CO-OPS Air Gap Data: 6-Minute Bridge Clearance Observations for U.S. Waterways

The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) of NOAA operates a network of microwave sensors to measure the instantaneous clearance, or air gap, below bridges spanning U.S. navigable waterways. These preliminary 6-minute observations are part of the National Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) Program, used to ensure navigation safety, improve economic efficiency, and protect coastal resources. The dataset was last updated on 2026-03-17.

Use Cases

• Predicting safe passage times for vessels based on real-time bridge clearance data.
• Analyzing trends in bridge clearance for infrastructure maintenance planning.
• Developing navigation safety models based on air gap observations from microwave sensors.
• Integrating real-time environmental data for coastal resource management systems.

Strengths

• Data is part of the national PORTS Program, indicating a standardized operational system.
• Observations are collected at a high temporal resolution of 6-minute intervals.
• Dataset is actively maintained, with a last update timestamp of 2026-03-17.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the locations of instrumented bridges.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Collected by a network of downward-looking long-range microwave sensors operated by CO-OPS.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-17 19:40:37.363841; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bridges spanning navigable waterways in the United States.