Update ndbc_stations.xml after 7-character buoy ids are introduced in Aug/Sept 2023

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Describe the Task

The ndbc_stations.xml file is a static file defining (lat, lon) NDBC buoy locations. Unfortunately, the NDBC file format is not self-describing and ascii2nc performs a lookup from a static table file to retrieve the (lat, lon) location for each buoy based on its ID. The issue is that these locations change relatively frequently. For example, in the 18 days between July 10, 2023 and July 28, 2023, differences emerged for 30 of the 2626 lines in that file.

The huge problem here is that NDBC buoy data can only be trusted if...

1. The ndbc_stations.xml locations file has been updated very recently.
2. You are processing near realtime buoy data.

Processing "old" buoy data creates low confidence in the accuracy of the (lat, lon) locations.

This issue is to update the locations in that file after a relatively large change occurs in mid to late August 2023. Some of the stations ids will be modified from 5 characters to 7 characters. Since ascii2nc parses this data based on whitespace rather than using a fixed-width-format, no code changes should be required. But we should test with 7 character buoy ids to confirm they are processed as expected.

Please see this change description:
https://www.weather.gov/media/notification/pdf_2023_24/scn23-85_ndbc_web_file_format_change.pdf

Here are sample commands you can use to regenerate this file:

cd MET/scripts/python/utility
./build_ndbc_stations_from_web.py
mv merged.txt ndbc_stations.xml

Please coordinate with [email protected] on these updates.

Time Estimate

2 hours.

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Relevant Deadlines

Do this between mid-August and mid-September, 2023 after the changes have taken effect.

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[JohnHalleyGotway]

FYI, we could consider setting this script up to run via cron nightly on NCAR machines and posting the result to a public website, such as:
https://dtcenter.ucar.edu/dfiles/code/METplus/MET/

[georgemccabe]

We should also update the script used to update the buoy stations file to include a timestamp so it is clear when the file was last updated. Without this information it is difficult to know which version of the file should be used for a use case.

The active stations file includes a "created" attribute at the top. If the script combines this file with other data, we could consider generating our own timestamp of when the script was run and include that instead.

[georgemccabe]

We should also add a log message to note which station file was used so we can tell if the MET_NDBC_STATIONS environment variable is used or not. @JohnHalleyGotway said:

We should look to see how similar things are logged, like MET_GRIB_TABLES and mimic that.

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Recommend doing this work during the LAST beta development cycle.