Data-File Identifiers

A three- or four-digit mooring ID number is used to identify all files containing time-series data. The file name acts as the key by which one can identify and (or) locate data records in the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Database. In this experiment, we deployed our 1000th platform, so files will have four or five numbers identifying Mooring ID and relative position. Individual data files are labeled by four- to six-digit numbers, the first digits being the mooring number and the last digit(s) indicating the location of the instrument on the mooring. For example, 9921 identifies the topmost instrument on mooring 992, 9922 the next instrument down on mooring 992. Similarly, 10023 indicates the third sensor on mooring 1002. Additional characters are added to the four- to six-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 (see Digital Data Files page or Instrument Log for mooring numbers) at the basic sampling interval are included as links to individual files. The data format is the EPIC NetCDF standard defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. The naming convention for NetCDF data files is documented in table 2.

Table 2. Nomenclature summary, using 9921whp-cal.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; USGS, U.S. Geological Survey; NetCDF, Network Common Data Form format]