NOAA · National Data Buoy Center · Station context

NDBC_META

Inspect the observing station before interpreting its measurements.

Syntax

NDBC_META("station")

Use an NDBC station identifier returned by NDBC_SEARCH.

Examples

NDBC_META("42040")
NDBC_META("46041")

What the table provides

Station ID, name, location, owner, platform type, catalogue notes and a link to NOAA's historical-data page. Notes can identify recovery, relocation, discontinued service or other changes important for ecological interpretation.

Sensor and history checks

The catalogue does not enumerate exact variable availability, sensor depths, annual coverage or every deployment change. Follow the NOAA history link for those details. A coastal temperature sensor samples a particular location and depth; it does not represent an entire sea or water column.

water=NDBC("42040","WTMP",2000,2025)
EXTRACT(water,"coverage")
EXTRACT(water,"data")

Use the coverage extract to inspect actual retained dates, missing days, file availability and warnings. Missing measurements are not zeros.

Extract station information

stations=NDBC_SEARCH("Cape Elizabeth")
location=EXTRACT(stations,"geolocation:0")
stationId=EXTRACT(stations,"station_id:0")
latitude=EXTRACT(stations,"latitude:0")
locations=EXTRACT(stations,"geolocations")
firstLocation=EXTRACT(locations,"0")
water=NDBC(stationId,"WTMP",2000,2025)
solar=SOLAR(water,location)

Row indices are zero-based and shown in the table. Unindexed row extracts require exactly one match. Extract count and table, or row fields geolocation, station_id, name, latitude, longitude, owner, type, hull, payload, timezone, notes, location_text, history_url and station_url with :n appended. geolocations and station_ids return ordered extractable collections: EXTRACT(collection,"0"). A collection is not a single GeoLocationOperator or numeric DataList.

Coordinates are catalogue positions, not historical deployment tracks. Geolocation objects default to elevation zero and UTC; catalogue timezone codes are returned verbatim and are not assumed to be IANA zones. Missing coordinates produce an error when requested; other rows keep their original indices. Owner, type, hull and payload fields retain NOAA catalogue codes; no unsupported decoding is inferred.

Available extracts

Save the command result in a variable, then use EXTRACT(result, "key"). Availability can depend on the input form and fitted model.

In indexed patterns such as beta:n, replace n with the required index.