The NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) project is a repository of weather model output datasets, model input datasets (assimilation), and a limited subset of climate model datasets generated by NOAA. NCEI provides near-real-time access to these weather model forecast data in addition to historical model data. Looking into the past, present, and future, four broad categories of modeled data are available through NOMADS: Reanalysis, Numerical Weather Prediction, Ocean Models, and Climate Prediction. It is one of the main ways the NWS disseminate weather datasets to the broader scientific user community. NOMADS currently restricts users to select one forecast time, and furthermore restricts users to selecting a rectangular subset of the fully available grid. It makes use of wgrib2 to perform user requests. MDL is prototyping an enhanced version of NOMADS that makes use of OGC web services (combination of WCS, WPS, and REST-based API calls to our data API). Additional support offered will include the ability to select more than one forecast hour/time, the ability to select other geometry types (point, points, 2/3D polygons, profiles, cross sections and trajectory/corridors), and output formats other than grib (json, covjson, netCDF, IWXXM)
