Copper Harbor Spotter Buoy

Sea State Sea Surface Temperature Ocean surface stress

This buoy is located 0.5 miles northwest of the entrance to Copper Harbor (MI) in Lake Superior. The buoy is owned by the University of Michigan's Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research while maintained and deployed by Michigan Technological University's Great Lakes Research Center to enhance safety for recreational stakeholders, while providing valuable realtime observations for Great Lakes researchers and forecasters. Each year from about May 1 to November 1, this Sofar Spotter buoy will measure wave height and wave period, as well as surface temperature every 30 minutes, reporting these values once per hour. NOTE: The wind values displayed for these buoys (Sofar Spotters & Smart Moorings) are based on an estimate from its wave measurements, and not an actual direct measurement.

Data and resources

Data Subset Form

ERDDAP's version of the OPeNDAP .html web page for this dataset. Specify a subset of the dataset and download the data via OPeNDAP or in many different file…

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Make-A-Graph Form

ERDDAP's Make-A-Graph .html web page for this dataset. Create an image with a map or graph of a subset of the data.

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Background Information

Background information from the source

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Background Information

Background information from the source

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Background Information

Background information from the source

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ERDDAP-tabledap

ERDDAP's tabledap service (a flavor of OPeNDAP) for tabular (sequence) data. Add different extensions (e.g., .html, .graph, .das, .dds) to the base URL for…

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Background Information

Background information from the source

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OPeNDAP

An OPeNDAP service for tabular (sequence) data. Add different extensions (e.g., .html, .das, .dds) to the base URL for different purposes.

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Additional information

Temporal extent	2022-05-07 – 2022-10-18
Date (creation)	2026-11-04
Status	onGoing
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	en
License	The data may be used and redistributed for free but is not intended for legal use, since it may contain inaccuracies. Neither the data Contributor, GLOS, NOAA, nor the United States Government, nor any of their employees or contractors, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness, of this information.
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-11-04
Created	2026-11-04
API	package_show

Spatial extent

Contacts

Hayden Henderson

originator
hmhender@mtu.edu
Michigan Technological University

contributor

Keywords

Wave Speed/DirectionWave SpectraWave PeriodSignificant Wave HeightWater TemperatureSurface WindsNCEI-IOOS-GLOS Data Pipelinetimelongitudelatitudesea_water_temperaturesea_surface_temperature_aggregate_testsea_surface_temperature_flat_line_testsea_surface_temperature_gross_range_testsea_surface_temperature_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_temperature_spike_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spreadsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximumsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_spike_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_directional_spread_spike_testsea_surface_wave_from_directionsea_surface_wave_from_direction_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximumsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_spike_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_from_direction_spike_testsea_surface_wave_mean_periodsea_surface_wave_mean_period_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_mean_period_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_mean_period_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_mean_period_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_mean_period_spike_testsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximumsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_period_at_variance_spectral_density_maximum_spike_testsea_surface_wave_significant_heightsea_surface_wave_significant_height_aggregate_testsea_surface_wave_significant_height_flat_line_testsea_surface_wave_significant_height_gross_range_testsea_surface_wave_significant_height_rate_of_change_testsea_surface_wave_significant_height_spike_testwind_from_directionwind_from_direction_aggregate_testwind_from_direction_flat_line_testwind_from_direction_gross_range_testwind_from_direction_rate_of_change_testwind_from_direction_spike_testwind_speedwind_speed_aggregate_testwind_speed_flat_line_testwind_speed_gross_range_testwind_speed_rate_of_change_testwind_speed_spike_test

Responsible organizations

Hayden Henderson