# Coastal Water Level Tracker — NOAA Tide Station Data (`m_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker`) Actor

Get real-time water level, water temperature, air temperature, or air pressure readings from NOAA coastal and Great Lakes tide stations, by state or specific station ID.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/m\_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 33.3% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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

## Coastal Water Level Tracker — NOAA Tide Station Data

Get real-time readings from NOAA's coastal and Great Lakes tide
stations — water level, water temperature, air temperature, or air
pressure — by state or specific station ID.

Built for port operations, marine/boating use, and coastal engineering
teams who need current tidal conditions, not a forecast. This is the
coastal counterpart to [River Water Level
Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/river-water-level-tracker), which
covers inland streams and rivers via USGS instead — different agency,
different phenomenon (tidal vs. riverine), different audience.

### Input

```json
{
  "state": "NY",
  "stationId": "",
  "product": "waterLevel",
  "maxResults": 25
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `state` | string | Two-letter US state code to survey all tide stations in. Ignored if `stationId` is set. |
| `stationId` | string (optional) | A specific NOAA CO-OPS station ID to check instead of a whole state, e.g. `"8518750"` (The Battery, NY). |
| `product` | string | `"waterLevel"`, `"waterTemperature"`, `"airTemperature"`, or `"airPressure"`. Default `"waterLevel"`. |
| `maxResults` | number | Max stations to return when surveying a state. Default `25`, max `100`. |

Either `state` or `stationId` is required.

### Output

One record per station:

```json
{
  "stationId": "8518750",
  "stationName": "The Battery",
  "latitude": 40.7006,
  "longitude": -74.0142,
  "product": "water_level",
  "value": 5.102,
  "time": "2026-08-15 21:48"
}
```

Water level is in feet relative to the station's Mean Lower Low Water
(MLLW) datum, the standard NOAA tidal reference. Stations with no
current reading for the selected type are silently skipped.

A search with no matching stations returns no items but is still billed
once for the search.

### How it works

Direct calls to the official [NOAA CO-OPS Tides & Currents
API](https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/api/prod/) — no proxy, no
key, no scraping. Public U.S. government data, updated every 6 minutes
per station.

### Pricing note

Billed per **search**, not per station returned — one charge whether
the search returns 0 stations or 100.

### Related products

- [River Water Level Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/river-water-level-tracker) — the inland/USGS equivalent for streams and rivers

# Actor input Schema

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two-letter US state code to survey all tide stations in, e.g. "CA", "NY", "FL". Ignored if "stationId" is set.

## `stationId` (type: `string`):

A specific NOAA CO-OPS station ID to check instead of a whole state, e.g. "8518750" (The Battery, NY). Takes priority over "state" if both are set. Find IDs at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov.

## `product` (type: `string`):

Which measurement to fetch.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of stations to return when surveying a state. Stations with no current reading for the selected type are skipped.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "state": "CA",
  "product": "waterLevel",
  "maxResults": 25
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "state": "CA"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("m_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "state": "CA" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("m_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "state": "CA"
}' |
apify call m_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/coastal-water-level-tracker"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/IGu6SLYAyx60QXYJU/builds/LKHKs6T9kT8RMx1Cx/openapi.json