Voluntary Marine Observations

Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program

The United States VOS Program is organized for the purpose of obtaining weather and oceanographic observations from moving ships. An international program under World Meteorological Organization (WMO) auspices, the VOS program has forty nine countries as participants. The United States VOS Program services about one quarter of the world's VOS fleet, providing ships' crews with weather observer training, handbooks and forms, observation encoding software, barometer calibration, the Mariners Weather Log, and weather observing tools. Observations are coded in a special format known as the ships synoptic code, or "BBXX" format. They are then distributed on national and international circuits for use by meteorologists in weather forecasting, by oceanographers, ship routing services, fishermen, and many others. The observations are then forwarded for use by the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) in Asheville, North Carolina.

Check out this video about the benefits of the VOS program. 

Observations from ships form the basis of marine weather forecasts in coastal, offshore and high seas areas. The program operates at no cost to the vessel, with communications charges, observing equipment and reporting supplies furnished by the National Weather Service. Vessels participating in the VOS program are typically active commercial vessels with licensed crew. For further information on the VOS Program, visit the VOS Webpage. Here is a ship weather observation form to submit your observations to the NWS.

SKYWARN 

Many radio amateurs participate in the SKYWARN Program. SKYWARN is a nationwide network of volunteer weather spotters who report to and are trained by the National Weather Service. These spotters report many forms of significant or severe weather such as Severe Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, Hail, Heavy Snow, or Flooding. Learn more about the SKYWARN program. 

MAREP Program

MAREP is a program whereby mariners report current coastal weather conditions in the form of plain language reports to local Weather Forecast Offices producing Coastal Weather Forecasts. Unlike the VOS and SKYWARN programs, pre-registration and training is not usually a prerequisite for participation. Available reporting methods and procedures vary between Forecast Offices. Contact your local National Weather Service Forecast Office to learn about MAREP program activities in your area.

Mariner Reports (MAREPs)

• Marine Report User Guide
• Guide to Mariner Reports Brochure

If the numbers in the table below are not correct, you can find contact information for local NWS offices here. 

MAROB Program

The MAROB Program is a voluntary marine observation program of the National Weather Service. It seeks the participation of all mariners, both commercial and recreational, which are not part of the more in-depth VOS program. It is the goal of the program to collect as many marine observations as practicable, to improve the accuracy of coastal, offshore and high seas forecasts, by taking advantage of technological advancements in digital marine communications.

MAROB observations will be in coded form which can be better ingested, distributed and displayed by forecasters than observations in plain language. The MAROB report format will be identical to VOS coded reports, with the exception that "MAROB" will replace "BBXX". The MAROB program will differ from the VOS Program in at least several other aspects: Although MAROBs will be used by forecasters in forecast decision process, these data will likely not be used directly by computer models; Any communications charges and the cost of any observing equipment will not be reimbursed by the Weather Service; The observation elements collected will typically be a subset of those collected in the full VOS report.

CLICK HERE for more details on the MAROB program.

MARS Program

The MARS Program is a voluntary marine observation program of the National Weather Service whereby U.S. Coast Guard Group Stations report marine weather conditions from several shore locations within their operating area. The reports are in an abbreviated plain language format with fixed fields. For further information on the MARS program contact the National Data Buoy Center at: webmaster.ndbc@noaa.gov

APRSWXNET/Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP)

Originally, APRSWXNET was developed as a way for amateur radio operators to transmit weather data to the NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) in Boulder, Colorado for research. The success of this effort and the amount of data routinely collected have led to use by other research labs and by operational parts of NOAA including the National Weather Service. The system has also been expanded to allow collection of observations via the Internet, thereby expanding the program to persons not holding an amateur radio license. The program offers the potential of greatly improving the accuracy of marine forecasts and timeliness of warnings. An example would be a network of volunteer automated weather stations installed at marinas and yacht clubs along the coast. For further information, visit the CWOP Webpage

Click on the link to find CWOP weather data  or visit NOAA's NCEP Central Operations MADIS Database.

Cooperative Observer Program (COOP)

The National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer Program (Coop) is truly the Nation's weather and climate observing network of, by and for the people. More than 8,700 volunteers take observations on farms, in urban and suburban areas, National Parks, seashores, and mountaintops. The data are truly representative of where people live, work and play.

Overview of the NWS COOP program. 

Voluntary Mesonets

NOAA's NCEP Central Operations MADIS Database offers voluntary weather observations from several government, commercial and voluntarily operated mesonets as well as observations of those of the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Program and data buoys. A variety of marine observations may also be viewed on NOAA's nowCOAST web portal.