The origins of CoastWatch began in 1987 when satellite
sea surface temperature data were used to diagnose
events that led to an unusual harmful algal bloom in
coastal North Carolina.
Today, CoastWatch is a cross-NOAA program headquartered within NOAA National
Environmental and Satellite Data and Information
Service (NESDIS), Center for Satellite Applications
and Research (STAR), Satellite Oceanography and
Climatology Division with Regional Nodes housed in the
other NOAA mission Line Offices.
Three pillars underpin the success of CoastWatch:
- CoastWatch Central Operations
- a Research and Applications team
- Regional Nodes throughout the USA and
embedded in different NOAA line offices
The Regional Nodes are direct links to understand and
address the needs and requirements of a wide range of
stakeholders within and external to NOAA. Each Node
has a federal manager and an operations manager
tasked with distributing relevant data products, work
with users on specific applications, and organize
training courses to build capacity in each region.
NOAA CoastWatch helps people access and make sense of satellite data for use in coastal and ocean applications.
OceanWatch - Central Pacific is based at the
NOAA Pacific Islands
Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) in Honolulu, Hawaii. Our office acquires and processes satellite
information and creates a variety of satellite data products for the Pacific Islands region. In this manner
we seek to serve as an updated source of daily regional and global satellite oceanographic observations.
Anyone may access data free of charge.
Our satellite-based activities include:
- Observation
- Monitoring
- Analysis
- Data Distribution
- Capacity Building and User Training
To download data, visualize data online, or learn about remote sensing data and how to work with it, we invite
you to explore the contents of our
site.
If you are unable to find the
information you are looking for, please contact the
OceanWatch
Operations Manager.