PacWave Site Observations

This data submission contains raw and near-real-time updated data from FLOATr (Fixed Location Ocean and Atmosphere Tracking) buoys and Sofar Spotter wave buoys at sites in the PacWave open-ocean testing facility operated by Oregon State University, located off the coast of Newport, Oregon.

There are two sites located at PacWave, aptly named PacWave North (PWN) and PacWave South (PWS). PWN is an autonomous test site located 2 nm offshore, has a water depth of 45-55 m, and is between 44.68 & 44.70 degrees North and 124.12 & 124.15 degrees West. PWS is a grid-connected test site located 6 nm offshore, has a water depth of 65-78 m, and is between 44.55 & 44.58 degrees North and 124.21 & 124.24 degrees West.

The FLOATr buoys provide meteorological measurements of wind speed and direction, air temperature and pressure, shortwave radiation (light). An onboard CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) sensor provides measurements of water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Down-looking ADCPs installed on the FLOATr buoys provide observations of water velocity.

The wave buoys provide measurements of standard and directional wave statistics as well as additional metocean variables, depending on the firmware version installed. Raw data are provided in the original CSV file format, and processed data are provided in netCDF4 format.

Processed data are provided in netCDF4 format based on Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) standards. Note, minimal quality control has been conducted on these data.

Processed and Raw data can be accessed via the "PacWave Observation Data on AWS" resource below. For links to specific datasets see the "PacWave Data Structure Table" resource.

Raw data from the FLOATr buoys are stored in CSV files with the following filenames: - ADCP.dat (subsampling of ADCP binary data - Teledyne Sentinel Workhorse 300khz) - Airmar_buffer.dat (Airmar WX200 instrument serial data buffer) - gga.dat (gps Degree & Decimal Minutes) - hdg.dat (magnetic heading, deviation, variation) - hdt.dat (heading true) - mda.dat (meteorological composite) - Met.dat (multiple data values from various sources (instruments, nmea strings) into a single data table) - best for quick data checks - mwv_r.dat (calculated mean wind velocity_relative) - mwv_t.dat (calculated mean wind velocity_true) - Ocean.dat (CTD data - Seabird SBE16, temp, conductivity/salinity, 02) - zda.dat - (time and date)

Raw data from the FLOATr ADCPs and CTDs are made available in their native binary format.

Raw data from the Spotter buoys is stored in CSV files with the following filenames: - BARO.csv (barometric pressure) - FLT.csv (processed buoy displacement: surge, sway, and heave) - GMN.csv (raw GPS parameters) - HDR.csv (raw buoy position) - HTU.csv (air temperature and humidity) - LOC.csv (GPS latitude and longitude) - PWR.csv (power data) - SPC.csv (buoy-derived auto- and cross-spectra * note frequency vector is missing) - SST.csv (sea surface temperature) - *.log (various log files)

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {019:20}
catalog_@context https://openei.org/data.json
catalog_@id https://openei.org/data.json
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
dataQuality true
identifier https://data.openei.org/submissions/8417
issued 2020-01-01T07:00:00Z
landingPage https://mhkdr.openei.org/submissions/596
license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
modified 2025-06-05T17:09:54Z
old-spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-180,-83],[180,-83],[180,83],[-180,83],[-180,-83]]]}
programCode {019:009}
projectLead Lauren Ruedy
projectNumber FY25 AOP 2.4.1.601
projectTitle Portal and Repository for Information on Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMRE)
publisher Oregon State University
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 070276ca864c4a36f0c53bc65fbce78b9c02b591e97534a725cf24b3f6e0f697
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-180,-83],[180,-83],[180,83],[-180,83],[-180,-83]]]}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • bouy
  • csv
  • data
  • energy
  • floatr
  • hydrokinetic
  • marine
  • mhk
  • netcdf
  • newport
  • open-ocean
  • oregon
  • osu
  • pacwave
  • power
  • processed-data
  • raw-data
  • sofar-spotter
  • wave-energy
  • wave-resource
isopen True
license_id cc-by
license_title Creative Commons Attribution
license_url http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by
maintainer Brett Hembrough
maintainer_email brett.hembrough@oregonstate.edu
metadata_created 2025-09-23T21:46:23.910017
metadata_modified 2025-09-23T21:46:23.910025
notes This data submission contains raw and near-real-time updated data from FLOATr (Fixed Location Ocean and Atmosphere Tracking) buoys and Sofar Spotter wave buoys at sites in the PacWave open-ocean testing facility operated by Oregon State University, located off the coast of Newport, Oregon. There are two sites located at PacWave, aptly named PacWave North (PWN) and PacWave South (PWS). PWN is an autonomous test site located 2 nm offshore, has a water depth of 45-55 m, and is between 44.68 & 44.70 degrees North and 124.12 & 124.15 degrees West. PWS is a grid-connected test site located 6 nm offshore, has a water depth of 65-78 m, and is between 44.55 & 44.58 degrees North and 124.21 & 124.24 degrees West. The FLOATr buoys provide meteorological measurements of wind speed and direction, air temperature and pressure, shortwave radiation (light). An onboard CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) sensor provides measurements of water temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen. Down-looking ADCPs installed on the FLOATr buoys provide observations of water velocity. The wave buoys provide measurements of standard and directional wave statistics as well as additional metocean variables, depending on the firmware version installed. Raw data are provided in the original CSV file format, and processed data are provided in netCDF4 format. Processed data are provided in netCDF4 format based on Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) standards. Note, minimal quality control has been conducted on these data. Processed and Raw data can be accessed via the "PacWave Observation Data on AWS" resource below. For links to specific datasets see the "PacWave Data Structure Table" resource. Raw data from the FLOATr buoys are stored in CSV files with the following filenames: - ADCP.dat (subsampling of ADCP binary data - Teledyne Sentinel Workhorse 300khz) - Airmar_buffer.dat (Airmar WX200 instrument serial data buffer) - gga.dat (gps Degree & Decimal Minutes) - hdg.dat (magnetic heading, deviation, variation) - hdt.dat (heading true) - mda.dat (meteorological composite) - Met.dat (multiple data values from various sources (instruments, nmea strings) into a single data table) - best for quick data checks - mwv_r.dat (calculated mean wind velocity_relative) - mwv_t.dat (calculated mean wind velocity_true) - Ocean.dat (CTD data - Seabird SBE16, temp, conductivity/salinity, 02) - zda.dat - (time and date) Raw data from the FLOATr ADCPs and CTDs are made available in their native binary format. Raw data from the Spotter buoys is stored in CSV files with the following filenames: - BARO.csv (barometric pressure) - FLT.csv (processed buoy displacement: surge, sway, and heave) - GMN.csv (raw GPS parameters) - HDR.csv (raw buoy position) - HTU.csv (air temperature and humidity) - LOC.csv (GPS latitude and longitude) - PWR.csv (power data) - SPC.csv (buoy-derived auto- and cross-spectra * note frequency vector is missing) - SST.csv (sea surface temperature) - *.log (various log files)
num_resources 4
num_tags 28
title PacWave Site Observations