Traditional sources of marine weather information, like Weatherfax, are "schedule-driven". By this we mean that to get the information, you need to wait for a scheduled broadcast, then tune in to receive it. Even the continuous-broadcast NOAA Weather Radio service on marine VHF makes you wait patiently until the loop wraps around to the forecast for your piece of water.
Satellite phones and similar modern communications methods are changing this tradition. Now it's possible to get weather information "on demand" -- meaning you gain access to precisely the information you want, whenever you decide you want it.
The folks at OCENS pioneered this concept. Their products work in concert with your wireless link (sat-phone, cell-phone, and others) to let you download weather information on your terms. OCENS highly-automated data-transfer methodology is optimized for slower-speed connections, so you'll save on the airtime charges you'd accumulate using other manual, more labor-intensive methods.
For Email products from OCENS, including OCENS Mail, please click here.
OCENS WeatherNet
WeatherNet is a system designed to optimize the download of weather and ocean data products via wireless connections.
Think of WeatherNet as a repository for thousands of weather forecast products -- text, images, charts, buoy data, radar, GRIB files, and many more formats -- some 20,000 individual products in all. You work offline to choose which products are appropriate for your voyage.
When you're ready to download, WeatherNet works seamlessly with your wireless connection (satellite phone, cell phone or other device) to retrieve your files in a highly-compressed format and hangs up the call, saving you precious airtime minutes. The information you retrieved can be viewed immediately, or set aside for review later.
GRIB, or GRIdded Binary, data represents the output of computer model forecasting tools. OCENS GRIB Explorer helps you display and interpret this data in powerful ways.
With GRIB Explorer you can:
Automatically download and display GRIB files in full color
Display weather features including surface pressure, wind, waves, swell, cloud cover, currents and more.
Layer multiple weather parameters for better analysis
Animate GRIB forecasts to see how weather conditions are expected to evolve over coming days
GRIB Explorer works in concert with OCENS WeatherNet to quickly access GRIB files for fast and easy download.
