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Please note: Due to browser FTP deprecation, users will no longer be able to access NCEI data via browser FTP clients. Users may access data via NCEI Web Accessible Folders and/or FTP client supported applications. We apologize for any inconvenience. See this document as reference. 

OceanNOMADS

NCEI and its partners, including the National Weather Service's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Northern Gulf Institute, have created this NOMADS node for ocean-model access, called OceanNOMADS. This site provides retrospective access to long time series of output from mature ocean modeling and prediction systems, including models from NOAA's National Weather Service, National Ocean Service Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, and the U.S. Navy. Long-term archival of selected model fields is done at NCEI.

Note: Users requiring operational, 24/7/365 access to updates of some of these products should consider using the high-availability servers at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). While these servers don't have Navy HYCOM directly, they provide access to Global RTOFS data, which is derived from HYCOM. The Ocean Model SST Areas page shows sea surface temperatures, while the Ocean Model Current Areas page shows currents. Both links along with links to other ocean products are available on the Ocean Products page. Recent operational data for the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Operational Forecast System (CO-OPS OFS) data is at the Tides and Currents Coastal and Great Lakes Forecast page. That data is available via THREDDS on the CO-OPS THREDDS Server.

This site offers a variety of web-based data services including bulk file download, OPeNDAP subsetting, time series aggregation through THREDDS Data Server, and visualization through ERDDAP. Due to structural differences between different datasets, not all services are available for all models. Choose a model dataset from the following list to access available data and services.

  • Naval Research Laboratory Adaptive Ecosystem Climatology (AEC)
    The Naval Research Laboratory Adaptive Ecosystem Climatology (AEC) combines an ocean model with Earth observations to provide a synoptic view of the typical (climatic) state of the ocean for every day of the year. This dataset covers the Gulf of Mexico and nearby areas.
  • Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM), Global (2013–Present)
    The Navy implementation of the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) is the successor to Global NCOM. This site hosts regions covering U.S. coastal waters as well as global surface fields.
  • Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), Global (2010–2013)
    The Navy Coastal Ocean Model, global version (Global NCOM) was run by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) as the Navy’s operational global ocean-prediction system prior to its replacement by the Global HYCOM system in 2013. This site hosts regions covering U.S., European, West Pacific, and Australian coastal waters as well as a global surface model.
  • Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), Regional (2010–Present)
    The Regional Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) is a high-resolution version of NCOM for specific areas. NCEI serves the Americas Seas, U.S. East, and Alaska regions of NCOM.
  • Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Operational Forecast System (CO-OPS OFS)
    This Operational Forecast System models hydrodynamic data for selected estuaries, lakes, and rivers in the United States to support navigation and coastal needs. It is produced by CO-OPS, which is part of the National Ocean Service (NOS).
  • NCEP Real Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) (2006–Present)
    NOAA's Real Time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS)–Atlantic is a data-assimilating nowcast-forecast system operated by NCEP. This dataset covers the Gulf of Mexico and most of the northern and central Atlantic.