Ocean and Coastal Observing
Apps and Websites for Smart Devices
App: San Francisco Bay Surface Currents Data
The Apple app eases access to surface currents data in San Francisco Bay. This helps mariners make safe decisions about when to head out on the water and improves the ability to plot optimal routes to intended destinations.
iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bay-currents/id492853433?mt=8
Provided by Central and Northern California, CeNCOOS
App: Northwest Pacific Data on the Go (Apple, Android)
The NVS Assets App provides easy access to data on-the-go in the field or on the water.
It displays data from a diversity of providers, including federal, tribal, state, academic, industry and non-profit organizations, who operate a wide variety of observing assets such as buoys, shore stations, sea-bed and coastal land-based stations. This composite view provides a comprehensive view of ocean conditions. http://www.nanoos.org/mobile_apps/#nvs_assets
Provided by Northwest Pacific Region, NANOOS
App and Mobile Website: Tsunami Evacuation Zones (Apple, Android)
TsunamiEvac-NW provides at-a-glance view of where the tsunami hazard zones are along the Oregon and Washington coast, and allows to map whether your home, work, school, etc. is located in a tsunami evacuation zone or not. To help develop and plan evacuation routes, TsunamiEvac-NW enables to save user’s current position or points of interest via GPS or address look-up.
App: http://www.nanoos.org/mobile_apps/#tsunami_evacuation
Website: http://tsunami.csc.noaa.gov/mobile/
Provided by Northwest Pacific Region, NANOOS
Mobil Web: Gulf of Mexico Near Real-Time observations
This website provides the one-stop shop for information requested by boaters and fishermen in U.S. Gulf of Mexico waters in a smartphone and tablet friendly format:
http://gcoos.org/products/maps/mobile/iBoaters/
Provided by Gulf of Mexico Region (GCOOS)
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On-demand, Current Conditions for Water Data
USGS WaterNow - data delivered
directly to your mobile phone or email
Send an email or text message containing a USGS current-conditions gaging site number to WaterNow@usgs.gov and quickly receive a reply with its most recent observation(s).
Details about the USGS WaterNow tool: http://water.usgs.gov/waternow/
Real-Time Weather and Water Data, App and Mobile Website
Smart Buoys by Chesapeake Conservancy
The CBIBS "smart buoys" collect and transmit real-time weather and water data. CBIBS supports the use and management of a healthy Chesapeake Bay by providing the data and information needed to improve safety, enhance the economy, and protect the environment:
Apps:
- https://itunes.apple.com/app/smart-buoys/id439920948?mt=8
- http://buoybay.noaa.gov/observations/mobile-apps.html
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National Park Service’s “Chesapeake Explorer”, App
The National Park Service’s (NPS’s) “Chesapeake Explorer” app is available in the iTunes store and in the Android market. Based on their location, the app helps users find national and state parks, trails, and historic sites near them in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The app helps users match up their interests—like hiking, biking, bird watching—with locations in the area. It contains abundant information on all those places, like location, hours, and other details. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail—each marked at points by CBIBS buoys—are among the trails highlighted via this app.
http://www.chesapeakeexplorerapp.com/
Animal Tagging, App
Shark Net - Predators of the Blue Serengeti
Shark Net allows you to connect directly with one of the most amazing predators on the planet – white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), which return every year to the Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries along the California coastline.
White sharks are apex predators in our coastal and open ocean ecosystems. Using electronic tags attached to these sharks, you will follow when individuals pass by strategically-placed underwater acoustic listening stations that are satellite uplinked in coastal locations. This technology provides the capacity for real-time uplinks from a shark within 5 minutes of its detection. We also have mobile Wave Gliders cruising the ocean waters, and when a tagged white shark swims past, the detections are sent to the app.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shark-net-predators-blue-serengeti/id542042032?mt=8
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Go Mobile with National Ocean Service, NOS
A compilation of ocean and coast-related mobile websites and free applications produced by or in partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/mobile.html