format and coding information for the WMO headers and AWIPS identifiers may be found on the following NWS web page: https://www.weather.gov/tg/headef
• Additional information on US NWS bulletins by subject area may be found on the NWS Operations and Services Directives web page: https://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/010/010.php

Response:

The valid Tsunami bulletins listed in the governing NWS Directive xxx NWSI 10-701, Tsunami Warning Center Operations, and on the published Tsunami Web page ( https://tsunami.gov/?page=product_list ) are included on the EMWIN broadcast. The list of individual products is presented in "Appendix D – Weather Program Listing" in the EMWIN_Text_Product_Catalog_210525-1448.

Response:

EMWIN does contain the bulletins listed in the Regional Association IV – Hurricane Operational Plan for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The list of individual products is presented in "Appendix D – Weather Program Listing" in the EMWIN_Text_Product_Catalog_210525-1448. After the annual RA-IV Hurricane Committee meeting, the published Op Plan revision is reviewed, and the products on the EMWIN broadcast are updated to address any changes.

Response:

EMWIN contains international text products and image files which are not available on the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS).

EMWIN contains a smaller number of US NWS products when compared to NWWS, but also includes some US NWS products not found on NWWS.

A Comparison ...

AWIPS IDs (ref: AWIPS Category Code ) of US text products from NWS Offices and National Centers included on the EMWIN broadcast (effective Aug 11, 2021) are presented below. Those AWIPS IDs presented in red text identify products which are also available on NWWS. Additional AWIPS IDs found on NWWS but not on EMWIN are not listed.

Notes:

RED text = also available on the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS)

* = limited by EMWIN to specific WFOs (see Appendix A, EMWIN Text Product Catalog)

highlighted = not found in the AWIPS Category Code listing.