**GOES TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP**

**Savannah, GA**

**June 12, 2007**

**NOAA/NOS/CO-OPS USER REPORT**

NOS CO-OPS maintains a National array of stations providing
oceanographic and meteorological observations in support of NOAA's
mission. The stations primarily provide water level observations but
also include currents, wind & gust, air & water temperatures, barometric
pressure, salinity, bridge air gap and several other parameters.
Observations are collected at six minute intervals and are provided in
real time via web and phone products.

The majority of these stations form the National Water Level Observation
Network (NWLON) which now contains 200 operational sites. A ceremony was
held May 14, 2007 in Mobile to acknowledge the operational acceptance of
NOAA\'s 200th station.

CO-OPS' Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems (PORTS) program is a
unique partnership program between NOAA and other funding agencies (such
as port authorities) providing an integrated suite of oceanographic and
meteorological information in real time for improved safety and commerce
through the Nation's ports. We have 13 PORTS around the Nation, most
recently adding the lower Columbia River, and will be adding four
additional sites in the Gulf of Mexico soon - Gulfport, New Orleans,
Mobile, and Pascagoula.

Recent efforts have expanded the measurement and reporting capabilities
at a number of CO-OPS water level stations supporting NOAA's tsunami
warning programs (see http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov. Additional sites
support marsh restoration and a variety of special projects (see
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov).

CO-OPS has DOMSAT receivers at Chesapeake and Seattle, supplementing our
COOP capability. CO-OPS also has access to data from a NWS DOMSAT
receiver in Silver Spring.

We have a total of 579 platform assignments and 281 of these are HDR
assignments.

**EXISTING CO-OPS PLATFORM ASSIGNMENT USE**

We are no longer using any platform assignments on channels 002W, 061E,
072W, 093E, 175E, 181E, 199E. There are 46 assignments that can be
parked on channel 199.

There is only one slot in use on channel 173E, it is the Global Sea
Level station Ushuaia, Argentina. The slot could be transferred to the
Hawaii global sea level people.

On six 300 baud channels (147E, 148W, 150W, 159E, 165E & 175E) we are
currently using 243 of 269 six minute slots, 19 more than reported in
Nov 2006.

On channels 069E, 113E, 116W, 117E, 165E, & 175E & 181E we are using 126
of 228 one hour slots, 48 fewer than reported in May 2006. We are moving
off some of these

channels so they can be converted to 300 baud.

On channels 002W, 061E, 071E, 072W, 093E, 173E & 199 we are using 15 of
82 three hour slots, 25 fewer than reported in May 2006. These will also
be converted to 300 baud channels.

We plan to upgrade 45 NWLON stations to HDR in the remainder of FY07.

**TSUNAMI READY STATIONS**

We continue to expand our tsunami capability, most recently with a
deployment at Mona Island. The current number of installed/upgraded
water level stations that are designated as Tsunami-Ready is 110 for
CO-OPS\' Tsunami Program for Sea Level Monitoring.  Here is a quick
update of all the stations that have been designated as Operational and
are considered Tsunami Ready as of June 20, 2007.

5 stations in Pacific Islands (PI) : Wake Island, Midway Island, Pago
Pago, Kwajalein, Guam\
6 stations in Hawaii (HI):  Nawiliwili, Honolulu, Mokuoloe, Kahului,
Kawaihae, Hilo\
23 stations in Alaska (AK):  Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, Elfin
Cove, Yakutat, Cordova, Valdez, Seward, Seldovia, Nikiski, Anchorage,
Kodiak, Sand Point, King Cove, Adak, Unalaska, Nome, Red Dog, Prudhoe
Bay, Alitak, Atka, Nikolski\
9 stations in Washington (WA): Toke Point, Westport, La Push, Neah Bay,
Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Seattle, Friday Harbor, Cherry Point\
5 stations in Oregon (OR): Garibaldi, Astoria, Port Orford, Charleston,
South Beach\
15 stations in California (CA): San Diego, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Santa
Monica, Santa Barbara, Port San Luis, Monterey, Crescent City, North
Spit, Arena Cove, Point Reyes, Redwood City, Alameda, San Francisco,
Port Chicago\
6 stations in Puerto Rico (PR): San Juan, Magueyes Island, Vieques,
Culebra, Aguadilla Pier, Mona Island\
4 stations in Virgin Islands (VI): Lime Tree Bay, Charlotte Amalie,
Christiansted Harbor, St. Croix, Lameshur Bay, St Johns.\
21 stations on the East Coast:  Reedy Point (DE); Philadelphia, (PA);
Ocean City Inlet, Cambridge, Baltimore, Solomons Island (MD);
Wachapreague, Lewisetta, Kiptopeke, and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
(VA); Duck, Beaufort, Wilmington, and Wrightsville Beach (NC);
Springmaid Pier and Charleston (SC); Fort Pulaski (GA); Fernandina
Beach, Trident Pier, Vaca Key, and Key West (FL).\
16 stations on the Gulf Coast: Fort Myers, Naples, St. Petersburg,
Clearwater Beach, Apalachicola, Panama City, Panama City Beach, and
Pensacola (FL); Mobile State Dock (AL), East Bank, USCG New Canal, Pilot
Station SW Pass (LA); Sabine Pass North, Galveston Pleasure Pier,
Galveston Pier 21, and Port Isabel (TX).**\
**\
100% of operational NWLON stations in AK, HI, PI, PR, VI, CA, OR, WA,
are upgraded with Sutron Xpert system. \
\
Cape May (NJ), Lewes (DE) are being installed currently or have been
installed, but are not yet ready to be designated as operational or
tsunami ready - Cape May has Aquatrak sensor failure at present and it
will be fixed shortly.\
\
The following 9 NWLON stations at Newport, RI; Sewells Point, VA; Oregon
Inlet, NC; Providence, RI; Kings Point, NY; Battery, NY; Sandy Hook, NJ;
Washington, DC; Yorktown, VA; have Xpert system installed but do not
have the proper software for them to be designated as tsunami ready
yet.  These stations need visits for the software upgrade and software
upgrade can not be done via telephone.  We are making plans to upgrade
the software as opportunities arise such as when AI trips are planned or
EM visits are taken at these stations.  Let me know if there are any
corrections or modifications to this list and information.\
\
Our magic number for Tsunami Ready is 143 NWLON + Mobile State Dock =
144 NWLON stations.  110 are Tsunami Ready as of now, another 2 have
some problems, 9 need software upgrade, so that is about 121 stations. 
Between now and the end of the fiscal year, we have a plan of upgrading
the remaining 23 NWLON stations.\
\
100% of NWLON stations in CA, OR, WA, AK, HI, PI, PR, VI are upgraded
with Sutron Xpert systems as of this date.

**NEW DEVELOPMENTS**

CO-OPS has recently:

-   requested additional 300 baud assignments,

-   started changing our hydrographic support stations to hourly, 300
    baud, 10 sec assignments,

-   obtained three 1200 baud assignments for current profiler ADCP
    platforms.

-   Deployed two Iridium systems at Wake Island and Mona Island

-   Deployed a demonstration red tide sensor at Naples, in cooperation
    with Mote Marine Lab