NOAA S-104: Global Water Level Forecast Guidance for Coastal Navigation

NOAA's STOFS-2D-Global model provides water level forecasts for global coastal areas, encoded in S-104 specification HDF-5 files. The data includes combined storm surge and astronomical tide predictions, with a forecast horizon of 180 hours (7.5 days). A prototype tile set is available for the Charleston, South Carolina area, with files geospatially subset according to NOAA's nautical product tiling scheme.

Use Cases

• Integrating water level forecasts into Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC) systems based on the S-104 specification.
• Analyzing combined storm surge and tidal effects for coastal resilience planning based on the 180-hour forecast guidance.
• Developing nowcast and forecast visualization tools for specific geographic tiles based on the NOAA/OCS tiling scheme.
• Testing S-100 compliant data ingestion pipelines using the prototype Charleston, SC area files.

Strengths

• Data conforms to the international S-100 hydrographic data model standard.
• Forecast guidance covers a 180-hour (7.5-day) horizon.
• Files are geospatially organized using the authoritative NOAA/OCS Nautical Product Tiling Scheme.

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 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Collection Method

Output from the operational Global Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System 2-D (STOFS-2D-Global) model.

Time Range

Forecast projections from individual model runs, valid up to 180 hours in the future.

Freshness

Update frequency is unknown.

Geography

Global coastal waters, with a prototype subset for Charleston, South Carolina, USA.