Buoyant

Buoyant is a Python wrapper for grabbing buoy data from the National Buoy Data Center. It parses CSV from the SDF endpoint and images from the BuoyCam service.

The NBDC provides a list and a map of active buoys.

Hello buoy example:

> from buoyant import Buoy
> buoy = Buoy(13010)

Construct the Buoy object with the station ID. It's an alphanumeric code. If its numeric, an integer works fine.

More examples:

> from buoyant import Buoy
> buoy = Buoy('0Y2W3')
> buoy.air_pressure_at_sea_level
Observation(1014.1, 'hPa')
```

Get buoy location.
```python
> buoy.coords
(44.794, -87.313)
```

Get the time the measurements were made. This can be some time ago!
```python
> buoy.air_pressure_at_sea_level.datetime
datetime.datetime(2015, 8, 18, 11, 40, tzinfo=<UTC>)
```

Not all stations report all data at all times. Be prepared to handle empty attributes.
```python
> buoy.wave_height
None
```

Clear the buoy object's data dictionary. This isn't very useful, since the buoys update only every hour or so.
```
> buoy.refresh()

The Observation object is numeric value (a float) with two additional attributes, unit and value. Generally unit this is an abbreviation for a metric unit or composition of units. You can use Observations just like numeric objects, and use the value or unit field when formatting:

> pressure = buoy.air_pressure_at_sea_level
Observation(1014.1, 'hPa')
> min(pressure, 1020)
Observation(1014.1, 'hPa')
> '{0.value} [{0.unit}]'.format(pressure)
'1014.1 [hPa]'

Images

Some buoys have cameras! If the buoy doesn't have an active camera, a placeholder image provided by the NBDC will be returned.

> station = Buoy(41009)
> station.image_url
'http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/images/buoycam/Z14C_2014_11_01_2200.jpg'

Save image as a file 'out.jpg'

> station.write_image('out.jpg')

Get raw image as a BytesIO object

> station.image
<_io.BytesIO object>
> station.url
'http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=41009'

No data

There are two ways to a buoy can be missing a certain data field. Either there's no recent observation, or that buoy doesn't observe that datum.

> buoy = Buoy('0Y2W3')
> buoy.winds
# None, because while this is usually recorded, it hasn't been lately.
> sturgeon.waves
None

Measurements included

• air_pressure_at_sea_level
• air_temperature
• currents
• sea_floor_depth_below_sea_surface
• sea_water_electrical_conductivity
• sea_water_salinity
• sea_water_temperature
• waves
• winds

Currents and Waves and Wind

Wave and wind data have multiple data points, the are returned as dicts.

Currents data is returned as a list of dicts with current information at different times/depths. It's not well-documented on the NBDC site, so good luck!

Compatibility

Buoyant is compatible with Python 3.5+.

License

Buoyant is licensed under the GPL.