SHIPS Surface in-situ Data: data format
SHIPS - Report of surface observation from a sea station
Organization of the file :
------------------------
Each data line contains 74 fields, separated by spaces. The contents and sizes
of the 74 fields that appear in each data record are as follows (Unit for Unit
or Code table (from the Manual oncodes (WMO-No. 306), International codes
volume I.2, part B), Form for FORTRAN Format, Miss for Missing value) :
No Parameter Unit Form. Miss
-- --------- ---- ----- ----
1 Timestamp for the creation of the row YYYYMMDDHHMISS a14
2 WMO platform identifier a14
3 Latitude dec.degr f8.3
4 Longitude dec.degr f8.3
5 Collecting date/time (UTC) YYYYMMDDHHMISS a14
6 Quality control flag (0=good, 1=bad) i4 -999
7 Air temperature deg. C f6.1 -999
8 Relative humidity % i4 -999
9 Direction of motion of moving observing platform degr i4 -999
10 Speed of motion of moving observing platform m/s i4 -999
11 Wind direction degr i4 -999
12 Wind speed m/s f6.1 -999
13 Pressure hPa f6.1 -999
14 Pressure reduced to mean sea level hPa f6.1 -999
15 3-hour pressure change hPa f6.1 -999
16 Characteristic of pressure tendancy WMO tab 010063 i4 -999
17 Horizontal visibility m i5 -999
18 Present Weather WMO tab 020003 i4 -999
19 Past weather (1) WMO tab 020004 i4 -999
20 Past weather (2) WMO tab 020005 i4 -999
21 Total cloud cover % i4 -999
22 Amount of low clouds WMO tab 020011 i4 -999
23 Height of base of cloud m i4 -999
24 Low clouds type WMO tab 020012 i4 -999
25 Middle clouds type WMO tab 020012 i4 -999
26 High clouds type WMO tab 020012 i4 -999
27 Period of the next measurement hour i4 -999
28 Total precipitation over period specified kg/m2 f6.1 -999
29 Total precipitation past 1 hour kg/m2 f6.1 -999
30 Total precipitation past 3 hours kg/m2 f6.1 -999
31 Total precipitation past 6 hours kg/m2 f6.1 -999
32 Total precipitation past 12 hours kg/m2 f6.1 -999
33 Total precipitation past 24 hours kg/m2 f6.1 -999
34 Method of sea-surface temperature measurement WMO tab 002038 i4 -999
35 Sea-surface temperature deg. C f6.1 -999
36 Period of wind waves s i4 -999
37 Height of wind waves m f6.1 -999
38 Direction of first swell waves degr i4 -999
39 Period of first swell waves s i4 -999
40 Height of first swell waves m f6.1 -999
41 Direction of second swell waves degr i4 -999
42 Period of second swell waves s i4 -999
43 Height of second swell waves m f6.1 -999
44 Cause of ice accretion WMO tab 020033 i4 -999
45 Ice deposit m i4 -999
46 Rate of ice accretion WMO tab 020032 i4 -999
47 Method of wet-bulb temperature measurement WMO tab 002039 i4 -999
48 Wet-bulb temperature deg. C f6.1 -999
49 Sea ice concentration WMO tab 020034 i4 -999
50 Ice development WMO tab 020037 i4 -999
51 Bearing of ice edge degr i4 -999
52 Ice situation WMO tab 020036 i4 -999
53 Amount and type of ice WMO tab 020035 i4 -999
54 Minimum temperature past 12 hours deg. C f6.1 -999
55 Minimum temperature past 24 hours deg. C f6.1 -999
56 Maximum temperature past 12 hours deg. C f6.1 -999
57 Maximum temperature past 24 hours deg. C f6.1 -999
58 Total sunshine past 1 hour mn i4 -999
59 Total daily sunshine mn i4 -999
60 Period of the next measurement hour i4 -999
61 Net radiation, integrated over period specified J/m2 f10.1 -999
62 Net radiation, integrated over 24 hours J/m2 f10.1 -999
63 Period of the next measurement hour i4 -999
64 Global solar radiation, integrated over period spe J/m2 f10.0 -999
cified
65 Global solar radiation, integrated over 24 hours J/m2 f10.1 -999
66 Long-wave radiation, integrated over 24 hours J/m2 f10.1 -999
67 Quality control flag for DATE_OBS i4 -999
68 Quality control flag for LAT i4 -999
69 Quality control flag for LON i4 -999
70 Quality control flag for T i4 -999
71 Quality control flag for RH i4 -999
72 Quality control flag for WindD i4 -999
73 Quality control flag for WindS i4 -999
74 Quality control flag for P i4 -999
Data quality flags can take one of the following values :
automatic quality control procedures: 0=good 1=suspect 2=bad 3=not controlled
manually added flags: 5=good 6=suspect 7=bad 8=estimated 9=missing or not
controlled
Quality control procedures are explained in the document GTS_QC_handbook.ps that
can be found on the FASTEX anonymous ftp serveur (cnrm-ftp.cnrm.meteo.fr), in
the directory pub-fastex/doc
Updated: 21 Jan 1999
Top of page