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USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Measurement Database

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Appendix 2. Acronyms, Abbreviations and Conversion Factors

TermExplanation
ABSAcoustic Backscatter Sensor
ADCPAcoustic Doppler Current Profiler
ADPAcoustic Doppler Profiler
ADVAcoustic Doppler Velocimeter
APAquadop Acoustic Profiler
BASSBenthic Acoustic Stress Sensor
BBVBest Basic Version
CTDConductivity Temperature Depth Profiler
CMGPCoastal and Marine Geology Program
CT Conductivity, Temperature Sensor
EPIC Equatorial Pacific Information Collection. Data storage, retrieval, and management formats and tool originated and maintained by NOAA (see www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/).
FLASH RAMA type of constantly-powered nonvolatile memory that can be erased and reprogrammed in units of memory called blocks.
FTPFile Transfer Protocol
GCMDGlobal Change Master Directory
GOSGeospatial One-Stop
gridFTPFile Transfer Protocol for grid computing
HTTPHypertext Transfer Protocol
IDLInteractive Data Language
LEDLight Emitting Diode
LISSTLaser In-Situ Suspended Scattering and Transmissometry
mab, habMeters above bottom, height above bottom (m)
MATLAB®Software created by The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, Mass. (see www.mathworks.com)
MAVSModular Acoustic Velocity Sensor
MCMicroCat- an instrument made by Sea-Bird for time-series measurements of temperature and salinity (see www.seabird.com)
NDBC National Data Buoy Center; part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (see www.ndbc.noaa.gov)
NetCDF Network Common Data Form--A data format and library of data access subroutines maintained by Unidata (see www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf)
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (see www.noaa.gov)
NOS National Ocean Service (see www.nos.noaa.gov)
OBS Optical Backscatter Sensor
OPeNDAPOpen-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol
Paros Paroscientific, Inc. (see www.paroscientific.com)
PCADP Pulse-Coherent Acoustic Doppler Profiler
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association--A credit-card-sized memory card for laptop computers
PMEL Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (see www.pmel.noaa.gov)
(T)RDI (Teledyne) RD Instruments (see www.rdinstruments.com)
SC SEACAT- an instrument made by Sea-Bird for time-series measurements of temperature and salinity (see www.seabird.com)
UCARUniversity Center for Atmospheric Research
VACMVector Averaging Current Meter
VMCMVector Measuring Current Meter
WHSCWoods Hole Science Center

The full names of units used in this report and database are shown below.

Abbreviation Full name
s seconds
msec millisecond (1/1000 second)
m meter
cm centimeter (1/100 meter)
nm nanometer (1/1,000,000,000 meter)
m/s meters/second
cm/s centimeters/second
db decibar
mb millibar
pa pascal
°C degree Celsius
Hz Hertz (cycles/second)
S/m Siemens per meter
ppt parts per thousand
g grams
kg kilogram (grams x 1000)
L liter
g/L grams/liter
kg/m³ kilograms per cubic meter

The table below shows conversin from SI units to Inch/Pound.

Multiply By To Obtain
meter (m) 3.281 foot (ft)
centimeter (cm) .3937 inch (in)
liter (L) 1.057 quart (qt)
cubic meter (m3)) 264.2 gallon (gal)
meters per second (m/s) 3.281 foot per second (ft/s)
centimeters per second (cm/s) 0.033 foot per second (ft/s)
kilogram per cubic meter (kg/m³) 0.06242pound per cubic foot (lb/ft³)
centimeters per second (cm/s) 0.033 foot per second (ft/s)

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) may be converted to degrees Celsius (°C) as follows:
°C=(°F-32)/1.8

Concentrations of chemical constituents in water are given either in milligrams per liter (mg/L) or micrograms per liter (μg/L).

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