Skip to content

CO-OPS tide predictions

Available since v0.14.0 as noaa:coops-tide-predictions. The adapter fetches astronomical tide predictions for one explicit station from the same anonymous CO-OPS Data API as the observed water levels, with the same station, datum, units, and timestamp rules, so the two series align row for row when requested on the same interval. Subtracting the prediction from the observation isolates the non-tidal residual, which during a tropical cyclone is dominated by storm surge.

Require a seven-digit string station, an explicit uppercase datum, and both timestamps. units is metric (default, meters) or english (feet). Supported datum codes follow the Data API documentation: CRD, IGLD, LWD, MHHW, MHW, MTL, MSL, MLW, MLLW, NAVD, and STND; availability depends on the station. interval selects the series: 6 (default) or another minute step from 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60; h for hourly; or hilo for high and low tides only, which adds a Type column of H or L. Subordinate stations serve only hilo; the service rejects other intervals there during fetching. Unknown parameters, geographic/text selectors, and variables are rejected.

Offsets are normalized to UTC and the API request fixes time_zone=gmt. Bounds are inclusive, must have zero seconds/microseconds, and span at most 366 days on any interval, within NOAA's one-year limit for predictions. A year of six-minute predictions is about 87,600 rows. A date alone as the end means 23:59 on that day. The adapter constructs one stable CSV request; it checks the response on fetch.

uv run usdata fetch noaa:coops-tide-predictions \
  --start 2024-05-06T00:00Z --end 2024-05-07T00:00Z \
  -p station=8518750 -p datum=MLLW -p interval=hilo

The raw CSV retains NOAA's header spacing. Use the ordinary CSV reader and rename columns locally if desired; station, datum, units, interval, and timezone remain explicit in the provenance source URL. Predictions are computed from harmonic constituents, not observed, so they carry no quality flags and never contain gaps. NOAA occasionally revises a station's constituents, after which the same request returns different bytes. The storm-surge notebook subtracts predictions from observations during Hurricane Helene.

See the service research notes for dated upstream probes.

Metadata sources

Every value in the catalog entry's resolution, cadence, citation, terms, variables, and limits comes from one of these pages. A field the agency does not publish is left empty rather than estimated.

  • Resolution, updates, and the longest window: the Data API documentation, which lists the prediction intervals and limits non-hilo intervals to one year; the adapter's MAX_PREDICTION_INTERVAL in usdata.providers.noaa.coops sets the declared 366 days.
  • Variables: the CSV header this adapter requests, including the Type column that only hilo returns.
  • Terms: the CO-OPS disclaimer.
  • Citation: CO-OPS publishes no citation form, so the entry uses the agency, product, and access form.
  • Latency is empty: predictions are computed on request, so no lag applies.

All NOAA datasets.

Reference

noaa:coops-tide-predictions · Released · Included since usdata 0.14. CO-OPS Tide Predictions.

At a glance

Parameters

Pass these as --param name=value to the CLI, as params: entries in a manifest, or as keyword arguments to build_query.

Parameter Meaning
datum Required vertical datum: CRD, IGLD, LWD, MHHW, MHW, MLLW, MLW, MSL, MTL, NAVD, STND.
interval 6 (default), 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes; h (hourly); hilo (high/low).
station Required seven-digit CO-OPS station id, for example '8518750'.
units metric (default) or english.

Variables

Variable Units Meaning
Date Time UTC Prediction time, requested with time_zone=gmt
Prediction meters Predicted tide height on the requested datum (metric units)
Type — H or L, on the hilo interval only

Catalog facts

  • Availability: since 0.14
  • Domain: Sea level and tides
  • Spatial resolution: One tide station per request
  • Temporal resolution: Six minutes by default; 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minute steps, hourly, or high/low
  • Updates: Computed on request from the station's harmonic constituents, which NOAA revises occasionally
  • Longest query window: 366 days
  • Terms of use: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/disclaimers.html
  • Citation: NOAA National Ocean Service, Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, tide predictions, accessed via usdata
  • Coverage: not specified in the catalog
  • Coverage varies by station, product, and date; the range above does not guarantee observations.
  • Upstream documentation
  • License: US Government Work (public domain)
  • Transport: http
  • Adapter: usdata.providers.noaa.coops:CoopsTidePredictions