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Full catalog/NCN
NCN·dataset

US high-precision GPS reference station network (NOAA CORS)

NOAA Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) Network (NCN)
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In plain English

What it measures. Continuous, raw satellite-positioning (GPS/GNSS) measurements from a network of fixed reference stations across the US, used to pin down extremely precise three-dimensional locations.

How it's made. Managed by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey, it pools data from hundreds of independently owned stations into a standard exchange format (RINEX), usually available within an hour, with records back to 1994.

How & where you'd use it. Lets surveyors, mappers, and scientists achieve highly accurate positioning, and also supports meteorology, space weather, and studies of ground movement.

What's measured

aws-pdsbroadcast ephemerisContinuously Operating Reference Station (CORS)earth observationgeospatialGPSGNSSmappingNOAA CORS Network (NCN)post-processingRINEXsurvey

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span— → ongoing

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The NOAA Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) Network (NCN), managed by NOAA/National Geodetic Survey (NGS), provide Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, supporting three dimensional positioning, meteorology, space weather, and geophysical applications throughout the United States. The NCN is a multi-purpose, multi-agency cooperative endeavor, combining the efforts of hundreds of government, academic, and private organizations. The stations are independently owned and operated. Each agency shares their GNSS/GPS carrier phase and code range measurements and station metadata with NGS, which are analyzed and distributed free of charge. NGS provides access to all NCN data collected since 9 February (040) 1994. - #### Access to NCN Data and Products - NOAA-NCN on AWS - NGS server: https://geodesy.noaa.gov/corsdata/ - NGS's customized data request service (UFCORS) - #### NCN Data and Products - **RINEX**: The GPS/GNSS data collected at NCN stations are made available to the public by NGS in Receiver INdependent EXchange (RINEX) format. Most data are available within 1 hour (60 minutes) from when they were recorded at the remote site, and a few sites have a delay of 24 hours (1440 minutes). RINEX data can be found at: *rinex/`YYYY`/`DDD`/`ssss`/* - **Station logs**: - Station log files contain all the historical equipment (receiver/antenna) used at that station, approximate location, owner and operating agency, etc.. Station log files can be found at: *station_log/`ssss`.log.txt* - Historical and current equipment information of all NCN stations, except thos

Get the data

noaa_access.py
# NOAA Open Data on AWS — public S3, no login
import s3fs

fs = s3fs.S3FileSystem(anon=True)
# find this dataset's bucket in the docs link in the sidebar, then:
# files = fs.ls("noaa-<bucket>/...")
# open NetCDF/GRIB with xarray, COGs with rioxarray
NOAA Open Data is on public AWS S3 — no login at all (anonymous access).