canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/noaa.gov/coastwatch

# Noaa Gov NOAA ERDDAP API

The NOAA ERDDAP API provides RESTful access to oceanographic, atmospheric, and environmental datasets served by NOAA CoastWatch. It runs full-text and advanced dataset searches, lists dataset metadata and variables, and queries tabular (tabledap) and gridded (griddap) data with JSON or CSV output. A time-conversion endpoint and category browsing round out a service built for pulling environmental data into analysis pipelines.

## For AI agents

Search NOAA's ERDDAP dataset collection, inspect dataset metadata, and query tabular or gridded environmental data as JSON or CSV. Public access with no API key.

## Scope

Does not handle data visualization, forecasting, or dataset hosting. Use for searching and querying NOAA ERDDAP environmental datasets only.

## Capabilities

- Run a full-text search across NOAA's ERDDAP dataset collection
- Run an advanced search filtered by dataset attributes
- List dataset metadata and variables for a given dataset id
- Query tabular datasets and return the selected rows as JSON or CSV
- Query gridded datasets and return a subset as JSON
- Browse datasets by category attribute and value
- Convert between ISO time strings and ERDDAP numeric time values

## Use cases

### AI Environmental Data Agent

An AI agent connected through Jentic answers questions about ocean and atmospheric conditions by searching ERDDAP for a matching dataset, reading its metadata, and querying the values, so a user asking for recent buoy temperatures gets real numbers without the developer learning ERDDAP's query grammar. The agent finds the dataset id first, then pulls the rows it needs as JSON.

Example prompt: Search ERDDAP for a sea surface temperature dataset, read its variables, and query the most recent rows for a bounding box as JSON

### Research Data Extraction

A research or data-science pipeline pulls environmental time series by resolving a dataset id, then requesting a tabular query filtered to the variables, station, and time range it needs. CSV output drops straight into analysis tools, and advanced search narrows the catalogue to the datasets that carry the required variables.

Example prompt: Query a tabular dataset for a single station over a date range and return the result as CSV

### Gridded Data for Mapping

A mapping or modelling tool pulls a spatial subset of a gridded dataset such as chlorophyll or sea surface temperature by requesting a griddap query bounded to a latitude, longitude, and time window. The JSON response feeds a heatmap or model input without the tool downloading the entire grid.

Example prompt: Request a griddap subset of a sea surface temperature grid for a latitude and longitude box and return it as JSON

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/search/index.json` | Full-text search for datasets |
| GET | `/info/{datasetId}/index.json` | Get metadata for a specific dataset |
| GET | `/tabledap/{datasetId}.json` | Query a tabular dataset and return JSON |
| GET | `/tabledap/{datasetId}.csv` | Query a tabular dataset and return CSV |
| GET | `/griddap/{datasetId}.json` | Query a gridded dataset and return JSON |
| GET | `/categorize/index.json` | List dataset categorization attributes |
| GET | `/convert/time.json` | Convert between time string and numeric formats |

## Key resources

- **Search** — Full-text and advanced search across the ERDDAP dataset collection
- **Info** — Dataset metadata, variables, and attributes by dataset id
- **TableDAP** — Tabular dataset queries returning rows as JSON or CSV
- **GridDAP** — Gridded dataset queries returning spatial subsets as JSON
- **Categorize and Convert** — Browse datasets by attribute and convert between time formats

## AI readiness

This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.

- **Score:** 65 / 100
- **Maturity:** AI-Aware
- **Dimensions:**
  - Foundational Compliance: 74 / 100
  - Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility: 57 / 100
  - AI-Readiness & Agent Experience: 46 / 100
  - Agent Usability: 94 / 100
  - Security: 100 / 100
  - AI Discoverability: 60 / 100
- **View full report:** https://jentic.com/apis/noaa.gov/coastwatch/scorecard
- **How the score is calculated:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/overview/
- **More about the dimensions:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/specification/#dimensional-model-overview

### Score it yourself

Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.

- **Score your own API:** https://jentic.com/scorecard.md
- **Scoring CLI agent skill:** https://github.com/jentic/jentic-api-scorecard/blob/main/skills/jentic-api-scorecard/SKILL.md

```sh
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>
```

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** NOAA ERDDAP needs no API key, but wiring it by hand means learning its tabledap and griddap query grammar, dataset ids, and JSON or CSV output modes. Through Jentic you install once, import it from the API Directory, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** Every operation is a read, so a rule can keep your agent to just the search and dataset-query operations. You choose which operations it may call, and there is no write path to NOAA's data.
- **Credential handling:** ERDDAP is public, so there is no key to manage. When you add APIs that do require credentials, your own Jentic One instance keeps them encrypted and injects them at execution time, never placing them in the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find a sea temperature dataset' or 'query a tabular dataset', and Jentic returns the matching ERDDAP operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **OpenWeatherMap API** — Current, forecast, and historical weather data by location.
- **WeatherAPI** — Weather, marine, and astronomy data through a simple REST interface.
- **NOAA Tides and Currents API** — Station tide, water level, and meteorological observations from NOAA CO-OPS.

## FAQ

### What authentication does the NOAA ERDDAP API use?

The NOAA ERDDAP API is public: its OpenAPI spec declares no authentication, so search and dataset-query requests need no API key. Through Jentic it is still called from your own self-hosted instance, with every call logged.

### Can I query tabular datasets with the NOAA ERDDAP API?

Yes. The tabledap operations take a dataset id and return the selected rows and variables as JSON or CSV, while griddap does the same for gridded data as JSON. You locate the dataset id first through full-text or advanced search.

### What are the rate limits for the NOAA ERDDAP API?

The OpenAPI spec does not define rate limits for the NOAA ERDDAP API. NOAA asks users to query responsibly and documents guidance at https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap, so check there before scheduling heavy pulls.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the NOAA ERDDAP API?

Yes. Write a rule that allows only the search and dataset-query operations, so the agent reads environmental data and nothing else. ERDDAP exposes no write operations, so there is nothing to change, and every call the agent makes is logged.

### How do I query a NOAA dataset through Jentic?

Search by intent in Jentic with a query like 'query an ERDDAP dataset', add the NOAA ERDDAP API from the Jentic API Directory, and your agent runs the search to find a dataset id then the tabledap or griddap query to pull the data. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.