The SCOOP station is located at the Santa Cruz Wharf. The station is comprised of oceanographic instruments recording water quality data, and a weather station monitoring atmospheric conditions. The equipment is located on the wharf approximately 150m from shore. The data recorded by these instruments are transferred to the SCOOP website, where they are available in near real-time and from archived files. 

SCOOP is a charter member of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System, or CeNCOOS, and is a member of the Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Alert Program (HABMAP). SCOOP is hosted and operated by the University of California at Santa Cruz with support from the City of Santa Cruz.