SHIPS Surface in-situ Data: data format


Ships Surface in-situ data set description page




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

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