Weather

The Weather options allow users to configure how to retrieve weather data, how to display it on the chart and even apply offsets.

Weather Data Download:

  • Download Method: Allow the user to select how to retrieve weather files. TimeZero offers 4 download methods:

    • High Speed Internet: select this method when you are using a high speed Internet connection (at home or when using a 3G/LTE connection). TimeZero will directly connect to the weather server to retrieve the weather data and use up to 16 downloads in parallel. You can also limit the size of the download by checking the appropriate box and replacing the default size (20 MB) with one of your choice.

    • Satellite or Low Bandwidth Internet:parallel downloads can cause issues with high latency and slow Internet connection. Use this method especially when using a Satellite connection to connect to the Internet. With this method, TimeZero will download the data from the weather server using a single "stream" (file) that is optimized for slow Internet. Note that the server will initially take some times to create and compress the file. TimeZero will also take some times at the end of the download to decompress the file and process the data before it can be used. You may notice that the estimated file size may be larger than the actual downloaded file size. This is normal and due to the compression algorithm that the server uses. Note that the maximum file size that can be downloaded with this method is 50Mb.

    • By E-Mail: use this method when the computer cannot be connected directly to the Internet but can still send and receive e-mails. TimeZero will create an email that can be send to the server. After a couple of minutes, the server will reply back with an e-mail containing the weather file in attachment. Note that the maximum file size that can be retrieved with this method is 20Mb.

    • Iridium GO!: Use this method when you connect your computer to the Iridium Go Wi-Fi network to connect to the Internet. Note that the maximum file size that can be downloaded with this method is 1Mb. Please refer to the Iridium Go for more information.

  • Automatic Download: Allow the user to set a schedule at which the weather will be automatically downloaded.

  • Keep History when downloading weather data: This setting only appears when the Premium Ocean-O Service is activated. When this option is selected, TimeZero does not erase old weather and oceanographic data when new data is downloaded. This is useful if you want to analyze trend over long period of time.

Display:

  • Wind Particles Trail: Allow to adjust how long the particles animation are.

  • Color Shading Palette: Allow to select how continuous or discrete the color palette for weather will be. If you select fewer color, it will be easier to see "steps" in the weather data.

  • Ocean-O Scale Configuration: This setting only appears when the Premium Ocean-O Service is activated. It allows to adjust the minimum and maximum scale for the oceanographic data.

Wind and Wave Data Offsets:

  • Increase/Decrease Wind Speed (value and %): Allow to offset the overall wind speed. Useful if the weather forecasts have overestimated or underestimated wind speeds (based on your own observation).

  • Change Weather File in time: Introduce a time offset to the weather forecast. For example, if you notice that a change in forecast appears sooner, you can adjust this offset globally, so that future forecast match with your observation.

  • Increase/Decrease Waves (%): Allow to offset the overall wave height (power). Useful if the weather forecasts have overestimated or underestimated waves (based on your own observation).

  • Increase/Decrease Currents (%): Allow to offset the overall oceanic currents speed (power). Useful if the weather forecasts have overestimated or underestimated currents (based on your own observation).

  • Change in Wind direction: Allow to offset the overall wind direction.

Ocean-O:

  • chlorophyll data source: Allows to select the data source used for chlorophyll. The Copernicus Marine L4 is recommended for most application as it is the most accurate observation from satellite. However, during winter and at high altitudes, this source does not provide any data (remote sensing from satellite requires short-wave radiation from the sun to reach the ocean surface, which is not available during the polar night). For this particular case, it is possible to switch to the alternate model Copernicus BIO.