# NOAA CO-OPS API Plans

## Free (Government Open Data)

NOAA CO-OPS APIs are provided free of charge as a public service by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). No registration, API key, or authentication is required to access the data.

### Included

- Full access to the CO-OPS Data Retrieval API (water levels, tidal predictions, currents, meteorological data)
- Full access to the CO-OPS Metadata API (station metadata, datums, benchmarks, harmonic constituents)
- Full access to the CO-OPS Derived Product API (sea level trends, projections, high tide flooding statistics)
- Data available in multiple formats: JSON, XML, CSV, KML, NetCDF, TXT
- Access to real-time, near-real-time, and historical observational data
- Access to tidal predictions for thousands of stations nationwide

### Data Retrieval Limits per Request

| Data Type | Maximum Range per Request |
|-----------|--------------------------|
| 1-minute water level | 4 days |
| 6-minute interval data | 1 month |
| Hourly interval data | 1 year |
| High/Low data | 1 year |
| Daily data | 10 years |
| Monthly mean data | 200 years |

### Additional Services (Free)

- THREDDS Data Server access
- ERDDAP data server access
- SOAP web services
- Amazon S3 bulk data access
- Sensor Observation Service (SOS) protocol

### Intended Use

CO-OPS data is intended for:
- Scientific research and academic use
- Coastal navigation and maritime safety
- Emergency management and flood monitoring
- Environmental monitoring and climate research
- Commercial and recreational boating
- Engineering and infrastructure planning

### Contact

- General inquiries: co-ops.userservices@noaa.gov
- Tide predictions: tide.predictions@noaa.gov