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TOC > MSC data > RDWPS

Data and Products of the Regional Deterministic Wave Prediction System (RDWPS)

Great Lakes

The Regional Deterministic Wave Prediction System (RDWPS) produces wave forecasts for the Great Lakes using the third generation spectral wave model WaveWatch III®. The model is forced by the 10 meters winds from the High Resolution Deterministic Prediction System (HRDPS). An ice forecast from the Water Cycle Prediction System of the Great Lakes (WCPS) is used by the model to dampen or suppress wave growth in areas covered respectively with 25% to 75% and more than 75% ice.

WW3 (Tolman and the WAVEWATCH III® Development Group 2014) is a third generation spectral wave prediction model that solves the evolution of the energy balance equation for the 2-D wave energy spectrum without any prior assumptions on the shape of the spectrum. The WW3 model has been implemented by a growing number of national operational forecasting centres over the last several years.

This system includes four domains:

  • Lake Superior
  • Lake Huron-Michigan
  • Lake Erie
  • Lake Ontario

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

The Regional Deterministic Wave Prediction System (RDWPS) produces wave forecasts for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence using the third generation spectral wave model WAM. The model is forced by the 10 meters winds from the Regional Deterministic Prediction System. In addition, a sea ice forecast from the Regional Deterministic Prediction System - Coupled to Gulf of St. Lawrence (RDPS-CGSL) is used by the model to suppress wave growth in areas covered with greater than 50% ice.

WAM (WAve Model) (WAMDI Group 1988, Komen et al. 1994) is a third generation spectral wave prediction model that solves the evolution of the energy balance equation for the 2-D wave energy spectrum without any prior assumptions on the shape of the spectrum. The WAM model has been operational in the international community since the early nineties after a long period of development under the WAMDIG (WAve Model Development and Implementation Group).

This system includes one domain:

  • Gulf of Saint Lawrence

Access

How to access the data

This data is available on the MSC Datamart data server service as well as MSC GeoMet:

An overview and examples to access and use the Meteorological Service of Canada's open data is available.

Licence

The end-user licence for Environment and Climate Change Canada's data servers specifies the conditions of use of this data.

Metadata

Upcoming.

Products

List and links to the products available for this dataset :

Forecast maps

Technical documentation

Great Lakes

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

Changelog

The chronology of changes to the Regional Deterministic Wave Prediction System (RDWPS) is available here.