National Data Buoy Center Programs

Abstract

The National Data Buoy Center(NDBC) operates ocean and coastal buoys and coastal land stations that report hourly through the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system. In addition, NDBC maintains drifting-buoy networks that report through the polar-orbiting TIROS-N satellites. To disseminate information on these systems that provide vital environmental reports from data-sparse marine areas, the data-acquisition systems, net-works, monitoring capabilities, data processing and distribution, data quality and availability, and future programs are discussed.