STOFS-3D-Atlantic: NOAA 3D Surge and Tide Forecasts for the Atlantic Basin

NOAA's STOFS-3D-Atlantic model runs daily to provide 24-hour nowcasts and 96-hour forecasts of water levels, temperature, salinity, and currents. Its unstructured grid contains 2,926,236 nodes and 5,654,157 elements, with resolution from 8 meters in rivers to 2 km near shorelines. The system is developed collaboratively by NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, NCEP Central Operations, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Use Cases

• Predict coastal flooding risk based on combined tidal and subtidal water surface elevation forecasts.
• Model 3D ocean currents and water temperature for marine navigation and safety planning.
• Assess inland hydrology and extreme precipitation effects on coastal zones based on National Water Model inputs.
• Validate hydrodynamic models using forecast guidance for water level, salinity, and current fields.

Strengths

• Model grid contains 2,926,236 nodes and 5,654,157 elements, providing high spatial detail.
• Integrates multiple authoritative data sources including the National Water Model, GFS, HRRR, and G-RTOFS.
• Provides 96-hour forecast guidance updated daily at 12 UTC for operational use.
• Grid resolution is fine-grained, down to 8 meters for watershed rivers and 2-10 meters for levees.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

NOAA/National Ocean Service (NOS)/Office of Coast Survey, NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS)/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations, Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Collection Method

Operational forecasts generated by the Semi-implicit Cross-scale Hydroscience Integrated System Model (SCHISM).

Time Range

Provides 24-hour nowcasts and up to 96-hour forecasts.

Freshness

Runs daily at 12 UTC.

Geography

Atlantic Basin, focusing on the U.S. coastline and coastal transitional zone.