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GOMO-Funded Project

NOSTide Gauge Network

Shimmering Ocean
Image Credit: PMEL
  • Principal Investigator(s):
    • Peter Stone
    • Robert Loesch
    • Eric Breuer
    • Jason Lehto
    • John Stepnowski
  • Project Institution(s): NOAA National Ocean Service / CO-OPS
  • Fiscal Year: 2023
  • Award Period:
    10/01/2022 - 09/30/2023

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) operates and maintains the National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) consisting of 210 long-term, continuously operating water level stations on all U.S. coasts, territories and in the Great Lakes. The operation of these stations, and their long period of record, is critical to understanding sea level rise and climate variability, both on a global and local scale.

Tide gauge records provide relative sea level trends critical for coastal zone management, engineering, and long-term planning and decision-making on a local and national scale. They also provide calibration for satellite altimeters to better understand and measure global sea level changes caused by thermal expansion and changes in freshwater input. While the period of record for satellite altimeters is relatively short, tide gauge records exist for several decades, giving us a better understanding of what changes we have seen, and how that reflects future variability in sea level due to climate change.

In the climate community, users of this data include climate researchers, NOAA and federal partners who use the information to develop climate mitigation strategies for coastal communities or for management decisions, coastal managers responsible for implementing climate change response and mitigation strategies, and the public who require local information to downscale global models information and develop local projections.

All CO-OPS data are available real-time, and products, including long-term trends and monthly and annual means, are available through the CO-OPS Tides and Currents website, and are archived at all three Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) archive centers. The data are also available through the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level. Twenty-seven NWLON stations currently comprise the U.S. contribution to the GLOSS Core Network, and forty-five are part of the GLOSS-Long Term Trend (LTT) network. CO-OPS also supports the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) by providing on-line sea level trends and analysis for 114 international GLOSS-LTT stations (using internal funding), by operating and maintaining the GLOSS-ALT tide gauges at Oil Platform Harvest for satellite altimeter calibration and evaluation and by maintaining the long-term tide station in Bermuda as part of the GLOSS Core Network

The gallery below displays the installation of the La Jolla, CA cGNSS station in August, 2023 and the new level kits constructed by CO-OPS.

Project Gallery

GNSS antenna (right) installed on La Jolla Pier. Image Credit: Peter Stone, NOAA NOS
GNSS Receiver and electronics. Image Credit: Peter Stone, NOAA NOS
Plot of daily positions from La Jolla GNSS, Image Credit: NGS website
Construction of Leveling kits for GNSS Antenna Mounts. Image Credit: Peter Stone, NOAA NOS
Final Assembly of Leveling kits for GNSS Antenna Mounts. Image Credit: Peter Stone, NOAA NOS
Leveling Kits Ready for CO-OPS Field Crews. Image Credit: Peter Stone, NOAA NOS

Project Data

CO-OPS continued to ensure that its GNSS data was widely available to stakeholders and the international climate research community. GNSS data from all six stations is available through SONEL’s and NOAA/NGS websites. Information on the leveling tie to the nearby GLOSS water level station is also available on these sites and through contact with CO-OPS.

Since NGS is part of the US Government, and maintains their own GNSS observing system they handle all data management and stewardship for CO-OPS data.

Publications and Reports