NOAA PORTS PROGRAM
The Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) is a program of NOAA's
National Ocean Service that supports safe and cost-efficient navigation
by providing ship masters and pilots with accurate real-time information
required to avoid groundings and collisions. This technological innovation
has the potential to save the maritime insurance industry from multi-million
dollar claims resulting from shipping accidents. PORTS includes centralized
data acquisition and dissemination systems that provide real-time water
levels, currents, and other oceanographic and meteorological data from
bays and harbors to the maritime user community in a variety of user friendly
formats, including telephone voice response and Internet. Also, PORTS provides
nowcasts and predictions of these parameters with the use of numerical
circulation models. Telephone voice access to accurate real-time water
level information allows U.S. port authorities and maritime shippers to
make sound decisions regarding loading of tonnage (based on available bottom
clearance), maximizing loads, and limiting passage times, without compromising
safety. There are currently PORTS installations at the following locations:
Cherry Point
Chesapeake Bay North
Chesapeake Bay South
Delaware Bay
Gulfport
Houston/Galveston
Lake Charles
Los Angeles/ Long Beach
Lower Columbia River
Lower Mississippi River
Mobile Bay
Narragansett Bay
New Haven
New York/New Jersey Harbor
Pascagoula
Port of Anchorage
Sabine Neches
San Francisco Bay
Soo Locks
Tacoma
For further information on PORTS, visit the PORTS webpage or contact:
Darren Wright
PORTSĀ® Program Manager
Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS)
1305 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 713-4278 ext. 193
FAX: (301) 713-4392
Darren.Wright@noaa.gov
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