Data-File Identifiers

Data-File Identifiers

A three-digit mooring number is used to identify all files containing time-series data and is the key through which one can identify and (or) locate data records in the USGS Woods Hole Science Center time-series data-management system. Individual data files are labeled by four-digit numbers; the first three digits are the mooring number, and the last digit indicates the location of the instrument on the mooring. For example, 5541 identifies the topmost instrument on mooring 554, 5542 the next instrument down on mooring 554, and so on. As data files are processed, additional identifiers are added to the four-digit identifier to indicate sensors, processing steps, and averaging. A full description of the file naming conventions can be found in Montgomery and others (2008).

Time-Series Oceanographic Observations

The time-series data for the deployment at the basic sampling interval are included as individual files. The data format is the EPIC NetCDF standard defined by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). NetCDF is a very general, self-documenting, machine-transportable data format created and supported by UCAR ( http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/). EPIC ( http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/) is a set of standards that allow researchers from different organizations to share oceanographic data without having to translate "foreign" data types into the local vernacular.

The naming convention for NetCDF data files is as follows:

Table 2. Nomenclature summary using 9241whp-a.nc as an example, for time series data files. [A description of variable names within files can be found in Montgomery and others (2008). ID, identification number or identifier. ]

Description of variable names within files (Montgomery and others ,2008)