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On 6 June 2016 ECMWF started passively monitoring BUFR BUOY data in its operational system, assimilation of pressure data started in July 2016, many alphanumeric (FM18) reports ceased on 2 November 2016. For drifting buoys the BUFR feed is almost complete now helped by the fact that fewer data producers are involved (there are about 20 Indian and a few Japanese buoys not using the approved template as yetstill 12 Indian moored buoys reporting only in FM18 as at mid-2021). In mid-2016 there were 51 pressure-reporting buoys reporting in BUFR but not in FM18, some of these were moored buoys including 7 PIRATA or RAMA buoys which also report subsurface temperature and salinity. Template 315008 is used for moored buoys and 315009 for drifting buoys. More details of the marine data can be found in the Marine and ocean observations pages (one issue is the move from 5-digit to 7-digit identifiers, this means that some newer buoys cannot really be coded using FM18). In December 2018 NOAA moored buoys started reporting in the correct 315008 template (they are mainly close to the US coast, but a few are further offshore). Moored buoys from Canada and the UK still report in SHIP format and are not shown in the plot below. Note that about half the buoys, shown in light blue, do not report pressure (especially those in the tropical Pacific and the Mediterranean, they are deployed to measure SST and currents). In the second quarter of 2019 we started receiving moored buoy data for the North American Great Lakes, but there is a complication in that they report both Pmsl and Pstn (marine TAC reports only contained Pmsl), but don't give the height of Pstn.
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