CO-OPS Coastal Water Temperature

The NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) is the authoritative source for reliable, accurate, and timely data on tides, water levels,currents, and other coastal oceanographic and meteorological information, including coastal water temperature. CO-OPS services support safe and efficient maritimecommerce and transportation, safeguard public health and safety, and foster resilient coastal communities.

Coastal water temperature monitoring is essential for safe navigation, as it impacts ocean density and circulation patterns, and for assessing the health of coastal flora and fauna, as many species are sensitive to rapid changes in temperature. An understanding of the seasonal patterns and trends in water temperature aids coastal communities and practitioners in decision-making, and helps marine and freshwater biologists understand climate variability and its effects on local ecosystems, thereby enhancing knowledge for nature-based solutions.

The integration of continuously-recording water temperature thermistors into the National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) and the CO-OPS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems (PORTS) began in the early 1990s. As of December 2024, there are over 220 water temperature sensors along the U.S. coastsand in the Great Lakes region. Of these, 174 stations meet the NWLON requirement of a minimum of 19 years of continuous operation (Dusek et al 2024) in regards to theirwater temperature data records. This study establishes a robust quality control methodology and assesses the quality of CO-OPS coastal water temperature data for climate timescales studies.

To enhance data reliability, an automated Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedure was developed that streamlines processing, minimizes human biases, andemploys various QC strategies, including incorporating data from backup sensors as necessary. Daily average temperatures and a seasonal based daily residual were produced for each station as well as regional groupings.

This repository contains notebooks and data to visualize the cleaned daily water temperature and a csv listing the stations and regions used in the analysis for NOAA Technical Report: Evaluation and Quality Control of CO-OPS Coastal Water Temperature Data.