• Complete Buoy Id List


Region:
• Atlantic Coast of Florida
• California
• Caribbean
• Eastern Alaska
• Eastern Gulf of Mexico
• Florida Straits
• Georgia and the Carolinas
• Great Lakes
• Hawaiian Islands
• Mid Atlantic
• Northeast Pacific
• Northwestern Atlantic
• Western Alaska
• Western Gulf of Mexico
• Western Pacific
• West of Peru

NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database

The NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database (NODC File 291) is one of the largest and most frequently used data archives maintained by the NODC. This database holds wind, wave, and other marine data collected by the NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). The data are collected from NDBC moored buoys and from C-MAN (Coastal-Marine Automated Network) stations located on piers, offshore towers, lighthouses, and beaches. Parameters reported by both buoys and C-MAN stations include air temperature and pressure, wind speed and direction, wind gust, and sea surface temperature. The buoys (and a few C-MAN stations located on offshore towers) also report wave data, usually including wave height, wave period, and wave spectra. Since the late 1980s some buoys have reported directional wave spectra. NODC receives the data from NDBC on a monthly basis, generally 2-3 weeks after the last observation from the given month, and makes them available online.

The above interactive map and related files provide users with detailed information about the positions, period of record and other characteristics of the data in this NODC database. The NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database (only through December 1997) is available on CD-ROM from the online store or via User Services. However, all F291 Buoy Data in the NODC archive may be downloaded through this system. Note: file sizes range from 50 Kbytes to 1.4 Mbytes compressed (300 Kbytes to 5.5 Mbytes uncompressed).

Latest data in the F291 Buoy Data Archive is August, 2008.
Number of "Buoy Months" in the Archive is 35786.
(Last updated September 10, 2008)

Note - two buoys 46023 and 46062 have associated id's, 46b23 and 46b62. The b data files contain observations taken by acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). Data records A (Descriptive Header Record) and E (Subsurface Current Data Record) are used in the files. The "new" buoy id's are treated like all other buoys in that they have their own inventory pages.

NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Data (F291) General Information

• F291 data format description (format last changed September 1, 2006; document last edited May 30, 2008)

• Detailed information about NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Data (F291) Data on CD-ROM
  - All buoy data is available online, however only data through December 1997 is on the CD-ROMs.

• Links to Information about NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Data at the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC)

• - There is a lot of information about buoy data on the NDBC site.

  - NDBC is the source of the Buoy Data that is archived at NODC.

  • NDBC's Home Page (you will be leaving the NODC Web Site).

  • NDBC's Overview of the Moored Buoy Program (you will be leaving the NODC Web Site)
    - includes information about hull types with photos

  • NDBC's Recent Marine Data (you will be leaving the NODC Web Site)

• Information about errors, and announcements that are of interest to F291 Buoy Data users.

If you are interested in being notified whenever this page is updated, send a brief note to Thomas Ryan (Thomas.Ryan@noaa.gov) and ask to be added to the mailing list for the NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database.