National Ocean Service Real-Time Monitoring Infrastructure. Working for America's coasts

The National Ocean Service (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) manages the NOS Real-Time Monitoring Infrastructure. CO-OPS provides the national infrastructure, science, and technical expertise to monitor, assess, and disseminate coastal oceanographic products and services necessary to support NOAA's dual mission of environmental stewardship and environmental assessment and prediction. CO-OPS strengthens core capabilities through additional partnership links with outside groups including private organizations. A CO-OPS operating principle is to focus the core workforce capability on the establishment and maintenance of NOS program and technical standards, validation and certification of data and information products, research and development, and quality control/assurance (QA/QC) of data and information products. Validation, certification, and QA/QC all link to the liability associated with CO-OPS data, information products, and services.