1_README.TXT


Geometeorological data collected by the USGS Desert Winds Project at 
Gold Spring, Great Basin Desert, northeastern Arizona, 1979 - 1992

By 

Paula J. Helm(1), Carol S. Breed(2), Richard Tigges(3), and P.A. Garcia(1)

Open-File Report 95-78

1995

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for 
conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or 
with the North American Stratigraphic Code.  Any use of 
trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes 
only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

(1) U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz.
(2) Sedona, Ariz.
(3) U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colo.


PURPOSE OF DATA ACQUISITION:
   The primary purpose of the Desert Winds Project (DWP) is to obtain high
resolution meteorological data and related surface geological and vegetation 
data for natural (e.g., uncultivated) desert sites where wind is or has been 
a major erosive or depositional force.  The objectives are twofold: (1) to 
provide the detailed field measurements needed to carry out quantitative 
studies of wind as an agent of surface geologic change; and (2) to establish 
a baseline for defining the "normal" range of climatic conditions that can be
expected to occur on a decadal time scale, in areas considered representative
of the major American deserts.  The Gold Spring locality was selected to 
represent that part of the Great Basin Desert that extends into northeastern 
Arizona.  The long-term goal for acquiring and analyzing the Desert Winds 
Project data is to use them to address problems of land resource degradation 
by wind, whether resulting from climatic variation (aridification) or human 
activities (desertification), or both (see techinfo.doc).


CD-ROM CONTENTS:
  The DWP Gold Spring CD-ROM contains meteorological data files pertaining 
  to the Gold Spring Geomet research site.  Documentation files and        
  data-accessing display software are also included.  The meteorological data
  are: 
     wind speed
     peak gust
     wind direction
     precipitation
     air temperature
     soil temperature
     barometric pressure
     humidity


CD-ROM DIRECTORY STRUCTURE:
   The directory structure on the CD-ROM is shown as follows:

                                   |
                                   | 
      ------------------------------------------------------------
          |                        |                        |
          |                        |                        |
          |                        |                        |
       docfiles                 software                  data
                                                            |
                                                           gs
                                                            |
                                                          <year>
                                                            |
                                                         <month>
                                                            |     
                                                    <daily data files>


DOCFILES DIRECTORY:
  The docfiles directory contains the following documentation files:

          - authors.doc   lists the names of authors, CD-ROM production
                          personnel, software programmer, and 
                          acknowledgements.

          - acknowl.doc   acknowledges the funding sources for the Desert
                          Winds Project and the DWP CD-ROM.

          - contacts.doc  lists the name, phone number, address, and e-mail 
                          address of people to contact for additional 
                          information about the CD-ROM.

          - disclaim.doc  contains the Government's disclaimer for this 
                          CD-ROM.

          - register.doc  contains a registration form by which a user can 
                          elect to receive announcements of new DWP CD-ROM 
                          releases.  This form also provides a vehicle for
                          suggestions and feedback to the USGS about the 
                          current disc.

          - techinfo.doc  provides an overview of the Desert Winds Project 
                          Gold Spring Geomet site and in-depth technical
                          information on the data contained on the disc.  
                          Information on data collection methods, sensors, 
                          and procedures is included.  Individual data 
                          elements are defined and coded values are 
                          explained.

          - getstart.unx  explains step-by-step how to access software and 
                          data on the CD-ROM.  Once this brief tutorial 
                          exercise has been completed, the user should have
                          a good working knowledge of how to select, 
                          display, and output data from this CD-ROM.

          - doycal.ps     is a postscript file that provides a complete 
            doylpyr.ps    day-of-the-year calendar (perpetual and leap 
                          year) to help the user find the proper three 
                          digit day-of-the-year code used to name the data 
                          files (see below).

          - hardware.dwn  lists the dates when data are missing due to 
                          station failures, tranmission failures, or sensor
                          failures. 


SOFTWARE DIRECTORY:
   The software directory contains the following software:
       geomet -- windowing software to access the meteorological
                 data; source code and executable
       Geomet -- application-defaults file for 'geomet' software
       Makefile.sun - make file for compiling the software on a 
                      Sun SPARCstation 2
       geomet.hlp -- documentation for using the software 'geomet' 
                     on a Sun SPARCstation 2 computer
   Non-windowing software for the Sun plus preliminary data-accessing software  
 
   for other computers may be available.  Contact Peter Schweitzer for details. 
   (see contacts.doc)


DATA DIRECTORY:
  The data directory contains the gs (Gold Spring) subdirectory which 
  contains the year subdirectories (named with the last two digits of the 
  year). Each year subdirectory includes month subdirectories, designated by 
  a two-digit numeral for each month.  The daily data files reside in the 
  month subdirectories and are named gsyyddd.dat where
        gs = Gold Spring 
        yy = last 2 digits of the year
       ddd = 3-digit number for day-of-the-year (see doycal.ps)

   For example, the daily data files for Gold Spring for July, 1985 are in 
                  \data\gs\85\07
                and are named:
                  gs85182.dat through gs85212.dat



                                  data
                                    |
                                    |   
                                   gs
                                    |
                                    |
  ______________________________________________________________________
    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
    79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92 
                                  |
                                  |
           _________________________________________________
             |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
            01  02  03  04  05  06  07  08  09  10  11  12 
                                     |
                                     |
_________________________________________________________________________
 |            |            |            |            |        |   
gs85182.dat  gs85183.dat  gs85184.dat  gs85185.dat  ...      gs85212.dat  



DATA FILES:
   The daily data files are written in ASCII with a carriage return and line 
   feed at the end of each row (UNIX command 'more' will not work on these 
   data files).  Each row is associated with the time that the data were 
   recorded in the data collection platform (see techinfo.doc) at the Gold 
   Spring site.  Each column is associated with a sensor.  Spaces are used as
   delimiters in the ASCII files.  The software 'geomet' allows the user to 
   select different delimiters for the data files (see /software/geomet.hlp). 
   The first row in the data file contains a four letter code used by the 
   software 'geomet', and the second row contains the latitude and longitude 
   for the Gold Spring site.  The rows containing the data follow.  For most 
   of the period-of-record, all the sensors were sampled at the same sampling
   interval (6-minute); after August 9, 1992, the data were sampled at 
   different time intervals depending on the sensor (see hardware.dwn).  

   Below are two examples of data files:  one shows the file format when all 
   sensors were sampled at the same time interval (6-minute), and the other 
   shows the file format when sensors were sampled at different time 
   intervals.  The headings define the sensor associated with the column of 
   data and are NOT headings in the ASCII files.  The software 'geomet' will 
   write a heading with the sensor name for each column to a user-selected 
   file (see /software/geomet.hlp).


Example 1: gs85185.dat
  (This example shows an actual data file which is 100 characters wide.) 

  DATE: yyddd 
        where yy is the last two digits of the year 
             ddd is the 3-digit number for day-of-the-year (see doycal.ps) 
  TIME: hours and minutes since midnight (24-hour clock)
  HUM:  relative humidity [percent]
  PPT:  precipitation [inches-cumulative yearly]
  BP:  barometric pressure [inches of mercury]
  WD:  wind direction [degrees]
  WS(6.1):  average wind speed measured at 6.1 m height [mph]
  PG(6.1):  peak gust measured at 6.1 m height [mph]
  WS(2.7):  average wind speed measured at 2.7 m height [mph] (-77.00 means not yet installed)
  WS(1.2):  average wind speed measured at 1.2 m height [mph] (-77.00 means not yet installed)
  PG(1.2):  peak gust measured at 1.2 m height [mph] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 
  AT(6.1): air temperature measured at 6.1 m height [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 
  AT(1.2): air temperature measured at 1.2 m height [Celsius]
  ST(12.7): soil temperature measured at 12.7 cm depth [Celsius]
  ST(10): soil temperature measured at 10 cm depth [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 
  ST(20): soil temperature measured at 20 cm depth [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 DATE  TIME   HUM    PPT   BP      WD    WS    PG    WS    WS    PG    AT    AT    ST    ST   ST
                                       (6.1) (6.1) (2.7) (1.2) (1.2) (6.1) (1.2) (12.7) (10) (20)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DWa0
351200 1113700
 85185 0001  26.28  1.68 30.088  49.15  5.90  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.77 28.44-77.00-77.00
 85185 0007  26.28  1.68 30.061  47.04  5.51  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 22.16 28.05-77.00-77.00
 85185 0013  25.89  1.68 30.088  49.15  5.11  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 22.16 28.05-77.00-77.00
 85185 0019  25.49  1.68 30.061  49.15  5.11  5.51-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 22.16 28.05-77.00-77.00
 85185 0025  25.49  1.68 30.061  47.04  5.51  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.77 28.05-77.00-77.00
 85185 0031  25.49  1.68 30.061  47.04  5.90  6.29-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.77 27.65-77.00-77.00
 85185 0037  25.10  1.68 30.088  49.15  5.90  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.77 27.65-77.00-77.00
 85185 0043  25.10  1.68 30.088  47.04  5.90  6.29-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 22.16 27.65-77.00-77.00
 85185 0049  25.10  1.68 30.061  53.36  5.90  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 22.16 27.65-77.00-77.00
 85185 0055  25.10  1.68 30.088  51.26  6.29  6.29-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.77 27.26-77.00-77.00
 85185 0101  25.10  1.68 30.061  44.93  7.87  8.26-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 20.99 27.26-77.00-77.00
 85185 0107  25.10  1.68 30.088  42.82  6.69  7.87-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.38 27.26-77.00-77.00
 85185 0113  25.10  1.68 30.061  53.36  7.08  7.08-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 21.38 26.87-77.00-77.00
 85185 0119  25.89  1.68 30.061  51.26  6.69  7.08-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 20.20 26.87-77.00-77.00
 85185 0125  26.28  1.68 30.088  49.15  6.69  6.69-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 26.87-77.00-77.00
 85185 0131  26.28  1.68 30.061  61.80  6.29  6.29-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 26.48-77.00-77.00
 85185 0137  26.28  1.68 30.088  59.69  6.69  7.47-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 26.48-77.00-77.00
 85185 0143  26.67  1.68 30.061  57.58  7.08  7.47-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 26.48-77.00-77.00
 85185 0149  26.67  1.68 30.088  59.69  6.69  7.08-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 26.48-77.00-77.00
 85185 0155  27.06  1.68 30.061  57.58  6.69  7.47-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.02 26.08-77.00-77.00
 85185 0201  27.06  1.68 30.061  61.80  6.29  6.69-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 26.08-77.00-77.00
 85185 0207  27.06  1.68 30.061  66.02  6.29  7.08-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 26.08-77.00-77.00
 85185 0213  27.06  1.68 30.061  61.80  6.29  7.87-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 26.08-77.00-77.00
 85185 0219  27.06  1.68 30.061  57.58  6.69  7.47-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 25.69-77.00-77.00
 85185 0225  27.06  1.68 30.061  53.36  5.11  7.08-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.42 25.69-77.00-77.00
 85185 0231  27.06  1.68 30.061  28.06  5.11  5.90-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 25.69-77.00-77.00
 85185 0237  27.06  1.68 30.061 352.20  5.51  8.26-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 19.81 25.69-77.00-77.00
 85185 0243  27.06  1.68 30.088 276.28  5.51  7.87-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 18.63 25.30-77.00-77.00
 85185 0249  27.06  1.68 30.088 246.75  1.57  6.29-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 18.63 25.30-77.00-77.00
 85185 0255  27.45  1.68 30.088 177.16  0.79  1.18-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 17.85 24.91-77.00-77.00
 85185 0301  27.45  1.68 30.061 168.72  0.79  1.18-77.00-77.00-77.00-77.00 17.85 24.91-77.00-77.00



Example 2: gs91030.dat 
  (This example shows an actual data file which is 100 characters wide.)

  DATE: yyddd 
        where yy is the last two digits of the year 
             ddd is the 3-digit number for day-of-the-year (see doycal.ps) 
  TIME: hours and minutes since midnight (24-hour clock)
  HUM:  relative humidity [percent] (1-hour) (-99.00 means sensor down or failure) 
  PPT:  precipitation [inches-cumulative yearly] (12-minute)
  BP:  barometric pressure [inches of mercury] (1-hour)
  WD:  wind direction [degrees] (6-minute)
  WS(6.1):  average wind speed measured at 6.1 m height [mph] (6-minute)
  PG(6.1):  peak gust measured at 6.1 m height [mph] (6-minute)
  WS(2.7):  average wind speed measured at 2.7 m height [mph] (6-minute)
  WS(1.2):  average wind speed measured at 1.2 m height [mph] (6-minute)
  PG(1.2):  peak gust measured at 1.2 m height [mph] (6-minute)
  AT(6.1): air temperature measured at 6.1 m height [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 
  AT(1.2): air temperature measured at 1.2 m height [Celsius] (12-minute)
  ST(4): soil temperature measured at 4 cm depth [Celsius] (1-hour)
  ST(10): soil temperature measured at 10 cm depth [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed) 
  ST(20): soil temperature measured at 20 cm depth [Celsius] (-77.00 means not yet installed)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 DATE  TIME   HUM    PPT   BP      WD    WS    PG    WS    WS    PG    AT    AT    ST    ST   ST
                                       (6.1) (6.1) (2.7) (1.2) (1.2) (6.1) (1.2)  (4)   (10) (20)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DWa0
351200 1113700
 91030 0001         0.20         27.70  4.10  4.50  3.30  2.80  3.40-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0007                      32.20  3.40  4.20  2.80  2.30  2.90                              
 91030 0013         0.20         28.70  3.00  3.30  2.60  2.00  2.60-77.00 -8.00                  
 91030 0019                      12.10  2.80  3.50  2.90  2.30  2.70                              
 91030 0025 -99.00  0.20 30.140  34.10  3.10  3.60  3.00  2.40  2.70-77.00 -8.00 -1.00-77.00-77.00
 91030 0031                      51.10  3.00  3.40  2.50  2.10  2.40                              
 91030 0037         0.20         72.50  3.10  4.10  2.40  2.70  3.10-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0043                      84.50  3.50  4.30  2.40  2.20  3.10                              
 91030 0049         0.20         63.10  3.30  3.50  2.80  2.50  2.90-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0055                      44.40  3.30  3.80  3.40  2.80  3.40                              
 91030 0101         0.20         44.50  2.70  3.00  2.60  2.00  2.60-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0107                      50.40  3.60  4.20  3.30  2.60  3.00                              
 91030 0113         0.20         37.50  3.60  4.10  3.40  2.80  3.20-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0119                      41.70  4.60  5.10  4.30  2.60  3.40                              
 91030 0125 -99.00  0.20 30.150  38.80  4.70  5.20  4.40  2.90  3.90-77.00 -9.00 -2.00-77.00-77.00
 91030 0131                      38.70  5.10  5.40  4.70  3.20  3.90                              
 91030 0137         0.20         33.30  5.40  5.80  4.90  3.40  4.10-77.00 -8.00                  
 91030 0143                      34.80  6.30  6.70  5.30  3.80  4.20                              
 91030 0149         0.20         32.10  7.20  8.00  5.40  3.50  4.20-77.00 -8.00                  
 91030 0155                      29.20  7.40  8.20  5.50  3.80  5.00                              
 91030 0201         0.20         22.70  6.50  7.10  4.70  3.30  3.90-77.00 -8.00                  
 91030 0207                      23.40  5.80  6.80  4.40  3.30  4.20                              
 91030 0213         0.20         25.70  5.30  6.30  3.90  2.90  3.70-77.00 -8.00                  
 91030 0219                      34.90  4.70  6.00  3.70  3.00  3.80                              
 91030 0225 -99.00  0.20 30.160  25.90  5.30  5.70  3.90  2.70  3.50-77.00 -9.00 -2.00-77.00-77.00
 91030 0231                      25.50  3.60  5.20  2.80  2.30  3.00                              
 91030 0237         0.20         18.70  3.90  4.90  3.10  2.50  3.10-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0243                      15.70  3.60  4.40  3.30  2.70  3.20                              
 91030 0249         0.20         31.80  2.40  2.90  2.80  2.40  2.80-77.00 -9.00                  
 91030 0255                      54.30  2.90  3.40  3.10  2.40  2.70                              
 91030 0301         0.20         47.90  3.70  4.40  3.50  2.90  3.50-77.00-10.00                  
 91030 0307                      61.80  2.70  3.50  2.50  2.20  2.70                              



COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS:
   The DWP Gold Spring CD-ROM was produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 
   standard, and can be accessed by any computer system that has the 
   appropriate software to read ISO 9660 discs.  This CD-ROM is Sun(UNIX) 
   supported only, and the software 'geomet' has been tested on Sun 
   SPARCstation 2 with the following hardware specifications:
     - SunOS4.1.3 
     - OpenWindows vs.3
     - 16 Mbyte memory
     - 21 SPECmarks
     - 19-inch Sun color monitor (1152 pixels by 900 pixels)
     - ancii C compiler (acc) Sun sc 2.0.1
     - external hard disk
     - IS0 9660 standard CD-ROM drive

   The full data set requires 106 Mbytes of disk space to store.  Individual 
   data files are slightly larger than 24 kbytes in size, 242 lines long, and
   100 characters (16 data columns) wide.


Now the user will want to read /docfiles/getstart.unx for instructions on how
 
to access the data manually and how to run the data-accessing display 
software 'geomet'.