# NDBC Marine Buoy Observations Scraper — NOAA Ocean Data (`compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper`) Actor Extract real-time meteorological and oceanographic observations from NOAA NDBC moored buoys and coastal stations. Wind, waves, pressure, water and air temperature for 1,000+ stations worldwide. - **URL**: https://apify.com/compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Compute Edge](https://apify.com/compute-edge) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## NDBC Marine Buoy Observations Scraper Extract real-time meteorological and oceanographic observations from the **NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC)** network — over 1,000 moored buoys, coastal stations, and partner platforms reporting wind, waves, pressure, water temperature, and air temperature in near real time. This Actor merges the active-station metadata (location, owner, station type) with the latest observation feed published by NDBC, giving you a single clean JSON record per station. **No API key required.** ### Why scrape NDBC data? - **Maritime operations**: monitor sea state for shipping, fishing fleets, offshore construction, and search-and-rescue planning. - **Surf forecasting**: pull live wave height, period and direction for surf/swell prediction apps. - **Insurance & risk**: validate storm severity and sea-state for marine claims and parametric weather products. - **Renewable energy**: track wind and wave conditions near offshore wind farms. - **Research**: build long-term datasets of coastal climate without scraping each station page by hand. ### Output fields | Field | Description | |---|---| | `stationId` | NDBC station identifier (e.g. `41001`) | | `stationName` | Human-readable station name | | `owner` / `program` | Operating agency and program | | `stationType` | `buoy`, `fixed`, `dart`, `ship`, etc. | | `latitude` / `longitude` | Station position | | `observationTimeUtc` | UTC timestamp of the latest report | | `windDirectionDeg` / `windSpeedMs` / `gustSpeedMs` | Wind | | `waveHeightM` / `dominantPeriodSec` / `averagePeriodSec` / `meanWaveDirectionDeg` | Wave state | | `pressureHpa` / `pressureTendencyHpa` | Atmospheric pressure | | `airTempC` / `waterTempC` / `dewPointC` | Temperatures | | `visibilityNmi` / `tideFt` | Other | | `stationPageUrl` | Link to the live NDBC station page | ### How to use 1. Click **Try for free** and open the input form. 2. Optionally limit by station IDs, owner/network, bounding box, or require wave data. 3. Run the actor — output is published to the default dataset in JSON, CSV, or Excel formats. ### Pricing Pay-per-result. Each station observation = one record. A full unfiltered run returns the latest observation from every reporting NDBC station (typically 600–900 records). Apify compute charged separately. ### Tutorial: how to scrape buoy data for a region 1. Set `minLat` / `maxLat` / `minLon` / `maxLon` to your bounding box (for the US East Coast try `24 / 45 / -82 / -65`). 2. Set `requireWaveData = true` to drop stations that only report met data. 3. Run. Use the `stationPageUrl` to jump to NDBC's full historical archive for any station of interest. ### Other actors - CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Scraper - NOAA Tides & Currents Scraper - USGS Earthquake Scraper ### FAQ **Does this need an API key?** No. NDBC publishes both feeds publicly. **How fresh is the data?** Most stations report every 10–60 minutes; NDBC aggregates them into the latest-observation feed. **Are international stations included?** Yes — NDBC integrates partner buoys from CDIP, the International Tsunameter Partnership, PRMARRA, and others. ### Legal Data is sourced from the public NDBC feeds operated by NOAA. Use is subject to NDBC's terms; please attribute NOAA when redistributing. # Actor input Schema ## `stationIds` (type: `array`): Filter by specific NDBC station IDs (e.g. '41001', '46035'). Leave empty to include all stations. ## `owner` (type: `string`): Filter by station owner/network substring (e.g. 'NDBC', 'CDIP', 'International'). Case-insensitive. ## `minLat` (type: `string`): Bounding-box southern latitude in degrees (e.g. '24'). Leave empty for no bound. ## `maxLat` (type: `string`): Bounding-box northern latitude in degrees (e.g. '50'). ## `minLon` (type: `string`): Bounding-box western longitude in degrees (e.g. '-130'). ## `maxLon` (type: `string`): Bounding-box eastern longitude in degrees (e.g. '-65'). ## `requireWaveData` (type: `boolean`): If true, only include stations reporting wave height in the latest observation. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of station records to return. 0 = unlimited. ## Actor input object example ```json { "stationIds": [], "owner": "", "minLat": "", "maxLat": "", "minLon": "", "maxLon": "", "requireWaveData": false, "maxResults": 1000 } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `dataset` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=compute-edge/ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "NDBC Marine Buoy Observations Scraper — NOAA Ocean Data", "description": "Extract real-time meteorological and oceanographic observations from NOAA NDBC moored buoys and coastal stations. Wind, waves, pressure, water and air temperature for 1,000+ stations worldwide.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "RAHkxrTDORQh7tIKf" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/compute-edge~ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-compute-edge-ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-compute-edge-ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/compute-edge~ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-compute-edge-ndbc-buoy-observations-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "stationIds": { "title": "Station IDs", "type": "array", "description": "Filter by specific NDBC station IDs (e.g. '41001', '46035'). Leave empty to include all stations.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "owner": { "title": "Owner / Network", "type": "string", "description": "Filter by station owner/network substring (e.g. 'NDBC', 'CDIP', 'International'). Case-insensitive.", "default": "" }, "minLat": { "title": "Minimum Latitude", "type": "string", "description": "Bounding-box southern latitude in degrees (e.g. '24'). Leave empty for no bound.", "default": "" }, "maxLat": { "title": "Maximum Latitude", "type": "string", "description": "Bounding-box northern latitude in degrees (e.g. '50').", "default": "" }, "minLon": { "title": "Minimum Longitude", "type": "string", "description": "Bounding-box western longitude in degrees (e.g. '-130').", "default": "" }, "maxLon": { "title": "Maximum Longitude", "type": "string", "description": "Bounding-box eastern longitude in degrees (e.g. '-65').", "default": "" }, "requireWaveData": { "title": "Wave Data Required", "type": "boolean", "description": "If true, only include stations reporting wave height in the latest observation.", "default": false }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 5000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of station records to return. 0 = unlimited.", "default": 1000 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```