NDBC designs, develops, operates, and maintains a network of data collecting buoys and coastal stations.

All stations measure wind speed, direction, and gust; atmospheric pressure; and air temperature.

All buoys and many C-MAN stations located in offshore areas operate on marine batteries which are charged by solar cells.

The observations from moored buoys and C-MAN stations are transmitted hourly through NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) to a ground receiving facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, operated by the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS).

Through a Memorandum of Agreement, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) remains a critically important partner to NDBC, supplying transportation for buoy deployments, retrievals, and other maintenance.

This site was chosen because it contains an excellent pre-existing industrial facility which is adjacent to a canal with deep-water access to the Gulf of Mexico.