# Ocean Buoys MCP provides live marine data. AI Agent Connect > Ocean Buoys MCP connects your AI agent to live observations from over a thousand NOAA NDBC buoys and C-MAN stations. Your agent can pull wind speed, wave height, swell direction, and water temperature refreshed every 10 minutes. It works instantly with any MCP-compatible client like Claude or Cursor without needing an API key. ## Overview - **Category:** weather-climate - **Price:** Free - **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_4JacjTIlHtSOGqMGLm8pRwjpMvaarv5zDUvbWdD0/ai-agent-connect - **Tags:** ocean, marine-weather, buoy, waves, sea-state, wind, noaa, real-time ## Description You can now give your AI agent direct access to the National Data Buoy Center's real-time sensor network. Instead of hunting through government websites for specific station IDs or reading through messy data tables, you just ask your agent for the conditions at a specific location or buoy. This MCP pulls data from active buoys and coastal stations, providing wind, waves, swell, and temperature readings. If a station lacks a specific sensor, like a harbor buoy without a wave sensor, your agent will tell you exactly that instead of guessing. The data is updated every 10 minutes, allowing you to track whether winds are building or if the swell is easing. It is a direct line to the instruments measuring the ocean, making it easy to check sea states for sailing, surfing, or maritime operations through a simple chat interface. ## Tools ### get_buoy_conditions This tool pulls the latest weather and sea observations from a specific NOAA NDBC station. It provides wind, wave, temperature, and pressure data, including recent readings to help you track trends. ### get_sea_state Use this tool to focus specifically on wave data. It returns significant wave height, wave period, direction, and water temperature for swell and surf analysis. ### get_wind_conditions This tool retrieves current wind speed, direction, and gusts from a buoy. It is the best option for checking conditions for sailing, aviation, or kite surfing. ### list_buoy_stations This tool finds active NOAA NDBC buoys and C-MAN stations. You can filter by station type or provide latitude and longitude to find the closest stations to your location. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` What's the sea state at buoy 44065? Give me the wave height, swell period and water temperature, plus the last few readings. ``` **Response:** ``` At buoy 44065 the significant wave height is 1.0 m with a dominant period near 4 s, and the sea temperature is 22.1 °C. The last few readings show the swell holding steady, with winds from the ESE around 6 m/s. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Find the buoy nearest 38.7, -9.1 and tell me the wind and waves there right now. ``` **Response:** ``` The buoy nearest 38.7, -9.1 is listed below. Right now it reports wind around 8 m/s with the sea near 18 °C and wave heights under a metre. Full station details and the latest reading follow. ``` **Prompt:** ``` What's the sea-surface temperature off Cape Fear right now? ``` **Response:** ``` Buoy 41013 off Cape Fear reads 27.9 °C sea-surface temperature at 05:40 UTC, against an air temperature of 25.6 °C. Winds are light at 5.0 m/s from 40° with 1.1 m seas. ``` ## Capabilities ### Real-time monitoring Your agent accesses data refreshed every 10 minutes from NOAA stations. ### Trend analysis The agent looks at previous readings to see if wind or waves are building or easing. ### Geospatial lookup Your agent finds the nearest active buoy based on any latitude and longitude. ### Sensor verification The agent identifies if a specific station is missing certain sensors like wave height or wind. ## Use Cases ### Surf Forecasting Ask your agent for significant wave height and swell period at a specific buoy to check conditions. ### Sailing Safety Check wind gusts and direction to determine if conditions are suitable for a planned route. ### Coastal Planning Get water temperature and pressure readings for maritime operations near a coast. ### Automated Dashboards Feed live buoy data into an agent-driven weather tool for constant monitoring. ## Benefits - Accesses over a thousand worldwide stations via a single connection. - Eliminates the need for manual API key management or account setup. - Provides direct instrument readings instead of interpolated models. - Uses UTC time for all observations to ensure global consistency. ## How It Works Connecting to live ocean data is a one-click process. 1. Subscribe to the Ocean Buoys MCP on Vinkius. 2. Connect your preferred client like Claude or Cursor. 3. Ask your agent a question about wind, waves, or a specific buoy. 4. The agent pulls the latest NOAA data and gives you a plain language answer. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Do I need an API key to use this?** No. Vinkius hosts the connection, so you can use it immediately without an account or key. **How often is the ocean data updated?** The NOAA NDBC buoys and stations refresh their readings every 10 minutes. **What happens if a buoy doesn't have a wave sensor?** The MCP will explicitly state that the station does not report that specific data rather than providing an incorrect number. **How do I find a buoy near me?** You can ask your agent to find the nearest buoy by providing your latitude and longitude. **What does 'significant wave height' mean?** Significant wave height is the average of the highest third of waves. Individual waves can be roughly twice as high. **Does this need an API key?** No. All endpoints used here are NOAA's public buoy and station products. Subscribe and ask away. **My station shows no wave height. Is it broken?** Probably not. NDBC stations report what their sensors can see, and a station in a harbour or on a river often has an anemometer but no wave rider. The response marks those fields as unavailable rather than guessing. Ask for the stations nearest your point and pick an open-ocean buoy instead. **How fresh is the data, and how far back can I look?** Each station reports every 10 minutes and NOAA publishes the newest reading within minutes, so the latest observation is usually under 15 minutes old. This server caches each station's file for 6 minutes so it does not re-download it on every question. The files hold roughly the last 45 days of history.