NOAA OFS: Operational Oceanographic Forecasts for U.S. Coastal Waters

Operational Forecast Systems provide nowcasts and 48-120 hour forecasts for water levels, currents, temperature, and salinity in U.S. ports and coastal waters. The National Ocean Service runs these hydrodynamic models four times daily on NOAA supercomputers to support maritime navigation. This system improves upon traditional tide tables by incorporating wind, atmospheric pressure, and river flow data.

Use Cases

• Predicting coastal flooding based on forecasted water levels and wind data
• Modeling pollutant dispersion based on forecasted current and salinity fields
• Planning maritime navigation routes based on operational nowcasts of water conditions
• Assessing thermal habitats for marine life based on forecasted water temperature

Strengths

• Forecast guidance is produced operationally four times per day, ensuring regular updates
• Covers critical ports, harbors, estuaries, and Great Lakes across the United States
• Provides predictions for multiple parameters: water levels, currents, temperature, and salinity

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service

Collection Method

Generated by hydrodynamic models within the Coastal Ocean Modeling Framework (COMF) on NOAA's WCOSS supercomputers.

Time Range

Provides nowcasts (recent past to present) and forecasts (out to 48-120 hours).

Freshness

Runs four times per day (every 6 hours); operational frequency is known but specific data recency is not.

Geography

Covers ports, harbors, estuaries, Great Lakes, and coastal waters of the United States.