(GET) Sensor Data

Retrieve Smart Mooring data from a Spotter for a specified time window.

GET https://api.sofarocean.com/api/sensor-data?spotterId=:spotterId&startDate=:startDate&endDate=:endDate

Returns Smart Mooring sensor data collected and transmitted by a Spotter, specified by spotterId, between startDate and endDate.

Query Parameters

Name	Type	Description
spotterId	string	The Spotter ID of the device you wish to retrieve information from.
startDate	string	Default: 24 hours ago ISO 8601-formatted timestamp indicating the start date for data inclusion. e.g., 2021-01-01T07:00:00Z
endDate	string	Default: now() ISO 8601-formatted timestamp indicating the end date for data inclusion. e.g., 2021-01-02T07:00:00Z

Response Description

The response body consists of a flat (uncategorized) data stream of transmissions by the Spotter’s Smart Mooring sensors during the specified time window, ordered by timestamp. These timestamps, while ordered, are not necessarily unique. It is possible for two or more sensors to send different values at the same time, resulting in identical timestamps.

If the Spotter is configured to send multiple samples in a single transmission (e.g., to save on data telemetry costs), multiple samples in the response will have the same location data. To review a Spotter's (read-only) subsurface data transmission settings, open the Spotter Dashboard, find its Spotter card in the Map View, click the Gear icon to open the Settings tab, and scroll down to the Subsurface data transmission section.

For more information about Smart Mooring sensors and data, please refer to the Sensors & Payloads guide.

Name	Type	Description
latitude	number	The Spotter's latitude when the report was encoded and transmitted.
longitude	number	The Spotter's longitude when the report was encoded and transmitted.
timestamp	string	ISO 8601-formatted timestamp indicating the end of a sample collection period.
sensorPosition	integer	The sensor's physical position in the Smart Mooring relative to the Spotter, with 1 being closest to the Spotter.
units	string	The units of measurement. e.g., °C
value	object, string or number	The measured value.
unit_type	string	A contextual description of what is being measured. e.g., temperature
data_type_name	string	The type of information being sent by a sensor, as ingested by the API. e.g., sofar_temperature_12bits
configuration_checksum	string	A unique identifier for the Smart Mooring configuration. Can be cross-referenced with the configurations returned by the Configuration History endpoint to determine the sensor configuration at the time of data collection. e.g., 0xb6929687

Examples

Example Request

curl "https://api.sofarocean.com/api/sensor-data?spotterId=SPOT-0222&startDate=2021-12-01T00:00:00Z&endDate=2021-12-02T00:00:00Z" -H 'token: YOUR_API_TOKEN'

Example Responses

200

Sensor data:

{
    "status": "success",
    "spotterId": "SPOT-31082C",
    "data": [
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "hex",
            "value": "84011a69b1f40f821901c8186ca2051901c811186c",
            "unit_type": "binary",
            "data_type_name": "binary_hex_encoded",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "unitless",
            "value": 0,
            "unit_type": "spectral_entropy",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_entropy_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "dB re µPa²",
            "value": 0.75,
            "unit_type": "interquartile_range",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_max_iqr_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "unitless",
            "value": 16,
            "unit_type": "index",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_max_iqr_band_number_6bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "dB re µPa²",
            "value": {
                "mean": [94.892,94.142,93.392,...],
                "frequency": [40,50,63,...],
                "band_number": [16,17,18,...],
                "25th_percentile": [93.392,92.642,91.892,...],
                "50th_percentile": [94.142,93.392,91.892,...],
                "75th_percentile": [94.892,94.142,92.642,...]
            },
            "unit_type": "borealis_sound_pressure_level_stats",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_spl_band_stats",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:14:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "dB re µPa²",
            "value": 102.392,
            "unit_type": "sound_pressure_level",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_spl_broadband_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:44:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "hex",
            "value": "84011a69b1fb16821901c8186ca4051901c811186912031603",
            "unit_type": "binary",
            "data_type_name": "binary_hex_encoded",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:44:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "unitless",
            "value": 0,
            "unit_type": "spectral_entropy",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_entropy_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:44:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "dB re µPa²",
            "value": 0.75,
            "unit_type": "interquartile_range",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_max_iqr_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:44:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "unitless",
            "value": 17,
            "unit_type": "index",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_max_iqr_band_number_6bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        },
        {
            "latitude": 37.78845,
            "longitude": -122.38695,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-11T23:44:01.000Z",
            "sensorPosition": 1,
            "units": "dB re µPa²",
            "value": 101.642,
            "unit_type": "sound_pressure_level",
            "data_type_name": "bm_borealis_spl_broadband_8bits",
            "configuration_checksum": "0x03696310"
        }
    ]
}

No sensor data:

{
    "status": "success",
    "spotterId": "SPOT-30973C",
    "data": []
}

400

401