NOAA CoastWatch/Ocean Watch/PolarWatch: Ocean satellite data and services for US Gulf Coast, Central Pacific, and global applications and information

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) CoastWatch/OceanWatchPolarWatch (a.k.a. “CoastWatch”) aims to improve decision outcomes by facilitating the use of ocean satellite data in applications and research for understanding, managing and protecting ocean, coastal and inland water resources and for assessing impacts of environmental change in ecosystems, human health, weather, and climate. Earth observations from space have the advantage of broad spatial and repeating temporal coverage that complement in situ measurements.. CoastWatch satellite data products are free and open (publicly available without the need for registration), and include multiple environmental parameters such as sea surface temperature, ocean color (e.g. chlorophyll), sea surface height (altimetry), ocean winds, surface roughness (synthetic aperture radar), salinity and sea ice. CoastWatch also distributes outputs from environmental models which incorporate several of these basic physical parameters to derive more complex information. These products cover multiple spatial regions (global and regional coverage) and near real-time as well as delayed-mode, higher quality and longer term time series datasets. CoastWatch customizes, serves, and monitors ocean satellite data products from NOAA and other environmental satellite missions. CoastWatch is well positioned to link upstream ocean satellite data producers with downstream user needs for real life applications. Our central “hub” is colocated with the ocean satellite data scientists in College Park, MD and our “spokes” are our seven regional Nodes distributed geographically around the country and across NOAA mission line offices. Our Gulf of Mexico Node is co-located with the NOAA Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research, in the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/OAR/AOML) in Miami, FL. Our Central Pacific Ocean Watch Node is co-located with the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC). CoastWatch operates 1) interactive and interoperable data portals to facilitate search and discovery, multi-product visualization and customizable data downloading; 2) a central helpdesk which responds to everything from educating and guiding novice users, help with discovering data products for specific applications, code suggestions to setup routine queries and downloads, etc.; 3) routine data quality and availability services that enable the assessment of data products over time and in comparison with reference datasets; 4) in-person training courses along with evolving online tutorial and virtual training opportunities. CoastWatch Utilities is a software package that helps users analyze and visualize satellite data products on their own. Coastwatch also collaborates directly with users to provide satellite data expertise in the development of applications that solve user-specific problems. Some examples and short demonstrations of data products, discovery and access pathways, tutorials and several user applications will be presented with an emphasis on our Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and our Central Pacific products, services and application tools. Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and findings contained in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or U.S. Government position, policy, or decision.