1_README.TXT Geometeorological data collected by the USGS Desert Winds Project at Desert Wells, Sonoran Desert, central-west Arizona, 1981 - 1996 By Paula J. Helm(1), Carol S. Breed(2), Richard Tigges(3), and Shawn Creighton(4) Open-File Report 98-361 1998 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. (4) Phoenix, Ariz. ISBN 0-607-90628-6 DISCLAIMERS This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or related materials. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS This CD-ROM (OF98_361) 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. The GUI-based data- extraction software 'geomet' supplied on this CD-ROM is supported for the following computers: - PC or MS-NT console applications (not Microsoft Windows95 or Windows98) - Data General DG/UX 5.4R3.10 m88k AViiON - Linux 2.0.30 i486 - Sun Solaris 2.5.1 SPARC, SunOS 4.1.3 'geomet' has been tested on the Sun SPARCstation 2 with the following hardware specifications: - SunOS 4.1.3 - 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 TO GET STARTED: Open the CD-ROM (OF98_361) and open the file 1_README.TXT. The full data set requires 151 Mbytes of disk space to store. Individual data files are approximately 27.6 kbytes in size, 242 lines long, and 112 characters (16 data columns) wide. ABSTRACT The data on this CD-ROM were obtained by instruments deployed on a GOES-satellite data collection station operated by the U. S. Geological Survey Desert Winds Project at Desert Wells (latitude 33š 42' 08" N, longitude 113š 48' 40" W), La Paz County, west-central Arizona. The elevation is 344 m (1,130 ft). From January 9, 1981 through May 31, 1995 the station recorded eight parameters: wind direction, wind speed, peak gust, air temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric pressure, and soil temperature. On June 1, 1995, the station was upgraded by adding a SENSIT sand-flux sensor, which records grain impacts concurrently with wind speed and wind direction measurements. Included with the data is descriptive text on the geology, soils, climate, vegetation, and land use at the site, as well as text on data format, date retrieval software and instructions, and metadata. 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 Desert Wells locality was selected to represent the semiarid northern part of the Sonoran Desert in central-west 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 OVERVIEW.TXT, HARDWARE. TXT) Some research results can be found in: Breed, C.S., ed., 1998, Desert Winds: Monitoring wind-related surface processes at desert sites in Arizona, New Mexico, and California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1598. McCauley, J.F., Breed, C.S., Helm, P.J., Billingsley, G.H., MacKinnon, D.J., Grolier, M., and McCauley, C.K., 1984, Remote monitoring of processes that shape desert surfaces: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1634, p. 19. CD-ROM CONTENTS: The DWP Desert Wells CD-ROM contains meteorological data files pertaining to the Desert Wells Geomet research site. Documentation files and data-accessing display software are also included. The meteorological data are: wind direction wind speed peak gust sand flux (SENSIT) (6/95 - 12/96) air temperature precipitation humidity barometric pressure soil temperature CD-ROM DIRECTORY STRUCTURE: The directory structure on the CD-ROM is shown as follows: | | ----------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | docfiles coverage software browse data binary | | ----------- | | | | src doc bin | DOCFILES DIRECTORY: The docfiles directory contains the following documentation files: - ACKNOWL.TXT acknowledges the funding sources for the Desert Winds Project and the DWP CD-ROM. - AUTHORS.TXT lists the names of authors, CD-ROM production personnel, software programmer. - CONTACTS.TXT lists the name, phone number, address, and e-mail address of people to contact for additional information about the CD-ROM. - DISCLAIM.TXT contains the Government's disclaimer for this CD-ROM. - REGISTER.TXT 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. - UNXSTART.TXT 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. - OVERVIEW.TXT provides an overview of the Desert Winds Project Desert Wells Geomet site including climate, geology, soils, and vegetation. - HARDWARE.TXT Information on data collection methods, sensors, and procedures is included. Individual data elements are defined and coded values are explained. - HARDDOWN.TXT lists the dates when data are missing due to station failures, transmission failures, or sensor failures. SOFTWARE DIRECTORY: The software directory contains programs to extract and reformat data from the files in the data directory. A GUI-based program is available for users of UNIX with the X Window System, and a text-based program is provided for batch processing and character- based interactive use. In addition to these, programs are provided to convert the GEOMET data to binary form (saving 60% of the space) and back to text form. Additional details are available in the doc subdirectory of the software directory. The source code is given in the src directory of the software directory and executable versions for various platforms are given in the bin directory of the software directory. BROWSE DIRECTORY: This directory contains plots of the data in the Graphic Interchange Format (GIF). COVERAGE DIRECTORY: This directory contains images in the Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) depicting the availability of data throughout the period of record. An explanation of these images is given in the README file in this directory. DATA DIRECTORY: The data directory 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 DWYYDDD.DAT where DW = Desert Wells YY = last 2 digits of the year DDD = 3-digit number for day-of-the-year For example, the daily data files for Desert Wells for July, 1985 are in DATA/85/07 and are named DW85182.DAT through DW85212.DAT DATA | | ________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 | | ________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 | | _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | DW85182.DAT DW85183.DAT DW85184.DAT DW85185.DAT ... DW85212.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' without the -c option must be used to view these files. The environmental variable MORE must also be set without the -c option (prompt>setenv MORE more). Each row is associated with the time that the data were recorded in the datalogger (see HARDWARE.TXT) at the Desert Wells 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 Desert Wells 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 June 1, 1995, the data were sampled at different time intervals depending on the sensor (see HARDWARE.TXT). Below are two examples of data files: one shows the file format when all sensors were sampled at the same time interval (6-minute) (Jan, 1981 - May,1995), and the other shows the file format when sensors were sampled at different time intervals (Jun, 1995 - Dec, 1996). The headings define the sensor associated with the column of data and are NOT headings in the ASCII files. Example 1: DW89185.DAT (This example shows an actual data file which is 112 characters wide.) STATION: 2 for Desert Wells DATE: YYYYDDD where YYYY is the year DDD is the 3-digit number for day-of-the-year TIME: hours and minutes since midnight (24-hour clock) 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) PSF: SENSIT sand flux (peak) SF: SENSIT sand flux (average) 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] PPT: precipitation [inches-cumulative yearly] HUM: relative humidity [percent] BP: barometric pressure [inches of mercury] ST(12.7): soil temperature measured at 12.7 cm depth [Celsius] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE TIME WD WS PG WS WS PG PSF SF AT AT PPT HUM BP ST (6.1) (6.1) (2.7) (1.2) (1.2) (6.1) (1.2) (12.7) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DWa1 334208 1134840 21989185 0003 25.95 0.79 1.18 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 28.05 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 30.40 21989185 0009 21.73 1.97 3.93 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 27.26 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 30.40 21989185 0015 28.06 1.18 3.15 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.87 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 30.01 21989185 0021 30.17 2.36 3.93 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.48 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.61 21989185 0027 179.26 4.72 7.47 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.48 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.61 21989185 0033 73.82 6.29 7.47 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.08 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.61 21989185 0039 73.82 3.93 7.08 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.08 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.22 21989185 0045 78.03 4.72 6.69 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 25.69 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.22 21989185 0051 94.90 5.11 7.47 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 25.69 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 29.22 21989185 0057 105.45 5.90 8.26 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 25.69 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.83 21989185 0103 111.78 5.90 8.26 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.08 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.83 21989185 0109 105.45 5.11 7.08 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 26.08 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.83 21989185 0115 94.90 3.15 5.90 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 25.69 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.44 21989185 0121 90.69 2.36 3.93 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 25.69 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.44 21989185 0127 90.69 1.97 3.93 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 24.91 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.44 21989185 0133 88.58 2.36 3.54 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 24.91 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.44 21989185 0139 88.58 2.36 3.93 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 24.52 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.05 21989185 0145 111.78 2.75 4.33 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.73 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 28.05 21989185 0151 156.07 4.33 5.51 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.95 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.65 21989185 0157 145.52 3.93 5.11 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.34 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.65 21989185 0203 156.07 4.33 6.29 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.34 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.26 21989185 0209 168.72 3.54 5.11 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.34 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.26 21989185 0215 183.48 4.33 6.29 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.95 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.26 21989185 0221 170.83 3.93 6.29 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.95 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 27.26 21989185 0227 151.85 3.93 5.11 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.55 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.87 21989185 0233 118.10 4.72 5.90 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.16 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.87 21989185 0239 128.65 4.72 5.90 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 22.95 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.87 21989185 0245 118.10 5.51 7.08 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.34 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.87 21989185 0251 124.43 5.51 6.69 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.34 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.87 21989185 0257 134.98 5.51 6.69 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.73 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.48 21989185 0303 128.65 6.29 7.47 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 23.73 1.03 -99.00 -99.000 26.48 Example 2: DW96030.DAT (This example shows an actual data file which is 112 characters wide.) STATION: 2 for Desert Wells DATE: YYYYDDD where YYYY is the year DDD is the 3-digit number for day-of-the-year TIME: hours and minutes since midnight (24-hour clock) 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) PSF: SENSIT sand flux (peak) SF: SENSIT sand flux (average) 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] PPT: precipitation [inches-cumulative yearly] HUM: relative humidity [percent] BP: barometric pressure [inches of mercury] ST(12.7): soil temperature measured at 12.7 cm depth [Celsius] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE TIME WD WS PG WS WS PG PSF SF AT AT PPT HUM BP ST (6.1) (6.1) (2.7) (1.2) (1.2) (6.1) (1.2) (12.7) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DWa1 334208 1134840 21996030 0003 180.30 3.60 4.50 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 8.00 0.04 21996030 0009 185.30 2.80 3.40 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0015 176.80 2.80 3.90 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0021 178.00 3.70 4.10 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0027 186.40 3.30 3.60 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 39.00 29.890 11.00 21996030 0033 190.10 3.30 3.70 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0039 174.40 2.50 3.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0045 169.50 2.60 3.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0051 148.80 2.10 2.70 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0057 128.40 1.90 2.10 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0103 157.60 1.90 2.20 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0109 169.50 1.90 2.10 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0115 167.30 2.20 2.40 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0121 167.10 2.80 3.20 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 21996030 0127 162.00 4.00 4.90 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 40.00 29.890 10.00 21996030 0133 158.40 4.80 5.30 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.68 21996030 0139 148.50 4.40 5.20 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.68 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0145 127.50 4.10 5.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.68 21996030 0151 119.80 5.00 5.50 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.69 0.68 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0157 114.10 4.50 5.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.76 0.69 21996030 0203 110.80 4.70 5.20 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.69 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0209 109.40 4.50 5.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.72 21996030 0215 121.00 4.40 4.80 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.76 -77.00 7.00 0.04 21996030 0221 110.60 4.50 5.20 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.75 21996030 0227 123.60 3.80 4.60 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.78 -77.00 7.00 0.04 43.00 29.880 10.00 21996030 0233 117.70 4.20 4.80 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.86 0.77 21996030 0239 124.30 4.40 5.40 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.79 -77.00 8.00 0.04 21996030 0245 114.00 4.00 5.00 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.77 21996030 0251 130.50 3.90 5.30 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.74 -77.00 8.00 0.04 21996030 0257 147.60 4.20 5.60 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.71 21996030 0303 149.30 4.00 5.10 -77.00 -77.00 -77.00 0.85 0.69 -77.00 8.00 0.04 BINARY DIRECTORY: The binary directory contains the data files in binary format, arranged in the same date-based structure as the text files in the data directory. Now the user will want to read /DOCFILES/UNXSTART.TXT for instructions on how to access the data manually and how to run the data-accessing display software 'GEOMET'.